Semester 2, Lecture 1 - Economics and Keynesianism

Well here we are again, another semester, another lecture and another confused Claire.

Our first lecture was about classical economics and Keynesian theory. Need I say more?!

I'm going to be very honest and say that I was and still am completely baffled by the lecture...but here are the notes that I made along with some notes that I made after reading Bry's blog (it's very helpful!)

One thing (I'm not too sure what it directly relates to) which stood out from what Chris said was that "there is one thing money cannot buy; poverty".

Classical economics is closely linked with Utilitarian ideas. To illustrate these Chris used two examples. The first was that a train carrying hundreds of people was doomed to crash unless a lever was pulled. But if this was pulled a blind and deaf man in front of the train would surely be killed. Who do you choose to save?
The second was about the NHS choosing who to give treatment to, a tiny baby or an elderly person - who would gain the most from being saved. His exact words were in fact 'you're in the hospital, a baby is going to die. SHIT! give in an injection. (He does give the lecture a bit of pazaz and humour!)

Adam Smith was a mechanistic economist and believed that people respond to stimuli - pleasure and displeasure. He said that people were easy to read from their utility (their amount of pain and pleasure) and that people were of course more likely to seek out pleasure and not pain. Seeking out pleasure maximises our utility.

Smith believed in Free Trade as it stimulated economic growth and prosperity.

Jeremy Bentham's Hedonism theory also says that human beings seek out pleasure rather than pain, so to maximise their utility.

J.S.Mill saw utility as an actual thing that could be measured by price.

Malthus "iron law on population." He argued that population was the main cause of change.

Marx argues that the free market constantly impoverished people that work for wages because the Iron Law on wages mean that the working class will never get out of poverty.

Marshal spoke about 'loose money'. This was were more money would be printed and circulated, creating more liquidity. He did not understand that money had an actual effect on people.

The History of Money

• Money is a way of exchange
• It allows trade to occur
• Before 1844 there were no money notes, only gold sovereigns
• Later on bank notes were issued by English banks - they realised that they could issue more notes than they had in gold sovereign because *hopefully* no-one would cash in their notes at the same time!

Interest rate is the price of money.
It is set by the Government issuing bonds, the more bonds the higher the interest rates!

I'm still unsure about what the Keynesian Theory is...so I'll have to do some more research and come back to this but Bryony does make some good points about the problems with the theory so check those out!

For now ta ta.

[Image from Google Images]

THINGS I LOVE. Chocolate Cake. My New Jacket.

Today my order from Topshop arrived...
















I love love love it.

I have always wanted a leather jacket (although this one is not real leather!) and I saw this on the Topshop website and fell in love.

So far I have tried it with a dress and just some jeans and a top and I think it looks great with both - a real statement piece which I can hopefully wear for a few years to come.

It cost £58 which I think is great for a jacket like this from Topshop.

I think I'll be saving this one for my nights out - pairing it with a cute little dress!

(click on the picture and it will take you to the Topshop link)

Week 9 Thursday 25th November.

Total War
These are my notes that I took from the lecture;

• American nationalism is not organic
• 19th century nationalism and propaganda is designed to justify territorial demands in time of war
• The nation state is modern
• The Italian state is weak - therefor they have many layers of police officers
• Pluralism is the opposite to Totalitarianism
• State of nature according to Hobbes would be living in fear. His solution would be to alienate our rights to a supreme sovereignty in order to live in peace
  
• The French state was more powerful before the revolution

• Totalitarianism is present in every society, mainly by societies ability to implement war. War is the thing that impels totalitarianism

I have found the last three weeks of lectures and seminars difficult to get my head around if I'm honest - they've suddenly become very technical and my brain can't handle it!

Week 8 Thursday 16th November

John Carey - The Intellectuals and The Masses

Points Discussed;

• It is a shame that the masses have simply accepted that the Intellectuals see themselves as 'more important'
• We questioned whether we were receiving a quality education - the modernist idea of putting literature out of the reach of the masses can be seen reflected in our education system.
• There are links between Hannah and John - both discuss Hitler, Stalin and talk about what should happen to the masses. Although Hannah is much more extreme and is not afraid to say what she really thinks.
• She finds the idea of killing people very normal which shocked us
• When Carey mentioned that the growth of the European population between 1800 - 1914 had risen from 180 million to 460 million we were also shocked to see how the intellectuals must have been fearful.

Week 7 Thursday 11th November.

Totalitarianism and Phemonology

A Definition of Phemonology: 'why is there something rather than nothing'
Before we can think about a set of ideas for example religious ideas, we first have to think about what religion is and why it is a thing.

Hannah Arendt
Hannah was a 20th century writer who was associated with communism who wrote during the Holocaust.

Hannah's Ideas

• She thought that World War 2 was too horrific to talk about
• She strongly believed that people should think for themselves
• Her idea 'The Benality of Evil' came about after the trial of Eichman. He was a man involved with the Holocaust; he claims that he was just doing his job. He claimed that he followed Kant's theories of duty and so by following this he was just obeying the duty laws. Hannah said that collaboration is death therefor he did murder.
• She emphasized that we must think and do for ourselves and not obey others.

History of the Time
There were four main stages in the German genocide;

1. Lock them in a building and set it on fire so that they burn to death
2. Deport them to Siberia and then move them onto holding camps
3. Shoot them in the street
4. Work them to death in labour camps and if this was not quick enough they would be rounded into gas chambers

The whole system was used as commercial exploitation from peoples hair being used in the production of fabric, gold from teeth was used as currency and calcium from bones.

Hannah believed that the Holocaust was the fault of EVERYONE. From the train drivers to the cooks.

THINGS I LOVE. Chocolate Cake.

As if there wasn't already too many things that could make a woman pile on the pounds, I now know another 12 thanks to MSN.

After a girls night in consisting of Sing Star, a Chinese takeaway and chocolate mousse it's fair to say that I'm feeling a little heavier than normal...so the last thing I needed before heading off to bed was an article telling me the 12 things I never knew could make me fat. Great.

Its a sad fact that most girls are conscious of their weight whether its a very prominent thing in their life or maybe they're just worried about fitting into that dress but the worst thing about it all is that even though we know we shouldn't care...we do, and we even WANT to find out how to shed those few pounds or get our bikini bodies, I mean who doesn't want to look their best.

According to MSN these are the 12 things we never knew could make us fat;

1. Stress
2. Our Job
3. Our Boyfriend
4. Television
5. Stealth Calories
6. Cold Weather
7. Ready-Made Lunches
8. Smoothies/Fruit Juice
9. Coffee
10. Alcohol
11. Lack of Sleep
12. Dehydration

But you know...I really don't think that we should know all of this - I mean it's already tough enough knowing that my favourite thing to eat (chocolate cake) probably has as many calories as Prince has kisses so if I now know that my boyfriend, watching television and my job as well as nine other things could make me fat there's a possibility that one day myself and every women around the world do nothing out of pure fear of putting on 2 pounds!!

...who am I kidding...I'm just going to eat my cake and be happy. Join me?

(To read the full article click here.)

THINGS I LOVE. People.

Today I saw an advert on TV by TMobile so I went on YouTube to see the whole version and I have to say it's the best three minutes of anything that I have seen in a while.

I have now watched it several times and every time I can't stop my smile from growing. To me this video shows how we can all come together and create something amazing which affects so many different people.

I think you have to watch the video to understand what I'm saying and how I feel, so here it is:




you can also click on 'TMobile' above which will take you to their YouTube page.

Week 6 Seminar Paper

I did enjoy the chapter and although it was very difficult to understand there were particular moments which I found very funny like when several women came forward claiming that Bloom had in appropriately written to them and after the many women had spoken the first and only thing Bloom could say was “I love the danger!”

I think this shows how Bloom’s character is similar to Freud’s idea of the ID, his lust for women seems to be uncontrollable, he shows his affection through photos and gestures and he is constantly seeking danger and sexual pleasure despite the fact that he’s married. The ID’s animal nature also comes across when he wishes to be ‘horsewhipped’. He does not appear to have a Super Ego or Ego as he rarely does anything right within the society he’s living in and I don’t think that James Joyce’s writing has a particular ‘Ego’ either, there seems to be no reality and a lack of structure with constantly changing scenes and clothing.

The way Bloom’s character is shown would be approved by Reich, he thought that we should have sex all the time and this would make us free however by what happens in the book such as Bloom going to court it sides with Freud showing that being so ‘free’ is dangerous for us.

I believe that there is a use of phallic symbols in the writing, both for the audience to see and for Bloom’s character. For example “I took the splinter out of this hand, carefully, slowly...” could be seen as Bloom making the action of removing the splinter sexual towards Mrs Breen” and (Tenderly, as he slips on her finger a ruby ring)” this is aimed more towards the reader, giving them an image in their head which Freud believes the ID would recognise as being sexual.

When in court J.J. O’Molloy defends Bloom saying “the young person was treated by defendant as if she were his very own daughter” and later says “my client would be the last man in the world to do anything ungentlemanly which injured modesty...”
The first comment to a modern reader seems very wrong, just like Freud’s Oedipus complex – it is difficult to understand why anyone would wish to sleep with their father! Where Joyce writes “my client would be the last man in the world to do anything ungentlemanly which injured modesty...” it makes me think that perhaps Joyce agrees with Freud’s ideas by suggesting that sleeping with your daughter is not ungentlemanly.

Week 5 Thursday 28th October.

Freud.

We live in a Freudian world whether we like it or not. Everyday people use phrases in conversations which come from Freud without even realising, his presence over the years has become more and more.

It's easy to say that Freud had some crazy ideas and theories although all very interesting.
He believed that problems of humanity could be solved with psychoanalysis, that our minds were not in control; he disagreed with Locke's idea that we were born with a clean slate and learnt as we grew. He thought that sex was a central motivator and was involved with every part of our lives, causing us to see phallic symbols. He went as far to say that architects would without realising create buildings which looked like penises.

His penis thinking went on to penis envy. He described this as when a young girl realises she does not have a penis she believes this is because she has been castrated due to something she has done. This results in her loving her father and rejecting her mother because she also has no penis due to castration.

He thought that our "self love" was a barrier to science. It barred the idea that the Earth wasn't the centre of the universe, Darwin's theory of evolution and the idea that the conscious brain is not in charge.

Freud divided the mind into three parts which were all in deadly conflict.

1. ID (unconscious)
   this part is incapable of language, only communicating with symbols. For example when we see a banana our ID is thinking 'penis'. We have this from when we are born, its our animal/instinct part of ourselves and operates on pleasure.
2. EGO (self, conscious)
   this part is aware of reality.
3. SUPER EGO
   this is the 'policeman in our head' which keeps us civilised and abiding by the rules of parents and society.

Freud thought that all of our problems begin during childhood and if they were not sorted out at the time then we would become stuck. According to Freud there are five stages of development:

1. Oral Stage
   involves the mouth. He thought that premature weaning would create a problem like smoking or eating too much.
2. Anal
   if problems occurred here we would become compulsive (this is an example of the words used in conversation linking to Freud.)
3. Phallic Phase
   being obsessive with the penis and wanting a sexual relationship with your mother. The Oedipus Complex links with this, its when there is a desire to sleep with your mother and kill your father, but there is a danger as your father is bigger and stronger than you so you're worried he will castrate you. Once you learn to back off the issue is resolved.
4. Latency
   sex becomes UN important until puberty
5. Gentiles
   obsessed with!

Freud said that the constant battle between the Super Ego, Ego and ID caused repression and made us ill. He had defence mechanisms for this:

Sublimination - diverting the sexual energy into something else such as sport or art.
Displacement - when you're angry with something, move the anger to something else.
Projection - sending feelings onto others, for example you're at a bus stop after a night out and a drunk man says 'what are you looking at?' you reply 'nothing' but the man persists and asks if you're looking for a fight.

Rationalisation - hitting children for their own good.

Freud said that;

• Psychoanalysis tries to bring out things that you're hiding with in yourself, this is done by hypnosis. When discussing things with free association the Super Ego relaxes and you express things you never even knew you were troubled with.
  Within dreams where the Super Ego is asleep the ID communicates with us. We can never escape the ID, sex and aggression can only be controlled.
• As a society we want to be dominated and there is a fear that no one is in control. We are craving for a parent figure now that God is dead!
• When in a crowd we give our sexual feelings to the leader and all our aggressive feelings are used away from the crowd - Nazi?

Scientists attacked Freud claiming that all of his claims were too vague and never really science. There is no proof that psychoanalysis works. Now there is no need for Freud as we have Nero science like MRI scans which can measure activity of the brain.

There are three areas of the brain

1. Reptilian Brain
   this keeps the body functioning. It could be compared to Freud's Sub Conscious - we can't control what it tells us to think/do. For example breathing.
2. Limbic System
   controls our emotions. Linked to Freud's ID perhaps?
3. Neo Cortex
   the most complex, controlling language and planning. Freud's conscious?

Reich.
Once a follower of Freud's but then he didn't believe that his methods were effective. He thought that people were generally good, it was society which forced and suppressed us - making us ill and dangerous. He thought that our underlying energy was sex, more orgasms meant happiness.

Basically Freud wanted us to keep our feelings in as they were very dangerous whereas Reich wanted us to let it all hang out! Having sex whenever and where ever we could makes us free.

Wow. What a lecture.

THINGS I LOVE. Knitwear.

There's nothing I like better than to put on a cosy winter jumper and sit down with a hot chocolate and Elle.
Luckily for me chunky knitwear is very desirable this season! One of my favourites is this all in one suit from Dolce and Gabbana.



I recently brought two new jumpers, both from River Island. They've got some really nice knitwear at the moment.


The blue one looks really cool wth leggings and boots. I like to wear the cream one with jeans and Converses.
YAY! for winter.