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Introduction

Individuals respond to stressful events in different ways and their responses are influenced by a number of factors, such as personality characteristics or temperament, that can have an effect on the how the stressor is perceived (Anthony, Frederici, and Stein, 2009). Anxiety and stress are closely related, although stress tends to relate to a specific event or circumstances, whereas anxiety can be a non-specific, internal anticipation of something that might happen (Kahn, 2006). However, anxiety can cause stress – for example, imagining the consequences of being late (anticipation). Anxiety disorders are very common and can be debilitating and chronic, with patients experiencing distress over many years. It is suggested that anxiety is multifaceted and may be caused by biological factors – for example, high levels of serotonin, which is also a factor in depression. Another contributing cause to anxiety appears to be hyperactivity in the amygdala region of the brain, which results in high levels of neuroticism and anxiety. People who have a tendency towards neuroticism, for example, are more likely to experience anxiety disorders and negative emotions in response to stressors (Eysenck, 1967; Gray 1982). Psychological treatments and interventions focus on cognitive processes and behavioural responses that attempt to explain the acquisition and continuation of anxiety disorders (Anthony, et al. 2009). The aim of the following essay is to examine the efficacy of CBT interventions on treating anxiety and stress-related disorders.

Anxiety Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-V) classifies anxiety disorders into three main groups: anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), and trauma and stress related disorders (American Psychiatric Association, APA, 2013). Anxiety disordersinclude separation anxiety disorder, phobias, social phobia, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalised anxiety disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disordersincludes hoarding disorder, while the third group, trauma and stressor-related disorders,includes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder (DSM-V, APA, 2013). The DSM-V classifications of anxiety emphasise the relationship between disorders and therefore the possibility of comorbidity between anxiety, stress and depression (APA, 2013).

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

As will be discussed in the following section, many of the stress and anxiety related conditions listed in the DSM-V category of anxiety disorders can be treated using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

CBT aims to change negative and maladaptive thought patterns and behaviours to more positive ways of dealing with stress-related problems. Therapy is non-directive and a therapist will facilitate change through working with the client or patient to achieve a series of goals. The therapist will also challenge the client’s negative beliefs and help the client develop strategies to manage their stress more effectively in the long term in order to prevent any relapses (Beck, 2011). Exposure-based CBT (Torp et al. 2015) has also been reported to be effective with young people and children. As discussed by Beck (2011) the relationship between the therapist and the patient is central to the success of the intervention, as it is necessary to have a rapport in order to sometimes discuss difficult topics.

The Efficacy of CBT in Stress-Related Disorders

In their meta-analyses of 269 studies that used CBT in studies, including anxiety disorders and general stress, Hoffman, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer and Fang (2012) found that the most effective results were for anxiety disorders and general stress (together with bulimia, somatoform disorders and anger control). A study comparing 65 patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), who were randomly allocated to one of three groups – CBT, relaxation techniques, and a control group of patients on the waiting list – was undertaken by Dugas et al. (2010). The follow-up sessions took place 6-, 12- and 24-months after the intervention and consisted of self-report and clinician ratings. It was found that both CBT and relaxation were more effective than the control group, although long-term improvement continued only with CBT (Dugas et al. 2010).

Other research has also found that CBT has been effective in generalised anxiety – for example, Otte (2011) states that a number of studies have demonstrated that CBT is effective for patients with anxiety conditions and states ‘the efficacy and effectiveness of CBT in anxiety in adults appears to be well established’ (Otte, 2011, p.418). However, despite the positive findings, Otto also states that there are there are various methodological problems in many studies, for example studies that do not include a control group, and therefore the effect size of the intervention is more difficult to assess. CBT has also be found to be effective in anxiety disorders in children, although as Hogendoorn et al. (2014) reports there are children who do not respond and therefore greater research is necessary in order to understand the mechanism that allows some children to respond well, while other children do not. In a study that investigated childhood anxiety and depression using CBT intervention it was found that there were more positive effects for anxiety than for depression in terms of behaviour and coping strategies used by the children (Chu and Harrison, 2007). It was concluded that there are different factors involved when using CBT in the treatment of anxiety and/or depression.

According to Leichsenring et al. (2013) social anxiety is a prevalent disorder that can cause severe psychosocial problems and can co-exist with other disorders such as depression. Social anxiety is characterised by an individual having a fear of social interactions and therefore affects a person ability to work and have a good quality of life (Yoshinaga et al. 2013). There have been a number of reports regarding the efficacy of CBT in treating social anxiety, although many studies have small sample sizes and are conducted in one location. In their study Leichsenring et al. (2013) assessed 495 outpatients who were randomly allocated to either CBT intervention, (n=209), psychodynamic therapy (n=207), or a waitlist control group (n=79). The patient’s baseline and post-treatment scores were compared using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). It was found that both CBT and psychodynamic therapy were effective in treating social anxiety.

Yoshinaga et al. (2013) also evaluated CBT and social anxiety in Japan using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). The aim of the study was to assess whether results in Japan would be similar to those in Western countries. The intervention was over a 14 week period and measurements of social anxiety were taken before during and after the intervention. It was found that CBT was effective although there were a number of limitations in the study. The sample size was very small, with only 15 patients, which limits the generalisability of the study to other patients, particularly as it was a single-centre study. Another limitation was that the participants were mainly females, which again can limit generalisability of the findings to male patients. There was also no long-term follow-up, so the effects of CBT in preventing relapse were not assessed. Furthermore many patients were also taking medication which was not controlled for and may have had an effect on the results.

Another stress-related condition which can cause serious impairment is OCD. The condition in adolescents and children is similar to that of adults, and OCD often begins in childhood (Torp et al. 2015). In a study undertaken in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, patients aged between 7- and 17-years diagnosed with OCD received CBT intervention in a community setting over 14 weeks. The study was an uncontrolled trial, which meant all patients received exposure CBT and were assessed using the Children Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Scahill, et al. 1997), which both children and their parents completed, as well as other measures. The children had a range of behavioural and emotional problems and the study involved therapists and health professionals who evaluated the intervention. A strength of the study was that it was undertaken in different centres in three countries, which means it has good generalisability. The number of participants was also relatively high, which was also a strength of the study. The professionals helped the children and their parents complete the treatment and the findings showed a high success rate which was rated independently. It was concluded by Torp et al. (2015) that exposure-based CBT is an effective treatment for OCD in community children and adolescent outpatient clinics. The severity of the symptoms decreased in the patients and some were described as being in remission. However, there were a few limitations in the study – for example, the group was not ethnically diverse and the trials were not randomised (Torp et al. 2015).

A final area where CBT has been found to be effective in stress-related disorders is PTSD, which is a disorder which can occur after an individual has experienced a major traumatic event. Typical symptoms include re-living the event, recurring thought of the event, avoidance, numbing and detachment and estrangement from family and other people. In looking at the efficacy of CBT in treating PTSD, Bisson and Andrew (2007) undertook a systematic review of research in which patients had been evaluated by clinicians for traumatic stress symptoms as well as self-rating by the patient of stress, anxiety and depression. Treatment included Trauma focused CBT (TFCBT), exposure therapy, stress management which included hypnotherapy and group CBT and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) and a waitlist control group with no intervention. The findings showed that TFCBT, EMDR and group CBT were all effective in treating PTSD. In the long-term TFCBT and EMDR were found to be more effective, although some of the studies were found to have methodological flaws which means the data must be interpreted with caution.

After the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the CATS consortium was established to help deal with the trauma experienced by young people and also to assess the outcomes of the intervention using CBT. The CATS Consortium (2010) report on the efficacy of CBT being used with children and adolescents aged between 5- and 21-years who were traumatised after the attack. The young people (n=306) were allocated to one of two groups depending on the severity of their trauma. The first group involved trauma-specific CBT and the second group, brief CBT. The findings showed that for both groups there was a decrease in their symptoms and they were no longer diagnosed as having PTSD, and it was also found that the therapy could be effectively delivered in the community by trained professionals. The limitations of the study were that the design did not conform to a typical randomised controlled study and a control group was not used. The circumstances around the study were chaotic in the days after the attack and, as the authors state, the children may have improved without any treatment or intervention, which is, of course, the purpose of a controlled group. Nonetheless, the study has provided useful information regarding the use of CBT for young people after a traumatic event.

Conclusion

Overall, the evidence presented demonstrates that CBT is an effective intervention in a number of different stress-related conditions identified by the DSM-V (APA, 2013). Meta-analyses and systematic reviews are able to provide robust evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions using CBT, although, as has been discussed, there are a number of methodological issues with some of the studies used in meta-analyses. Some of the limitations include small sample sizes, for example, which means that generalisation to other groups is not possible. Another limitation is the lack of a control group, where, as discussed by CATS Consortium (2010), the patients who were traumatised after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York may have recovered spontaneously over time without any intervention, and this can only be observed in a control group which has no intervention. Another potential issue is the use of different measures such as self-report and clinician’s measures (Dugas et al. 2010), in comparison to other studies which used validated questionnaires such as Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Leichsenring et al. 2013). This means that comparisons between studies are more difficult. However research using CBT has taken place in a number of different contexts and cultures – for example, Norway, Sweden and Denmark (Torp et al. 2015) and also Japan (Yoshinaga, et al. 2013) – and has been shown to be effective.

References

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This work was produced by one of our professional writers as a learning aid to help you with your studies

There is a consensus among researchers that human memory is prone to distortions. The study of false memories addresses this phenomenon, examining individuals’ recollection of past events. This paper aims to discuss the nature of false memories and what effect they may have on our lives. In particular, this essay focuses on how false memories can be elicited in experimental or other settings, how research in false memories has improved our understanding of the cognitive effects of trauma, and how memory distortions can be elicited also among healthy people. The overall application of false memory research findings will be discussed along with the limitations of this line of research.

The nature of false memories

Smeets, Merckelbach, Horselenberg, and Jelicic (2005: 918) define false autobiographical memories as “recollections of events that never happened or that are recalled very differently from how they actually happened”. Researchers have attempted to examine those erroneous recollections using a variety of techniques including imagination inflation, personalized suggestions and drawing on real life situations (Smeets et al. 2005). The most widely discussed implications of this research involve eyewitness reports and individuals’ memory of traumatic experiences (e.g. Brennen, Dybdahl, & Kapidzic? 2007). Researchers have employed various research methods to address those phenomena including interviewing, Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists DRM lists and diverse experimental designs. Research consistently shows that individuals are prone to over-remember trauma, although these memories are open to change (Brennen et al. 2007; Engelhard, van den Hout, & McNally, 2008; Giosan, Malta, Jayasinghe, Spielman, & Difede 2009; Strange & Takarangi, 2012; 2015). Strange and Takarangi (2012; 2015) used an experimental research design to examine individuals’ recollection of traumatic events using a United Kingdom public service announcement film against texting while driving that depicted a fatal car accident for five people including a baby. The researchers manipulated the experimental conditions by identifying all events being depicted in the film and then removing a number of short clips. Participants were asked to watch the film and then returned 24-hours later for a recognition test showing them 18 new and old short clips. Their findings reveal that 95% of the participants identified correctly which clips they had originally watched or not but they also claimed that they had watched 26% of the missing clips. A significant finding was also the fact that participants were more likely to exhibit memory distortions regarding the prime traumatic events depicted in the film rather than peripheral ones. Strange & Takarangi (2015) following a similar methodology investigated individuals’ erroneous recollections separating their participants into four experimental conditions: Static (S), Static + Warning (SW), Static-Warning-Label (SWL) and Control (C). All participants watched the film and the control group received no indication regarding any missing footage, those in the Static (S) condition were shown static frame for those clips that were missing, those in the Static + Warning (SW) received a warning as well in the beginning of the film regarding the missing clips, those in the Static-Warning-Label (SWL) was also shown an additional label during the static frame of the missing footage. In the following day, just like their first study, participants were called for a surprise test that asked them to decide whether 18 short clips were part of the film they had watched or not. Their findings showed that participants overall identified correctly the clips that they had initially watch, while 27-39% also claimed that they had watched footage that was not included in the original film and participants remembered inaccurately more often central than peripheral events. Further comparisons between the different experimental conditions suggest that memory distortions can be malleable as there was an improvement in the experimental conditions compared to the control group.. In particular, the visual static made no difference, warnings were more effective than the static condition, and the provision of both a label and a warning did not differentiate substantially from the plain static condition. The authors interpreted their findings based on various memory models (e.g. Fuzzy Trace Theory, Associative Activation Theory) that equally predict that most memory distortions would occur in relation to the most critical of the events that individuals experienced.

The most common experimental design that is employed in false memories research is the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM; Deese 1959; Roediger & McDermott 1995). It involves lists of words, where each list is tailored around one word that is called “critical lure” and is not present in that list. Among healthy subjects, false recognition can reach up to 80% (Stadler, Roediger, & McDermott 1999) and it is a method that has often been employed in order to examine false memories among Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients. Research findings have been often inconsistent (Bremmer, Shobe, & Kihlstorm 2000; Zoellner, Foa, Brigidi, & Prseworski 2000; Brennen et al. (2007) and Brennen et al. (2007) addressed those inconsistencies using an adaptation of the DRM method that include both neutral and war-related DRM lists in order to examine the false memories of a group of patients with PTSD and a group without PTSD but exposed to war trauma. Their findings reveal that PTSD patients mistakenly recalled more war-related words offering support to the argument that source-monitoring may be impaired among PTSD patients due to assumed links between PTSD and dissociation (Ehlers & Clark 2000; Zoellner et al. 2000; Brennen et al. 2007). Jelinek, Hottenrott, Randjbar, and Moritz (2009) also investigated the production of false memories among 48 traumatized patients (20 full or partial PTSD patients and 28 non-PTSD patients) and a control group of healthy individuals (N=28) using a visual variant of the DRM method. In particular, they asked from their participants to watch four pictures (each one appearing for 40sec in a monitor) that depicted different scenes (classroom, beach, funeral, room surveillance) and then were asked to decide on a recognition test whether a list of 48 items were present in those pictures. Their analysis showed that PTSD participants showed a higher rate of false memories compared with traumatized and non-traumatized individuals but this difference was not statistically significant. Furthermore, PTSD participants did not exhibit higher confidence in falsely remembering critical lures which is in accordance with Brennan et al. (2007) tentative evidence that such differences may be present only in relation to trauma-related critical lures.

The impact of false memories in our lives

The string of research that has addressed the effect that false memories can have in our lives has focused on the way in which individuals’ recollect past events and how this can influence their decisions and judgement in the present and future. Research consistently shows that people are susceptible to remember persistently events that may have never happened or recollect past events erroneously and even change their preferences based on those erroneous recollections.

Loftus and Bernstein (2005: 101) define such rich false memory as “the subjective feeling that one is experiencing a genuine recollection, replete with sensory details, and even expressed with confidence and emotion, even though the event never happened”. Usually individuals will be presented with some piece of often misleading information about an event that will distort their memory about that event. This distortion can be manifested when the individuals’ memory gets tested. In daily life these distortions can be generated by photographs or leading questions that can create the strong impression that someone has experienced one specific event in the past. For example, an adult may believe that he or she had visited a place as a kid after seeing a picture of the place. Such effects can even impact criminal cases or litigations. Anecdotal evidence has often documented such phenomena among eyewitnesses’ stories and in stories about alien abduction and satanic abuse. Such an example is the litigation brought by Patricia Burgus against her former psychiatrist Dr. Braun for malpractice according to which Dr. Braun has used “repressed memory therapy, including hypnosis” (Holdem 1998, p.6) which led to her holding the belief that she is the high priestess of a satanic cult. Medical and court records support that she held these beliefs but the lack of the controlled conditions of an experimental research design does not allow us to draw safe conclusions regarding her memory distortion.

Crombag, Wagenaar, & van Koppen (1996) is a frequently cited study as it was able to show how a leading question can plant in one’s memory a false suggestion regarding a traumatic event. The researchers questioned Dutch participants regarding their memories about a news story that took place 10 months earlier in 1992, when a plane that crashed into an apartment building in Amsterdam, killing the four crew members and 30 people that were inside the apartment at the time of the crash. The leading question that researchers posed to their participants was whether they had seen the television film of the moment the place hit the apartment building, as in reality such footage did not exist. If the participants replied positively then they were further questioned. Indeed, more than half of their participants (55%) answered that they had seen the fire and in a second study, this percentage was raised to 66% confirming the malleability of memories. Similar were the findings of another study that followed an analogous methodology (Ost, Vrij, Costall, & Bull 2002) regarding the car crash in which Princess Dianna died and a 45% of a British sample claimed that had seen a film of the actual car crash. Nourkova, Bernstein, and Loftus (2004) cite an earlier unpublished doctoral dissertation (Abhold 1995) that showed that experimentally manipulated misinformation can distort the memory for a witnessed life-and-death situation. Nourkova et al. (2004) examined the malleability of the memory in a sample of undergraduate students from the Moscow State University regarding the terrorist bombings in two apartments in Moscow in 1999 and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. In particular, they attempted to plant the false memory of having witnessed a wounded animal in those critical events. Their findings showed that 12.5% of the participants that received the experimental manipulation regarding their memory of the Moscow bombings agreed that they had witnessed a wounded animal in the accounts of the bombings. The authors also found that for the misled participants, the critical event exhibited lower personal significance but higher historical significance. These findings suggest that traumatic memories are not immune to false memory even if individuals hold strong emotions about those events. However, the authors also highlight that false memory was successfully implanted only with regards to the Moscow bombings as the context of Moscow apartment made the scenario of witnessing a wounded animal more plausible which is in accordance with theoretical arguments regarding the processes involved in the creation of false memories (Mazzoni, Loftus, & Kirsch 2001).

These effects of false memories have also been confirmed in laboratory settings that have shown that it is possible to plant memories for events that can be impossible or even traumatic (Loftus & Bernstein 2005) utilizing suggestive methods (e.g. misinformation) and amplify them using imagination exercises. Mazzoni and Memon (2003) examined whether imagining an event can create false memories in a sample of 82 British students. In the process of the experiment, a group of participants imagined a relatively frequent event and received information about an impossible event, while another group imagined the same event that never occurs (“Having a nurse remove a skin sample from my finger”) and received information about a common event (“Having a milk took extracted by a dentist before the age of 6”). Furthermore, all participants completed three different versions of the Life Events Inventory (LEI) that rates participants’ likelihood of experiencing sets of events in their lives. Their findings showed that imagination was an adequate condition for the production of false memories irrespective of familiarity with the event.

Several studies examined the consequences of false memories showing that they can impact on individuals’ judgements and food preferences. For example, Bernstein, Laney, Morris and Loftus (2005b) found planting a negative false memory about food (e.g. false feedback about getting sick at young age due to eating dill pickles or hard-boiled eggs) can make subsequently people show less interested into consuming those foods. In other research, (Bernstein et al. 2005a) the experimental conditions were manipulated to let people believe that as kids, they had been sick as a result of consuming strawberry ice cream or chocolate cookies. A change in participants’ food preferences was manifested among those participants who believed the false feedback regarding the ice-cream, as 40 % subsequently demonstrated less preference to consuming ice-cream. This finding, though, was not found among those that believed the false feedback regarding the chocolate cookies suggesting that other factors such as the novelty of a food can determine the consequences of false memories. These findings show that false memories not only can impact how we think or feel about past experiences but they can also influence our future decisions altering our preferences and judgements.

Conclusion

Research in false memories has gained a lot of attention since the ’90s as psychologists began to systematically examine their development as a means to fully understand memory distortions in healthy and traumatized individuals. Indeed, research has shown that those distortions can impact individuals’ decision about the present and the future and their persistence can be a great challenge especially during criminal investigations. . However, “false memory” is a quite broad term that may often make it challenging to include all the types of memory illusions studied by cognitive psychology. For example, an argument that has been raised is whether the experimental procedures employed to test false memory actually increase individuals’ confidence to the planted memories, create false beliefs or false memories of those events (Wade, Sharman, Garry, Memon, Mazzoni, Merckelbach, Loftus 2007). However, understanding the nature of false memories can assist psychologists understand memory illusions and use this knowledge to inform their practice with traumatized individuals.

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Why is it difficult for some people with learning disabilities to socially integrate in wider society? Outline and evaluate some of the ways in which learning disability services can help individuals with learning disabilities realise their dreams of developing friends and relationships with others.

Introduction

Learning disabilities refer to a group of disorders whereby individuals may display significant difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, mathematical abilities and social skills (Kavanagh & Truss, 1988). These individuals find it difficult to socially integrate in wider society (Gresham and Elliot, 1987); this issue will be referred to social functioning in this essay. Indeed, this is a problem; not only does this have consequences for social functioning, but consequences for academic achievement (LaGreca & Stone, 1990). Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that explain the relationship between learning disabilities and social functioning, and the methods used to promote social functioning. Researchers have proposed a number of possible explanations to explain the relationship between learning disabilities and a lack of social functioning. These are social skill deficits (e.g., Bryan, 1991), communicative deficits (e.g., Storey, 2002) and anxiety (e.g., Beauchemin, Hutchins and Patterson, 2008). Individuals with social skill deficits do not have the social skills in their repertoire to interact appropriately with peers (Gresham & Elliot, 1987). Individuals with communicative deficits have difficulty communicating with partners, such as proximity, eye contact, expecting the other individual to communicate and to respond sufficiently (Downing, 2005). Whereas social skills may include non-communicative behaviours (e.g., dressing appropriately), communicative skills are solely relational; that is, the interaction between individuals (Downing, 2005). Furthermore, anxiety refers to the high state of arousal for individuals with learning disabilities, which, in turn impacts on social skills (e.g., Beauchemin et al., 2008). A number of interventions have been designed based on the above potential mechanisms. These are social skills training (e.g., Vaughn, 1985), communicative skills training (e.g., Downing, 2005) and mindfulness meditation (e.g., Beauchemin et al., 2008). Overall, the research suggests that social skills training, communicative skills training and mindfulness meditation offer modest results. These findings suggest these interventions provide little support for helping individuals with learning disabilities to develop friends and relationships. However, these modest effects may be limited to methodological limitations, such as how concepts are defined and measured. These interventions are viewed best as experimental interventions with theoretical structures that need rebuilding.

Social skills training

There is a consensus in the learning disability research literature that social skill deficits are a defining feature of learning disabilities (e.g., Forness & Kavale, 1996; Kavale & Mostert, 2004). Social skill deficits may occur because a set of skills has not been learned and therefore cannot be performed (Kavale & Mostert, 2004). Social skills training is based on the assumption that if social skills can be taught, learned and performed, social competence will develop. Social competence is an umbrella term, which refers to the perceived adequacy of one’s social functioning (Maag, 2005). For example, as an individual acquires listening skills, they will begin to develop peer acceptance, which, in turn, infers social competence.

Social skill training is an increasingly popular intervention used to increase the social competence of individuals with learning disabilities (Kavale & Mostert, 2004). Social skills training programmes often involve developing a comprehensive set of skills, such as social problem-solving, expressing feelings, working cooperatively and learning how to listen (Kavale & Mostert, 2004). Training is delivered in a range of styles, such as direct instruction, coaching, modeling and prompting (e.g., Combs & Slaby, 1978; McIntosh, Vaughn & Bennerson, 1995). For example, McIntosh, Vaughn and Bennerson (1995) developed an interpersonal problem-solving intervention, which involves carrying out social tasks between individuals, as opposed to isolation. McIntosh, Vaughn and Bennerson (1995) argue that if social skills are considered in multiple contexts (e.g., parents and peers), it is more likely to deliver long-term benefits (McIntosh, Vaughn & Bennerson, 1995).

In order to assess whether social skills training should be included in intervention programmes it is important to assess their effectiveness. By effectiveness, this refers to whether it is possible to teach students with learning difficulties social skills so that they can cope and adapt to the larger social environment (Kavale & Mostert, 2004). A number of comprehensive reviews in the research literature of learning disability have investigated the effectiveness of social skills training (e.g., McIntosh, Vaughn & Zaragoza, 1991; Sridha & Vaughn, 2001). However, the findings of these reviews have been mixed (Kavale & Mostert, 2004), therefore offering tentative conclusions (i.e. conclusions that are not certain). This mixed support makes is possible to question the effectiveness of social skills training and whether individuals with learning disabilities can develop friends and relationships with others.

Alternatively, meta- analyses have investigated the effectiveness of social skills training (e.g., Kavale & Forness, 1995; Forness & Kavale, 1996). A meta-analysis is a quantitative research method, which involves the collection of research studies. The conclusion of a meta-analysis is calculated by identifying the common statistical measure shared between studies, such as the effect-size (Cohen, 1988). Meta-analyses are considered the most robust research method as they are a way of achieving the highest statistical power. This means that researchers can be confident with generalising about a certain intervention (Eden, 2002).

Kavale and Mostert (2004) conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of social skills training. Findings showed that social skills training had small effects, meaning that social skills training had limited efficacy for developing individuals’ social competence (Kavale & Mostert, 2004). Kavale and Mostert (2004) suggest that the small effects associated with social skills training may be due to a number of theoretical and design issues.

Perhaps one of the reasons social skills training has small effects is due to how social skills are conceptualised. Indeed, there is a continual debate in the literature over how social skills are defined (Gresham, 1986). For example, some researchers refer to social skills as certain actions used to respond to social tasks (e.g., McFall, 1982). In contrast, other researchers refer to social skills as behaviours that help individuals initiate and maintain relationships and adapt to the larger social environment (e.g., Walker, Colvin & Ramsey, 1985). Therefore, if there is a lack of a universal concept surrounding social skills then research studies will evaluate the effectiveness of social skills training in different ways.

Another potential explanation as to why social skills training have small effects is related to measurement issues. Indeed, in the learning disability research literature there is a common problem of psychometric issues i.e. the design of quantitative tests (Gresham, 1986). For instance, researchers have identified that there has been a poor rationale for the inclusion of certain items in questionnaires. In addition, items often present poor reliability (i.e., items that produce inconsistent results across consistent conditions) and poor validity (i.e., items selected do not truly measure what they intend to measure). Therefore, if questionnaires to not obtain valid measures of social skills, research studies will find it difficult to show that social skills training works. To overcome these methodological issues, researchers have developed more robust instruments. These are the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham, 1986) and the Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment (Walker & McConnell, 1988). However, in Kavale and Mosterts’ (2004) meta-analysis, very few research studies utilised these instruments. A recommendation for future research would be to utilise instruments with good psychometric properties, in order to estimate the true efficacy of social skills training.

Communicative skills training

Individuals with learning disabilities show deficits in communication. Therefore, researchers have focused on developing individuals’ communicative skills in order to promote communicative competence. Communicative skills training develop these communication skills at job sites, such as employment offices (Storey, 2002). A responsive communicator refers to one who is aware that they are required to wait sufficiently for their partner to finish, before responding with relevant information (Downing, 2005). These communication skills lack in individuals with learning disabilities. This type of intervention is based on the foundation that communication is relational. Indeed, communication is characterised by the interaction between at least two individuals, or more, where there is a sender of a message and a receiver of a message. According to Downing (2005), using communicative partners in interventions is necessary for individuals with learning disabilities to understand the social aspects of communication.

Like social skills training, communicative skills training use a variety of methods, such as modelling, role-playing, feedback and problem-solving. Furthermore, communicative skills interventions use reciprocity, facilitation and co-worker support. For example, Lamb, Bibby and Wood (1997) designed a programme, which included peer-communication activities. Participants were presented with publications of communication paradigms. The task required a speaker to describe the illustration to the listener who is then required to draw the illustration. An author supported this interaction. The author demonstrated the task first and provided regulatory strategies such as asking, answering and checking to encourage effective communication. Participants were told that if they would need to use these regulatory strategies in order to complete the tasks. This programme consisted of 12-weekly sessions, which each lasted about an hour. Results showed that by the end of the programme, individuals engaged in these strategies more and became more effective at communicating. This suggests that communicative skills training is an effective intervention used to promote the social functioning of those with learning disabilities.

A systematic review carried out by Alwell and Cobb (2009) investigated the effectiveness of communication skills training for the social functioning of individuals with learning disabilities. Findings showed modest support for communicative skills training, suggesting that communicative skills training promote individuals’ social functioning. This systematic review has a number of methodological strengths. First, this review only included studies that had robust methodology, such as high internal validity, high internal reliability, and studies that provided important statistical information, such as effect sizes. Therefore, researchers should have greater confidence that the results are reliable, at least across educational settings. Nevertheless, although it is a strength that the review only included studies that provided effect sizes, it can also be argued as a limitation. Alwell and Cobb (2009) raise the issue that excluding studies reduces the breadth and depth of the research pool, which, will reduce the quality of the systematic review. Therefore, future research should consider reporting their effect sizes so a larger pool of studies can be included in systematic reviews.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is an alternative approach to other interventions that can also be used to target the social functioning of individuals with learning disabilities (Beauchemin et al., 2008). Mindfulness refers to paying attention to one’s emotions, thoughts and sensations, in the present moment and in a non-judgmental way (Kabat Zinn, 1994). Mindfulness was originally identified as a method for improving mental health and reducing psychological distress (Bishop et al., 2004). However, it is recently becoming recognised as a technique that can be applied to a range of issues.

A study conducted by Beauchemin et al. (2008) investigated whether mindfulness-based meditation intervention promoted social skills. The intervention included meditation sessions to be carried out every day, over a period of five weeks. Specifically, students were instructed to focus on their breath as they inhaled the breath and exhaled the breath, in an attempt to achieve a sense of calmness. After students had achieved a sense of calmness, students were instructed to mentally note the thoughts and feelings they experienced during the exercise. Students were instructed that if they felt over-involved in their thoughts and emotions that they should identify and acknowledge these experiences in a non-judgmental way.

Findings showed that mindfulness meditation had modest results for promoting individuals’ social skills (Beauchemin et al., 2008). This suggests that mindfulness meditation may be a method disability services can use to increase the social functioning of individuals with learning disabilities. This relationship between mindfulness and the improvement of social skills can be partly explained by the cognitive-inference model of disability. The cognitive-inference model of disability suggests that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety and the self-focus of attention, which, in turn improves social skills (Wine, 1971; 1982). For example, if an individual with learning disabilities is thinking about their competence and negative thoughts, they are likely to experience higher anxiety, which, in turn, will impact on their social functioning. Indeed, mindfulness meditation was significantly associated with a reduction in anxiety, providing support for the cognitive-inference model (Beauchemin et al., 2008).

The study conducted by Beauchemin et al. (2008) has a number of strengths. First, the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) developed by Gresham and Elliot (1990) was utilised. This instrument is a self-report instrument, which assesses student, teacher and parent ratings of the individuals’ social skills. The SSRS is a robust instrument, which has demonstrated acceptable internal validity and reliability (Harper, Webb & Reynor, 2013). By using instruments that have good psychometric properties, researchers can be more confident about the efficacy that mindfulness meditation has for promoting social competence. However, the generalisability of this study is subject to a number of limitations. First, the study did not utilise a control group (i.e. a group that does not receive the intervention). In experimental studies, control groups often serve as a comparison group, to evaluate interventions. In this instance, a control group was not used, producing threats to internal validity because the researchers cannot be sure that the behavioural changes observed are due to the intervention. Therefore, future research should consider randomly allocating participants to intervention and control conditions to ensure that changes in behaviour can be attributed to the intervention (Harper, Webb & Reynor, 2013). There is a robust set of research showing that mindfulness meditation reduces anxiety (e.g., Maags, 2005). However, there is a lack of research demonstrating the long-term effects of mindfulness meditation for promoting social skills (Beauchemin et al., 2008). Longitudinal studies are required in order to determine a causal relationship. Future research should consider conducting longitudinal studies in order to investigate the long-term impact mindfulness meditation has for promoting social skills.

Conclusion

This essay has provided potential explanations to explain the why individuals with learning disabilities find it difficult to socially integrate in wider society. These are social skill deficits (e.g., Bryan, 1991), communicative deficits (e.g., Storey, 2002) and anxiety (e.g., Beauchemin et al., 2008). This essay has also outlined the different ways learning disability services can promote social functioning. These are social skills training (e.g., Vaughn, 1985), communicative skills training (e.g., Downing, 2005) and mindfulness meditation (Beauchemin et al., 2008). This essay also evaluated these interventions based on meta-analyses, systematic reviews and research studies. Overall, the research suggests that social skills training, communicative skills training and mindfulness meditation offer modest results. These findings suggest that these interventions provide little support in promoting the social functioning of individuals with learning disabilities. In light of the importance social functioning has for developing friends and relationships, these results are somewhat disappointing. However, these modest findings are limited to a number of methodological limitations. Some of these include the lack of agreed concepts (e.g., Gresham, 1986), the lack of robust instruments (e.g., Gresham, 1986) and the lack of control groups (e.g., Beauchemin, 2009). Because of these methodological issues, the theoretical structures of these interventions remain incomplete, limiting the efficacy interventions have for social functioning. These interventions are viewed best as experimental interventions, and future research should consider rebuilding them.

References

Alwell, M., & Cobb, B. (2009). Social and communicative interventions and transition outcomes for youth with disabilities. A systematic review. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 32(2), 94-107.

Beauchemin, J., Hutchins, T. L., & Patterson, F. (2008). Mindfulness meditation may lessen anxiety, promote social skills, and improve academic performance among adolescents with learning disabilities. Complementary Health Practice Review, 13(1), 34-45.

Bishop, D. V., & Snowling, M. J. (2004). Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment: Same or different?. Psychological Bulletin, 130(6), 858.

Bruck, M. (1986). Social and emotional adjustments of learning disabled children: A review of the issues. In S. J. Ceci (Ed.), Handbook of Cognitive, Social, and Neuropsychological Aspects of Learning Disabilities (pp. 361-380). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bryan, T. H. (1991). Social problems and learning disabilities. In B.Y.L. Wong (Ed.), Learning About Learning Disabilities (pp. 195-231). New York: Academic Press.

Combs, T. P., & Slaby, D. (1978). Social skills training with children. In B. Lahey & A. Kazdin (Eds.), Advances in Clinical Child Psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 38-57). New York: Plenum Press.

Donahue, M., Pearl, R., & Bryan, T. (1983). Communicative competence in learning disabled children. In I. Bialer & K. Gadow (Eds.), Advances in Learning and Behavioral Disabilities (Vol. 2, pp. 49-84). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Downing, J. E. (2005). Teaching Communication Skills to Students With Severe Disabilities (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Paul Brookes.

Forness, S., & Kavale, K. (1996). Treating social skills deficits in children with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis of the research. Learning Disability Quarterly, 19, 2–13.

Gresham, F. M. (1986). Conceptual and definitional issues in the assessment of social skills: Implications for classification and training. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 15, 16-25.

Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1987). Social skill deficits of learning-disabled students: Issues of definition, classification, and assessment. Reading, Writing, and Learning Disabilities, 3, 131-148.

Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social Skills Rating System Manual. Circle Pines, MN:American Guidance Service.

Harper, S. K., Webb, T. L., & Rayner, K. (2013). The effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for supporting people with intellectual disabilities: a narrative review. Behavior Modification, 37(3), 431-453.

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Introduction

The emotional intelligence field is a very new area of study in psychological research. The definition therefore is varied and is constantly changing. It was only in 1990 that Salovey and Mayer came up with the first published attempt in trying to define the term. They defined emotional intelligence as “the ability to monitors one’s own and other feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions”. (Salovey P. & Mayers, J.D, 1990)

Emotional intelligence to a larger extent involves “emotional empathy” which is the ability to concentrate on one’s emotions and recognize mood both of themselves and others. It further describes how well one is able to adapt to various life challenges like stress and difficult incidences. It also involves the ability balance “honest expression of emotions against courtesy, consideration and respect”. This would obviously involve possession of some level of good social and communication skills.

Emotional intelligence is often times measured using the Emotional Intelligence quotient (EQ) which is more of a description of the capacity or ability to perceive, then assess and eventually manage one’s own and others emotions, To date there are 3 main emotional intelligence models which include:

Emotional intelligence Model based on Trait

Emotional Models based on Ability

Emotional intelligence from Mixed models

i) The Trait Emotional Intelligence model

Trait emotional intelligence or Trait emotional self efficacy refers to “a constellation or behaviour dispositions and self-perceptions regarding a persons ability to recognize, process and utilize emotional-laden information” where the trait emotional intelligence should be measured within the framework of an individuals personality.

The trait emotional intelligence is measured by several tools of self-report and include the EQ, the Six seconds emotional intelligence assessment, the Swinburne University emotional intelligence test (SUEIT) and the Schuttle self report emotional intelligence test (SSEIT).A trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQUE) that is in 15 languages was designed specifically in an open- access manner to measure EI compressively.

ii) Emotional intelligence model based on ability

Salovey and Mayer revised their earlier Emotional Intelligence definition and upgraded it to read as “the ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and regulate emotion to promote personal growth” (Mayer, J.D. & Salovey, P.,1997)

This model upholds emotions as vital information sources that enable a person to make good use of the social environment. According to the model, an individual’s ability to process emotional information varies from one person to another and certain adaptive behaviours manifest themselves in this ability. The model thus goes further to propose four ability types that include

Perceiving of emotions

Using of emotion

understanding emotions and

Initiating the emotions

Upon the development of this model, it heralded the development of a measurement instrument that was named after its proponents, Mayer-Salovey- Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) which is based on various “emotion- based problem solving items” (Salovey P & Grewal D,2005).

The ability of a person is measured on the four branches of emotional intelligence which then generates a score for each branch and eventually the total score.

iii) Mixed models of emotional intelligence

Included in the mixed emotional intelligence model are Golemans’s Emotional Competencies and Bar-On’s emotional-social intelligence model.

The emotional competencies (Goleman) model

This is a model that was introduced by Daniel Goleman who portrays emotional intelligence as a combination of a variety of skills and competencies that strengthen managerial performance. The managerial performance in human resources is measured by a 360-degree feedback program known as the “multi-source feedback” or “multi-rate feedback” or “multi-source assessment” which assesses the employee in totality. (Goleman, D.1998).

In this model, Goleman developed 4 outlines for emotional intelligence. These main outlines include;

Self- awareness: This is the ability to understand ones emotions and recognizing their impact.

Self-management: being able to adapt to charging circumstances by controlling ones emotions.

Social awareness: being able to understand sense other people emotions and reacting to them while understanding the social networks.

Relationship management: which includes being able to inspire, develop and influence others in a conflict management set-up. Within each outline, Goleman included a set of emotional competencies which are learned capabilities and to achieve outstanding performance, must be developed and worked on. To learn the emotional competency, each individual is born with a level of emotional intelligence which determines the potential to learn.

Measurement tools utilized in this model include the ECI (Emotional Competency Inventory) an emotional intelligence appraisal taken as a 360-degree assessment or a self- report assessment. (Goleman, D.1998).

The Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence (ESI)

This model was developed by Reuven Bar-On who was a psychologist. He defined emotional intelligence as “involving the effective understanding of others including oneself and being able to relate well with people and developing the ability to deal effectively with the environmental dynamics and adapting and coping with them. According to Bar-On, emotional intelligence is developed over the time and improved by training therapy and programming (Bar-On, R.1997).

He developed what is termed as the “Emotional Quotient” which indicated a measure of emotional intelligence where higher EQ individuals are successful under any form of environmental demands and pressures. He also posited that Emotional Intelligence deficiency is usually accompanied by emotional problems. Therefore according to him, the potential to succeed in life lies in both the cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence. (Bar-On R.1997).

As a measurement tool the Bar-On Emotion Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was developed and estimates a person’s both emotional and social intelligence. It measures the individual’s mental ability to succeed in any environmental circumstance. (Bar-On, R.1997).

To obtain a Total Emotional Quotient (Total EQ), 133 items are used that inform and produce scores to correspond with the 5 main components of the model. (Bar-On, R.1997).

Emotional intelligence in the workplace.

At the work place the ability to “exercise clear and sound judgement in situations that the jobs role presents” solely depends on the emotional intelligence employees possess. It encompasses the ability to manage their own impulses, cope with change, effectively communicate with others, and solve problems and being able to make use of humour to defuse a tense situation. Such employees have the ability to empathise with others, are optimistic in the face of down turns and are effective in resolving customer complaints. Therefore emotional intelligence plays a vital role in separating top performers from weak ones at the work place.

At the work place certain emotional quotient Competencies correlate with each other to make it a successful place, such competencies include;

Social competencies

Social competencies describe a person’s ability to handle relationships. Inherent in the person is the awareness of the feelings and concerns of others. The social competency at the work place is very important because of various reasons mentioned below.

It enables the person to understand others by actively showing interest in other peoples’ concerns and interests. It’s an intuitive way of sensing the perspectives and feelings of others.

Customer service adaptation: being able to handle customer service responsibilities in a successful manner by being able to recognize, anticipate and meet the needs of customers.

Development of people: being able to identify other people’s needs of growth, development and mastering on the individuals strength.

Leveraging on others: being able to harness and cultivate growth opportunities through diverse people.

Social skills and political acumen

This is another important competence that is very important at the work place and it describes “our adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others” it is important because of various reasons, which include:

Communication: the ability not only to sent clear and convincing messages but messages that are under hood by others.

Influencing – ability to effectively utilize persuasion techniques to achieve positive and desired results.

Leadership being able to inspire and guide teams or groups of people by creating synergy to pursue and achieve collective goals in a team set up.

b). Personal Competencies

Personal Competencies are competencies that determine how an individual manages him/herself. This competency includes self awareness which is the ability to know the internal state of oneself, by understanding such factors as resources, instincts and inclinations At the work place the competence is of great importance for various reasons, some of which are;

Awareness of specific emotions: the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and the impact they have on those around us.

Accurate self-assessment: the ability to recognize one’s span of strengths and abilities

Self-confidence: Being sure of one’s self-worth, self esteem and capabilities.

Self Regulation: This is the ability to control or manage one’s internal impulses, states and resources. The competence is very important at the work place because it enables the individual cultivate a high level of self control in which he/she is able to manage any form of disruptive impulses or emotions. An individual is able to maintain a higher level of integrity and honesty which results to trustworthiness and conscientiousness by taking personal responsibility and accountability in any form of personal performance.

Motivation Emotional and self expectation tendencies which are important to achieve set goals. At the work place this competency is of great importance because it gives us the ability to impose on ourselves standards of excellence that we want to achieve in a certain time period. This in turn enables us to remain aligned and committed to the group’s and organization’s goals.

An individual also at this level acts at every opportunity without being told because he/she is self motivated and takes initiatives to achieve success in whatever challenge he/she comes across. The particular individual is always ready in whatever circumstance and is full of life and optimism, thus is very persistent in trying to achieve whatever goals regardless of the setbacks and obstacles placed on the path to the eventual success.http://www.zeroriskhr.com/Articles/EmotionalIntelligence.aspx

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on a company’s Bottom Line

Since the development of the Emotional Intelligence field, many companies have resorted to hard skills and personality traits assessment while focusing on the criteria for selection and training. Such hard skills include industry knowledge, technical expertise and education among others.

Previously such competence topics like “empathy, political/social acumen, stress management and assertiveness skills” were ignored and never measured in most companies’ development and training programs. Yet they are important factors that companies cannot afford to ignore, because in reality they have an effect on the company’s bottom-line.

To show the importance, a study of forty four Fortune 500 companies revealed that sales people with higher Emotional Quotient produced double revenue compared to the sales people with less or average Emotional Quotient scores. In yet another survey, technical programmers with higher EQ were developing up to 3 times more software than those ones with lower EQ.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the field of emotional intelligence is quite new in the field of psychological research, it is a field that should not be ignored by any progressive minded organization. Highly emotionally intelligent employees would turn out to be great assets not only to the organization but to the community of employees and customers that the organization interacts with. It important therefore for the organization to delve much deeper into this field and develop or adopt certain measurement procedures that would help with identifying and developing competent employees that would be the delight of the organization in the long run.

References

Bar-On, R. (1997). The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): a test of emotional intelligence. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books

Salovey P. & Mayers, J.D (1990): “Emotional Intelligence” Imagination, cognition andpersonality 9, 185-211

Mayer, J.D. & Salovey, P. (1997): What is emotional intelligence? Emotional development and emotional intelligence: educational applications (pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books.

Salovey P and Grewal D (2005): The Science of Emotional Intelligence. Current directions inpsychological science, Volume14 -6

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Introduction

Neglect and abuse are difficult concepts to define because they are not homogeneous terms and can include diverse experiences ranging from extreme deprivation to less extreme forms of abuse/neglect which may be short- or long-term (Skuse, 1989). The UK Government’s inter-agency document Working Together to Safeguard Children defines neglect as a ‘persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and or psychological needs’ (Department for Education, DfE, 2015, p.93). Neglect is defined as a parent/carer not providing a child with adequate food, clothing, shelter or adequate supervision, not protecting them from physical or emotional harm or providing them with medical care when necessary (DfE, 2015).A Abuse can be both physical and emotional. Physical abuse involves such actions as the child being burnt, scalded, poisoned or suffocated, other aspects of abuse include child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and radicalisation (DfE, 2015). Emotional abuse can occur independently, and is defined as including the persistent ridicule of the child by others and/or being told they are worthless, unwanted and unloved. Children may also suffer emotional abuse from bullying and cyber bulling (DfE, 2015). The aim of the following essay is to evaluate the effects of childhood neglect and abuse on the developing child, and whether there are long-term effects.

Case Studies of Deprivation

Many of the early studies that investigated the effects of neglect and abuse were undertaken with one or two children as case studies. For example, Curtiss (1989) documented the case of Genie who experience extreme neglect and physical and emotional abuse until she was 131/2. Genie was kept in isolation and had very limited exposure to language and was beaten if she made any sounds. Curtiss (1989) reports that Genie was never able to fully develop her language or social skills. However, Genie’s history in terms of her cognitive ability was not known, and it is possible she suffered from a learning disability and may never have developed language regardless of the deprivation she endured.

A study reported by KoluchovA? (1976) looked at twins who spent 5 years until the age of 7 locked in a cellar, enduring severe neglect and abuse. When they were found they appeared to be severely cognitively deficient, although it quickly became apparent that this was a result of deprivation. However, it is suggested by KoluchovA? (1976) that because they formed an attachment with each other and had also experienced 18 months of relatively adequate care in a children’s home before the abuse began they were protected against permanent damage. There was no evidence of long-term cognitive damage after their removal and their language developed normally. Because both examples are case studies, they are difficult to generalise to other abused or neglected children because the circumstances of Genie and the twins are so unique. The details of their childhood abuse and neglect were retrospective and may result in slight inaccuracies or omissions. However, it would of course be unethical to undertake studies of children experiencing such severe neglect and abuse until after the event has occurred and the children removed from the situation.

Bowlby (1977) argued that early experience from birth and forming an attachment, predominately with the mother, was a powerful factor in determining typical development of a child. Attachment involves the formation of strong affection bonds to others during a critical period of development (up until about the age of three), and enables the child to deal with stressors and emotional distress. This would appear to be supported by KoluchovA? (1976), as the twins formed an attachment with each other whereas Genie, who did not develop age appropriate skills had no-one with whom she could form an attachment (Curtiss, 1989). However, Werner (2000) found in her longitudinal study of children who were born and raised in adverse circumstances that there were a number of protective factors that helped the child develop resilience. One positive factor was the formation of an attachment with a caring supportive other (such as a grandparent or teacher). Werner, in part, supports Bowlby’s assertion of the importance of attachment, although the bond does not necessarily have to be the mother, it can be any other suitable person, which is also suggested by KoluchovA? (1976) in her study of the twins.

Studies of Groups of Children

A group who suffered extreme neglect and abuse were children incarcerated in concentration camps during the 2nd World War. Child survivors were interviewed 40 years after the camp was liberated with the focus on how they had adjusted to life after the war (Krell, 1985). Only one survivor from a total of 24 survivors was a patient at a psychiatric hospital. However, 40 years after the war, the child survivors were characterised by a desperate need to be perceived as ‘normal’, to belong and to cope, so they were not perceived as being different (Krell, 1985, p.379). The age of the child survivor was also important as adult survivors had memories of pre-war life, whereas many of the children had very few. The child survivors as a group were also characterised by ‘their affirmation of life’ and their ‘active compassion for others’ (Krell, 1985, p.379).

Robinson and Hemmendinger (1982, cited in Krell, 1985 p.379) report on 14 children liberated from Buchenwald camp. Communication with the children was difficult immediately after their liberation as they were hostile and were completely apathetic and indifferent to everything around them, and were described as ‘psychotic or psychopathic’ (Krell, 1985, p.379). 30 years later the child survivors reported psychological problems such as depression, insomnia and nightmares about their past. Both groups of child survivors emphasise the importance of their families. A further characteristic of the child survivors of the holocaust is that although the trauma the children experienced continued to have a pervasive negative influence in their lives, it existed simultaneously with a strong desire to survive, which Valent (1998) terms resilience in the face of enormous adversity. Another factor which helped the children survive, particularly very young children, was the development of an attachment with another person. The child survivors were able to adapt very quickly and suppress their emotions and after the camps were liberated the children also suppressed their memories and focused on their future lives (Valent, 1998).

Beckett et al. (2006) investigated the long-term effects of 131 Romanian adoptees compared to UK adoptees who were not institutionalised. The Romanian children ranged in age between less than 6 months to 42 months, and had experienced severe neglect in the institutions. The main findings were that deprivation had implications for the physical and psychological development of the Romanian children. Adverse effects remained present at age 11-years for those children who were over 6 months old when adopted although the outcomes for the children were diverse.

The children were tested on a range of cognitive abilities at age 6- and 11-years. The children who had not experienced institutionalise care had higher scores than those children from institutions, even after a number of years in a nurturing environment with their adoptive parents. The authors conclude that severe deprivation at a young age of 6 months can persist for a number of years, up to age 11. The children who showed cognitive impairment at age 6 showed substantial impairment at 11, which indicates that cognitive impairment is persistent (Beckett et al. 2006). This is supported by neuroimaging techniques which show distinct changes in the brain of children who were institutionalised at an early age. It is suggested by Beckett et al. (2006) that the results of their study are viewed with caution, as it is unique, and, fortunately, there are not many cases where large numbers of very young children experience severe neglect to make comparisons.

KoA?ovskA? et al. (2012) also studied adopted children who had experienced severe maltreatment and found that many of the children had a range of psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as disorganised patterns of attachment and indiscriminate friendliness, which is often found in maltreated children (KoA?ovskA? et al. 2012; KoluchovA? (1976). Kumsta et al. (2010) state that whilst there is a well-defined pattern of four specific symptoms displayed by institutionalised children there is not similar patterns shown by children who have experienced other types of neglect or abuse (e.g. sexual abuse). Therefore, it is not possible to predict what type of psychopathy will occur for other types of abuse or neglect (Kumsta, et al. 2010).

Thompson and Tabone (2010) investigated the effects of early childhood neglect when the child was younger than 4-years old. The study involved 242 children, 154 had a history of maltreatment (mainly neglect) and 88 children did not. The children were assessed at age 10-years on a range of behavioural measures including anxiety, depression, aggression and attention. It was shown that over time, the children who had experienced abuse showed a greater incidence of depression and anxiety as well as attention seeking behaviour although these behaviours were not evident when the child was younger. The finding suggests that young children experiencing abuse or neglect should be assessed throughout childhood for long-term effects (Thompson and Tabone, 2010).

Risk Factors for Negative Outcomes

According to Appleyard, Egeland, van Dulmen, and Sroufe (2005) there is a relationship between a high number of risk factors and the later adverse effects on the child, which can manifest, for example, as disruptive behaviour in adolescence. It is argued that there are five cumulative risk factors involved, which include; child abuse, high levels of parental stress, domestic violence between parents (that may involve children), dysfunctional family life and low socioeconomic status, and these factors present the greatest risk in early and middle childhood (Appleyard, et al. 2005). The factors are supported by Boyd and Bee, (2012) who suggest that there is a strong relationship between poverty, neglect and abuse as the children typically live in situations that are chaotic causing the child considerable stress, particularly if they have limited social or psychological support. In a longitudinal study, Peruzzi (2013) found that children from deprived backgrounds in the UK were rarely able to break the cycle of poverty and frequently displayed deviant behaviour as adolescents, had poor educational attainment and were socially excluded as adults.

Another longitudinal study which investigated risk factors for abuse and neglect as well as coping strategies involved 9-12 year-old boys in the Isle of Wight and also a group of children in London whose parents had mental health disorders (Rutter, Tizard, and Whitmore, 1970). It was found that if a child was exposed to at least four risk factors this could contribute to later maladjustment. The risk factors included; discord in the marriage, a low socioeconomic status, a large family, criminal activity by the father, the mental health of the mother and whether the child was placed in foster care (Rutter et al. 1979).

Conclusion

The evidence presented indicates that early childhood abuse and neglect, which is also referred to as deprivation, typically has a long-term detrimental effect on the cognitive, emotional and behavioural development of children. Thompson and Tabone (2010) suggest that the effects of deprivation may not be immediately apparent, and therefore assessments of abused and neglected children should be undertaken through childhood and adolescence. There were adverse effects reported by the child survivors of the holocaust, although they survived by suppressing their memories and emotions and focusing on their futures (Krell, 1985; Valent, 1998). There are difficulties with the methodology used in investigating the effects of childhood neglect and abuse. Firstly, some studies are case studies of one or two children which means the findings are difficult to generalise. Secondly, the information obtained is retrospective as it would be ethically unacceptable to study children in a situation where they were being neglected or abused. This means that information may be unintentionally distorted or over-exaggerated. A third issue is the wide diversity of situations in which abuse or neglect occurs and the individual differences of the children involved (Skuse, 1989). For some children there are many risk factors, such as poverty, which can exacerbate the effects of the neglect or abuse (Appleyard, et al. 2005; Boyd and Bee, 2012; Peruzzi 2013), or other factors such as a positive attachment figure who can mediate the effects of deprivation (Bowlby, 1977; Werner 2000).

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KoA?ovskA?, E., Puckering, C., Follan, M., Smillie, M. and Gorski, C., Barnes, J., Wilson, P. Young, D., Lidstone, E., Pritchett, R., Hockaday, H. and Minnis, H.A (2012). Neurodevelopmental problems in maltreated children referred with indiscriminate friendliness. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33, 1560-1565

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Prime Minister’s Questions is a weekly event, taking place on Wednesdays at midday in the House of Commons, in which Members of Parliament ask questions of the Prime Minister which he/she is obliged to answer over the course of approximately half an hour. Prior to 1997, this was instead two fifteen minute slots (Seaton and Winetrobe, 1999). The Leader of the Opposition is allocated six questions during this period. In the past, the Prime Minister has been able to transfer questions to relevant members of his/her Cabinet, and the Leader of the Opposition has foregone the opportunity to ask his/her allocated number of questions. Since the changes made under Tony Blair in 1997, the third-largest party (since then the Liberal Democrats) has been afforded the chance to ask two questions (Thomas, 2004: 5). The event has a long tradition in British politics and is considered a central element in the adversarial thrust of the parliamentary system and the House of Commons. It provides an opportunity for Members of Parliament to address questions and issues directly to the Prime Minister, and to have those issues answered and responded to (Gimson, 2012). As such, it is considered a cornerstone of the British political system. This paper will argue that it alone is not an effective means of holding the government to account, but that it forms an important constituent part in the wider adversarial democratic process of ensuring government accountability. It will also be noted that an increasing emphasis on point-scoring, machoism and unruly contentiousness is something which has detracted from the democratic effectiveness of Prime Minister’s Questions.

One of the central emphases of Prime Minister’s Questions is that the issues raised and questions put to the Prime Minister are ones which he/she does not know in advance. It is therefore seen as an opportunity for Members of Parliament to challenge the Prime Minister away from any prepared or scripted response. For this reason, Prime Minister’s Questions has been valued by the opposition and in some cases feared by the Prime Minister as it forces him or her to be very well briefed on the issues of the day, as well as to improvise and respond quickly and efficiently to unanticipated questions or issues which might be raised (Cowley, 2001: 820). However, it has been argued, both by politicians and by commentators, that the unruly nature of some Prime Minister’s Questions has meant that, rather than being an important part of the democratic process and a chance to hold the government to account, it has become something of a spectacle and an uncivilised shouting match.

This problem has indeed been raised by the current Speaker of the House, John Bercow, who has identified the ‘histrionics and cacophony of noise’ associated with the event (Mason and Edgington, 2014, n.p.). Bercow suggested in the same interview that female Members of Parliament in particular are driven to not attend Prime Minister’s Questions because of the machoism and unruliness of the behaviour in the House (Mason and Edgington, 2014). To the extent that the nature of the event discourages certain Members of Parliament from attending suggests that it is less than ideally effective as a democratic process. If not all Members wish to attend, not all the potential questions and issues which could or should be raised in Prime Minister’s Questions are going to be addressed. In such circumstances, it is possible that the emphasis is more on presentation and cheap point-scoring than on actual political processes and accountability, and that the ability of the Prime Minister to make jokes, cutting ripostes and other ‘style over substance’ elements in the debating process has taken centre stage. Given the relatively short duration of the event – half an hour per week – the possibility for unruly behaviour and disruption to undermine the process and ensure that little is actually said or achieved in the questioning session is all the greater (Murphy, 2014). Bates et al. (2014: 243) addressed in their research of Prime Minister’s Questions from Margaret Thatcher through to David Cameron, the question of whether or not the event has ‘become increasingly a focal point for shallow political point scoring rather than serious prime ministerial scrutiny’. They found some worrying evidence of Prime Minister’s Questions as both ‘rowdier and increasingly dominated by the main party leaders’ with Prime Ministers ‘increasingly expected to be able to respond to a wider range of questions’, female MPs ‘as likely to ask helpful questions but less likely to ask unanswerable questions than male counterparts’ and Members of Parliament being ‘less likely to ask helpful questions and more likely to ask unanswerable questions the longer their parliamentary tenure.’ These all suggest a less than ideal process of holding the government to account.

Thus it is necessary to distinguish between adversarial discourse which serves a political democratic process in holding the government to account on the one hand, and confrontational or aggressive behaviour which is simply point-scoring and face-saving on the other. Bull and Wells (2011: n.p.), in their study of ‘adversarial discourse’ in Prime Minister’s Questions, analysed the concept of ‘face-threatening acts’, and identified ‘six distinctive ways in which FTAs are performed by the leader of the opposition in questions and five distinctive ways in which the PM may counter FTAs in replies were identified.’ They concluded that ‘face aggravation in PMQs is not just an acceptable form of parliamentary discourse, it is both sanctioned and rewarded, a means whereby MPs may enhance their own status through aggressive facework.’ These face-threatening acts were ones which, without constituting non-parliamentary language (i.e. language which is deemed by the Speaker of the House to be directly insulting towards another Member of Parliament), nevertheless aimed at embarrassing or undermining the person at whom they were directed. This so-called ‘aggressive facework’ may serve a political purpose, and may constitute a challenge to the government and its representatives, but it is one which is based more on personality than politics, and one which therefore serves more of an interpersonal role within the House than it does a wider political role in ensuring democratic accountability.

Mohammed (2008: 380) characterises Prime Minister’s Questions in terms of institutional conventions, arguing that it has a structured purpose and format which achieves its ends by being institutionally defined. In other words, such a format for adversarial exchange, where there are clear rules and conventions of behaviour, is one which makes it effective and efficient in achieving its goals i.e. holding the government to account. Mohammed (2008: 380) highlights the ‘initial situation’ of Prime Minister’s Questions as being ‘a mixed difference of opinion concerning a proposition evaluating the performance of the government.’ This suggests that although the topical questions put to the Prime Minister may not be critical or aggressive in their nature, that what is presupposed in the questioning is nevertheless a process of accountability. The Prime Minister is recognised as the centre of the process, and he/she is called upon as ‘the main protagonist of the positive standpoint, since he is expected to always defend his government (sic)’ (Mohammed, 2008: 380). The emphasis on a single individual as representing the government and addressing the issues which are raised, and the executive manner of the role within the eponymous questions session, means that Prime Minister’s Questions does have a recognisable symbolic value as a means of holding the government to account.

As well as being well-codified and formalised, Prime Minister’s Questions is valued as a means of holding the government to account in terms of its importance (Lovenduski, 2012). This is reflected in the fact that Members of Parliament are present at Prime Minister’s Questions to a degree which far exceeds their presence during normal proceedings in the House of Commons. Salmond (2014: 321) has argued in favour of Prime Minister’s Questions as a democratic tool of accountability on these grounds, noting that the data demonstrates how ‘these open QTs are associated with higher levels of political knowledge, partisanship, and turnout.’ In that they attract a large number of parliamentarians, and therefore a wider gambit of democratic representation, they are a means of ensuring that the largest possible proportion of the electorate is represented during the session. Moreover, these members of the electorate are able to effectively have their issues put directly to the most important politician in the country. This was made explicitly evident recently by Jeremy Corbyn, whose first Prime Minister’s Questions session as newly-elected Leader of the Opposition involved him addressing questions to David Cameron directly from those members of the electorate who had put them to him in emails and letters. He went so far as to directly name these individuals and thereby to literally employ Prime Minister’s Questions as a platform in which members of the electorate could directly address their Prime Minister (BBC News, 2015).

In the same session, ‘Labour’s new leader said he wanted the weekly sessions to be less “theatrical” and Mr Cameron agreed there should be more focus on “substantial issues”‘ (BBC News, 2015). This returns to the issue raised earlier of the degree to which style and point-scoring at the personal level has taken precedent over substance and addressing issues at the political level. Indeed, this call for not only Prime Minister’s Questions but the political process more generally to become more substantial and less personality-oriented is one which has dominated the discourse of the last decade or so. Indeed, David Cameron promised when he was elected Leader of the Opposition to end “Punch and Judy” politics, and responded to Corbyn by saying that ‘no one would be more delighted than me’ if Prime Minister’s Questions were made into more of a ‘genuine exercise in asking questions and answering questions’ (BBC News, 2015). As such, there is a continued recognition of the fact that political processes have to negotiate between personal and political, style and substance, in their practices. However, to the extent that both Corbyn and Cameron recognise this problem, and claim to be willing to change it, there is evidence that Prime Minister’s Questions, if it has been less than ideal as a means of holding the government to account in the past, is likely to become more so in the future.

To conclude, therefore, it can be argued that there are strengths and weaknesses to Prime Minister’s Questions as a tool in ensuring government accountability to the electorate. Among the strengths, this essay has identified three key elements. Firstly, it is a well-regulated, formal system with recognised rules and proceedings. This means that this regular event runs efficiently and can allow for a number of important questions to be asked directly to the most important politician in the land and direct representative of the government. Secondly, the fact that the Prime Minister’s responses are not fully prepared in advance means that the session has an impromptu and spontaneous element which allows for potentially greater accountability. Thirdly, the session is well-attended by parliamentarians and well-recognised by people who follow politics (with its being broadcast on BBC2), and therefore it is also a high profile opportunity to raise issues and find the government accountable. However, whilst these benefits obtain, it is also notable that Prime Minister’s Questions can be less than ideal as a means of holding the government to account. Causes of this include the relatively short length of the sessions, their comparative infrequency being held only once a week and, as identified above, the fact that cheap point-scoring and what has been identified in the literature as ‘aggressive facework’ (Bull and Wells, 2011) constitute one of the central features of the questioning process. As such, there is the real possibility of what would otherwise be an effective means of holding the government to account descending into a competitive, mud-slinging match where the emphasis is on achieving personal goals rather than political ones. If the evidence of recent Prime Minister’s Questions is reliable, it can be noted in closing, there is a suggestion that this emphasis is being decreased, and that Prime Minister’s Questions may in the future become increasingly like the effective means of holding the government accountable that it has the potential to be.

References

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Bull, P. and Wells, P. (2011). Adversial Discourse in Prime Minister’s Questions. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. http://jls.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/10/01/0261927X11425034.abstract.

Cowley, P. (2001). The Commons: Mr Blair’s Lapdog?. Parliamentary Affairs, 54(4), 815-828.

Gimson, A. (2012). PMQs: That’s the Way to do It!. British Journalism Review, 23(3), 11-13.

Lovenduski, J. (2012). Prime Minister’s questions as political ritual. British Politics, 7(4), 314-340.

Mason, C. and Edgington, T. (2014). ‘Female MPs shunning PMQs, says John Bercow.’ BBC News. Available online [accessed 19th October 2015] at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27062577.

Mohammed, D. (2008). Institutional insights for analysing strategic manoeuvring in the British Prime Minister’s Question Time. Argumentation, 22(3), 377-393.

Murphy, J. (2014). (Im) politeness during Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK Parliament. Pragmatics and Society, 5(1), 76-104.

Salmond, R. (2014). Parliamentary question times: How legislative accountability mechanisms affect mass political engagement. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 20(3), 321-341.

Seaton, J. and Winetrobe, B. K. (1999). Modernising the commons. The Political Quarterly, 70(2), 152-160.

Thomas, G. P. (2004). United kingdom: the prime minister and parliament. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 10(2-3), 4-37.

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Introduction

Described as Scotland’s “biggest choice since 1707” (McLean et al, 2013, p. ix), the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence will provide a pivotal event for the current and future populations of Scotland as voters get the opportunity to decide whether or not they are to remain a part of Great Britain or become an independent nation. As McLean et al (2013) have referenced, 1707 was a year of major importance in Scottish history because it saw the passage of the Union with England Act by the Parliament of Scotland, thus legitimising the reciprocal Union with Scotland Act which was passed by its English counterpart the previous year (Davis, 1998). The Acts of Union have now stood for more than three centuries and, although there have been proposals to challenge it in recent years, this is the first time that the Scottish public have been given the opportunity to vote on the issue in a formal referendum. This essay will examine the issue of Scottish independence by providing an insight into the historical and political events that have led to the 2013 proposal to hold a referendum on the issue. It will also look in depth at the campaigns for and against Scottish independence in order to assess the approaches that each one has taken in order to sway voters towards their individual cause. This will ultimately facilitate the drawing of the conclusion that Scottish independence has the propensity to fundamentally alter the political landscape of the entire international community rather than being limited to a British and European context. However, although both campaigns relating to the referendum are fundamentally flawed, the choice made by the Scottish people will decide the nation’s fate for the foreseeable future.

Historical Background

Although this referendum is the first in/out vote to be held in relation to Scottish independence in the 21^st century, votes have previously been held over the issue of devolution. In both 1979 and 1997, Scottish devolution referendums were held with varying outcomes (Deacon, 2012). In the 1979 case, the yes vote did gain a majority but failed to attract 40% of the total electorate and therefore failed to achieve change (Dardanelli, 2006). However, in the 1997 referendum, there was clear majority support for both devolution of the Scottish Parliament, which was achieved in the Scotland Act 1998, and Parliament establishing the base rate of income tax (Dardanelli, 2006). In both instances then, there was significant support for the devolution of Scotland and important powers. As such, sovereignty has been an issue for some time, which is further reinforced by a study of cultural identity by Bechhofer and McCrone (2007). The study suggests that the Scottish people have come to feel more comfortable with the Scottish identity, with the British collective identity being weakened as a result, although it also noted that the “…relatively weak association between national identity, party support and views on constitutional change suggests that being Scottish is more cultural than political” (Bechhofer & McCrone, 2007, p. 251). According to the study, the sense of Scottishness has been growing exponentially in recent years and therefore the perceived demand for the referendum that the Scottish National Party (SNP) promised in its 2011 election manifesto (Leyland, 2013) has created a climate that is conducive to promoting and holding a vote that will decide the future of Scotland and, by extension, the UK as a whole.

The immediate events that led to the referendum are established in a House of Commons (2013) report that states that the formation of the SNP majority government following elections in 2011 led to a climate that was conducive to negotiating a referendum for independence with the UK government, thus leading to the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement. The binding referendum that was introduced in the Agreement was then introduced formally in the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill on 21^st March 2013 and the date for the vote was established as 18^th September 2014 (House of Commons, 2013). It was subsequently passed on 14^th November 2013 after it was agreed that the question of independence would be framed as “Should Scotland be an independent country?” (House of Commons, 2013, p. 5). Should the result ultimately be a yes vote then independence will occur on 24 ^th March 2016 (House of Commons, 2013). Although this brief timeline is heavily fact based, it provides an outline of the process that underpins the referendum at the present time and introduces a timescale for the process of achieving independence should the outcome of the referendum be a yes vote. This is of vital importance because it provides more than a year to establish the practicalities of independence and secure political links and alliances in order to create a stable nation. However, there are no official provisions in place for independence at the present time, thus rendering the political landscape an important element for analysis in a general overview of the referendum.

The Political Landscape

The political complexities that are attached to the referendum and indeed Scottish independence should the majority of the electorate vote yes to the established question are extensive. For example, Maxwell (2012, p. 13) raised the following political issues that would, by necessity, be asked of the government: “How could Scotland’s credit rating absorb the weight of Scotland’s debt legacy from the United Kingdom? How could Scotland be sure it would be admitted to the European Union? How could Scotland afford to start an Oil Fund when its budget would be in net fiscal deficit?” Of course, asking such questions immediately after the SNP was able to gain a majority government made it virtually impossible to offer coherent and accurate answers to these issues. However, there are certainly major concerns with the political implications of a complete Scottish divorce from Great Britain: “The Scottish vote is of almost equal importance to people in the rest of the UK and to the UK’s trading and treaty partners including the European Union (EU), the Council of Europe and NATO” (McLean et al, 2013, p. ix). Although there is no suggestion that Scotland will not seek to move forward without treaties in place with any of these wider political entities, the issue is one of sovereignty and somewhat ironically mirrors the UK’s wider struggle for British sovereignty with the European Union (Gifford, 2010). As such, it may provide an opportunity to negotiate and redefine boundaries with the EU but, regardless of whether that opportunity does present itself, ministers will negotiate for an independent Scotland and therefore will be doing so with a view to achieving the best agreement for the individual country.

Leading on from the issue of sovereignty, there have been political moves towards preparing for an independent political nation within Scotland. For example, on 16^th June 2014 a draft Constitution has been released by the SNP so as to establish the parameters of sovereignty. The drafting of a Constitution for an independent Scotland has also gone some way to addressing some of the political issues that surround the referendum. For example, upon its release to the media, ministers highlighted its nationalist sentiment: “Sturgeon said enshrining the sovereign will of the people gave legal meaning to the nationalists’ major complaint about the structure of the UK, where parties without a mandate from Scottish voters could make laws which affected them” (Carrell, 2014). However, the draft Constitution also stressed its adherence to both European and international law (Carrell, 2014), thus suggesting that the SNP are committed to ensuring that political links are formed with the European Union in order to prevent its isolation in the wake of independence from the Westminster political structures. Indeed, the Yes Campaign has addressed this issue on its website, stating that “Scotland already is part of the EU – so there is no doubt that we meet all the requirements for membership, and with our energy and fishing resources it is clearly common sense, and in the interests of the EU, that Scotland’s place in the EU continues seamlessly” (Yes Scotland, 2013). This anticipated seamless transition into an independent member state of the EU is highly complex with further facets addressed by the Yes Campaign in its white paper for an independent Scotland. As such, it is necessary to take a closer look at the campaign and the arguments made within it.

The Yes Campaign

The Yes Campaign, which is also known as Yes Scotland, is the campaign established to project the side of the argument in favour of independence and is therefore promoting issues that suggest that Scotland would be better off as a sovereign nation. For example, a recent article that appeared on the campaign’s website stressed the importance of Scottish sovereignty for the future of the nation. Gilmartin (2014) stated that “Scotland’s young people want to secure the best possible prospects for the future, but we don’t yet have the powers we need in Scotland to create more jobs and opportunities for the younger generation here.” This taps into the general belief that the Westminster government is removed from the people of Scotland, is unelected by them and therefore does not represent their best interests (McLean et al, 2013). In establishing a statement of need, this is designed to appeal to the generation of voters who would essentially have to endure the consequences of the outcome and would therefore underscore the need to cater for their own futures. The campaign is not just limited to targeting specific groups of voters who are likely to turn out though. Instead, it provides a multifaceted appeal that covers a whole range of interests and specifically Scottish issues. For example, the draft Constitution incorporates environmental protection issues, the needs of the Scottish islands, the safeguarding of children and the determination of income tax levels (Carrell, 2014). As such, it has been founded upon issues that are important to the Scottish people and therefore stresses the best interests of the nation.

However, the Yes Campaign has been the target of extensive criticism as a direct result of its links to the SNP, with Jacobs (2012) highlighting fears within other Scottish political parties that suggested that the Yes Campaign would be an SNP vehicle and therefore a political tool to secure power. Although this is based upon speculation and perception rather than fact, the SNP rhetoric is inextricably linked to the campaign as a direct result of its 2011 manifesto and commitment to holding the referendum so as to achieve Scottish independence. As such, this criticism has remained salient throughout. In addition, there has been criticism of some of the claims made by the campaign and politicians who support it. For example, Riley-Smith (2014) drew attention to criticism of the claims that Scotland would be wealthier than the UK after independence:

Prof John Kay, formerly on the First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisers, said it was a “mistake” for voters to think claims of an independent Scotland being one of the world’s wealthiest nations would mean more cash in their pockets. He warned that using GDP as a measure fails to reveal how much money bypasses locals by going straight to foreign companies…

Such sweeping statements are misleading and would provide a false premise for economic conditions after independence should the electorate choose to favour the yes vote. It also provides an inaccurate view of the state of the Scottish economy at the present time and how it would benefit the population. However, this is one of many issues that have been addressed by the No Campaign.

The No Campaign

The No Campaign, which is also known as the Better Together campaign, has largely been based upon the premise that Scotland enjoys major advantages because it is a part of the UK and it is likely to lose them should it choose independence. For example, the campaign points to the UK’s rebate, which is worth ?135 per household, as a major benefit of membership of the UK that would be lost should it seek to renegotiate with the EU’s leadership in the wake of the referendum (Better Together, 2013). It has also raised questions about the principles behind the Yes Campaign, such as its determination to retain Sterling as the currency of choice rather than joining the Euro (Scottish Government, 2013). For example, it has pointed out that there is no guarantee that Scotland will be able to remain a member of the EU if independent and neither can the government guarantee that it would not have to adopt the Euro should negotiations prove successful (Darling, 2014). As such, it challenges the hypothetical measures that the Yes Campaign has drawn attention to. It also questions the assertion that Scotland would be economically better off alone, with notable pro-UK figures highlighting that Scotland is still in economic recovery and is ill-equipped to compete in global markets on an equal footing with the UK let alone other nations (Scotland Now, 2014). However, Maxwell (2012) undermines the credibility of the figures used to draw such conclusions, stating that the data on which the No Campaign has assessed the prospects for the Scottish economy is fundamentally flawed. He states that the GERS (Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland) reports on which figures are based often utilise data that is two years old and therefore carries a warning about its accuracy in order to highlight the fact that major discrepancies may exist. Similarly, the Better Together campaign has been accused of failing to appeal to working people, who are now switching their votes to the Yes Campaign, in recent months (McAngus, 2014) and so will need to strategically rethink their appeal if it is to succeed in ensuring that Scotland remains a part of the UK.

Conclusions

In conclusion, this detailed but general overview of the Scottish independence referendum that is to be held in September 2014 effectively highlights the historical and political background to the vote, the political implications that could arise from a vote for independence and the nature of the campaigns that have been launched for both sides of the argument. Taking the political landscape first, the analysis does identify significant issues that must be resolved if there is ultimately a yes vote, particularly the nation’s membership of the European Union and international organisations like NATO. However, it is impossible for the government to be able to answer all questions related to these issues while the advent of independence is still hypothetical. No agreements can be put in place until after the referendum and so, although these problems must be considered in advance and proposals and contingency plans put forward, no negotiations can take place until afterwards. This also goes some way to explaining why the campaigns for and against Scottish independence are flawed to a degree. The debate is currently based upon perceptions, opinions and data that is several years old so it is no wonder that the issues being discussed are so contentious and spark strong feelings from both sides. Both campaigns are well organised and offer salient points but their ability to influence the vote will only be measured following the referendum. In short, the general overview of the referendum for Scottish independence to date is multifaceted and highly complex but it is also able to conclude that it will alter the political landscape of the entire international community rather than being limited to a British and European context. Relations with Scotland will change based on its own sovereignty rather than its dependence on Westminster if the electorate votes for independence. However, no matter what the outcome, the likelihood is it will be this generation’s final opportunity to determine Scotland’s future and so no vote should be taken lightly.

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To what extent, if any, is the Marxist distinction between ‘scientific’ and ‘utopian’ socialism justified?

This essay will return to the writings of Marx to assess to what extent he drew a distinction between “scientific” and “utopian” socialism. The essay will construct a reading of Marx that suggests he did not draw a distinction between scientific socialism and utopian socialism. Marx and Engels adopted a scientific methodology and thus, they did not believe that a socialist/communist society is utopian. However, the scientific method objected to elements of utopian socialism, which assumed “socialism is the expression of absolute truth, reason and justice, and has only to be discovered to conquer all the world by virtue of its own power. And as an absolute truth is independent of time, space, and of the historical development of man” (Engels, on-line). In contrast, Marxists base their socialism on a dialectical process, where a socialist/communist society is the natural culmination of the historical process. The dialectical process, Engels argues, is scientific: “Nature is the proof of dialectics, and it must be said for modern science that it has furnished this proof with very rich materials increasingly daily” (Engels, on-line). Thus, Marxists view history as a universal, teleological and pre-destined process, where history is the process by which “the spectre of communism” is made actual.

To understand Marx’s theory of history, and why he did not see a socialist/communist future as utopian but the culmination of a scientific process, it is important to elucidate Marx’s philosophy of science. The most important aspect of Marx’s philosophy of science for the purpose of this essay is to realise that “Marx thought that the human sciences and the natural sciences are governed by essentially the same methods” (Miller, 2000, p. 532). This means that the human sciences are predictable, measurable and observable in the same way as the natural sciences. However, in contrast, to traditional empiricists, Marx did not base prediction on clearly observable phenomenon; instead, he sought prediction by locating underlying causal structures (Miller, 2000, p. 532). This understanding of the human sciences and natural sciences led Marx to produce a theory of historical determinism, based on a dialectical historical materialism that constructed a communist society as both a scientific and utopian future.

Marx’s theory of history is derived from Hegel since he employs Hegel’s notion of history as a dialectical process. Goodwin argues that “Marx used the dialectical less technically and less insistently than Hegel, but [the dialectical] forms the basis of his conception of capitalism as ‘contradictory’ and ridden with class conflict” (Goodwin, 1997, p. 68). Therefore, the Hegelian influence on Marx cannot be overstated. However, as Hampsher-Monk notes there were two Hegelian outlooks at the time Marx was writing. One was conservative and attempted to show that the social/political status quo was rational and the historical process had been achieved; or, as Marx put it, it attempted to “turn philosophy inward” (Hampsher-Monk, 1992, p. 484). The second Hegelian outlook aimed to “turn philosophy outward” – that is to make what is currently an imperfect and irrational social reality conform to rationality (Hampsher-Monk, 1992, p. 484). Employing a dialectical understanding of history, Marx argued that capitalism possessed contradictions, and history was a process that would turn this irrational society into a rational society. Marx argued that a communist society would resolve contradiction and thus the dialectical produces a pre-determined historical future in a communist society.

Thus far, this essay has set out the dialectical process of history upon which Marx’s philosophy rests. It will now, explore the historical materialism that Marx argues drives the dialectical process. By marrying together a theory of historical materialism and dialectical determinism, it is possible to see how Marx understands how history would unfold, scientifically, into a communist society.

Marx takes a scientific study of history and society, but rather than basing his conclusions on empirical and measurable findings, he premises his theory of history on causal structures. For Marx, “every form of society has been based… on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 93). This theory of history links up to the Hegelian idea of a dialectical process that resolves contradiction by making the rational actual. First, though, this essay will sketch out Marx’s analysis of history up to the point he was writing, and how historical materialism had proceeded through various stages in world history.

Marx constructs a history that is a narrative based on a structure, rather than a series of random events. For Marx, class is the structure upon which the narrative of history rests, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 79). Marx argues that in previous stages of history, class was a complicated arrangement, but as the feudal system gave way to the capitalist system, the antagonism of the class system simplified. The capitalist system, for Marx, had led to society “splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 80). The Communist Manifesto, as Hampsher-Monk illustrates, is an “account of economic-historical development” (Hampsher-Monk, 1992, p. 515) which argues that revolutionary politics is necessary to complete the process..

According to Goodwin, Marx saw economic and technical innovation as the originator of all historical change, with the most recent example being the replacing of a feudal society with a capitalist society (Goodwin, 1997, p. 76). Marx’s theory is undoubtedly economic, with Hampsher-Monk arguing that Marx drew an analogy between economics and religion, where money was seen as a ‘jealous god’ (Hampsher-Monk, 1992, p. 496). This prioritising of money and economics explains why it is economic relations that are the base structure in Marx’s philosophy. Thus, when economic relations change, it “entails a transformation of the socio-political superstructure” (Goodwin, 1997, p. 76). In essence, historical materialism is the idea that economics constitutes the base structure of society, and a transformation in the economic structure is a part of the dialectical process of history, where contradictions in economic and social relations clash, and a new society emerges.

For the purposes of this paper, the most important point to draw out is that both historical materialism and the historical determinism of the dialectical process of history constitute a scientific theory in Marx’s philosophy. Marx argues that a socialist-communist society is not utopian, but part of the revolutionary process of the dialectical. It is now necessary to outline the “scientific” process by which capitalist society would collapse under its own contradictions, and be replaced by a socialist-communist society.

For Marx, the dialectical process behind history saw the bourgeois/capitalist system as the “last major stage before a fundamentally new political and economic order” (Held, 1996, p. 126). Marx’s scientific theory of history saw the capitalist order as, ultimately, succumbing to the socialist-communist order. Marx details how this would come about, and to understand this it is necessary to once again return to the idea of the dialectical process and contradictions. Held summarises Marx’s theory of the inevitability of revolutionary politics, by arguing that for Marx, capitalism was not a harmonious social order and the foundations of capitalism are undermined from within (Held, 1996, pp. 126-129). Thus, Marx argues that capitalism is undermined because of its contradictions, and the dialectical process requires the overthrow of the capitalist system.

Marx’s theory of contradiction within capitalism is based on his assertion of historical materialism, and his notion of exploitation. Marx argues that history has always been a struggle between oppressed and oppressor; thus, if it possible to observe exploitation, an oppressor and an oppressed class within capitalism, then it follows that history has not resolved the dialectical process. Marx argues that capitalism does possess such a contradiction, since “property… is based on the antagonism of capital and wage labour” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 97). Marx is, essentially, taking an objective, scientific look at the social-economic structure, arguing that it has not resolved class antagonism and therefore, the dialectical process is incomplete. Thus, for Marx, a socialist-communist revolution is not utopian, but a scientific ‘working-out’ of contradiction.

To conclude Marx’s theory of history, it is necessary to now look at how he saw revolutionary politics overturning the capitalist order, and how he thought a socialist-communist economic and social order would resolve the contradictions inherent in the capitalist order in order to produce a rational solution to the dialectical process. For Marx, revolution was inevitable, because revolution was the result of an antagonistic polarisation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The worsening conditions of the proletariat would automatically propel them into a revolutionary mind-set and into war with the bourgeoisie/capitalist class. This would lead to the proletariat revolution, which would wrestle power from one class to another. However, this final stage would require two phases. Firstly, revolution would lead to the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, and then the second phase would lead to “Proper Communism”. Taylor picks up on the homogenising and authoritarian streak in Marx’s communist vision. He wryly observes that Marx is claiming that he and The Communists were the ones who understood what was happening in the world, and when The Communists say they have no interests apart from those of the proletariat, they are assuming that “the proletariat would agree to have only the interests which Marx said it ought to have” (Taylor, 1985, p. 31). Marx concludes that the antagonism within the capitalist order is the result of the bourgeoisie’s exploitation of the capital of the proletariat; and, thus, the key to “The Communist programme was the abolition of private property” (Taylor, 1985, p. 31). This is critical to understanding that, for Marx, a socialist-communist society is not so much a Utopia, as a ‘working–out’ of the dialectical process. Marx’s scientific method to history rests on the notion that private property constitutes a contradiction within the capitalist order, and that the dialectical process will result in revolution to overthrow the capitalist order; therefore, a communist society is a scientific resolution necessity, rather than being a utopian ideal.

Goodwin argues that Marx was “reluctant to offer any detailed picture of the communist utopia” (Goodwin, 1997, p.81). However, Marx had identified the contradiction within capitalism that would lead to its overthrow, namely the antagonism between capitalists and workers and the exploitation that lay at the heart of this. Therefore, the implication of Marx’s thought is that a socialist-communist utopia would find a means to eradicate class exploitation. As Goodwin says, Marx may not have laid down a “blueprint”, but “the formal characteristics of communist society are made clear in his works, as are the particular principles on which it would operate” (Goodwin, 1997, p.81). As indicated earlier, Marx argued that all history was the history of class struggles; therefore, a socialist-communist society would be classless. By eliminating the antagonisms of class, the contradictions of capitalism would be resolved, and the dialectical process of history would be rationally worked through.

The elimination of class rests on the elimination of the capitalist means of production. Thus, “communism connotes the abolition of private property” (Goodwin, 1997, p.81). The “utopia” of communism-socialism is a classless society that has abolished private property. However, because of the historical materialism and dialectical process that underpins Marx’s theory, the communist “utopia” is also a scientific resolution to the contradictions within capitalism. It is the contradictions Engels within capitalism that will lead the dialectical process of history to produce a revolution that will usher in communism.

Taylor puts this succinctly “dialectical materialism would compel men to live in Utopia whatever the promptings of their heart” (Taylor, 1985, p. 10). Despite arguing that Marx saw a socialist-communist society as the inevitable result of a scientific process, it should not be underestimated how revolutionary his vision was. Marx was a revolutionary thinker, and he was calling for an overturning of the capitalist system. This was not utopian, as it was not the dreams of a “good place”, a utopia. Instead, Marx saw a socialist-communist society, based on the abolition of private property, as the rational solution to the dialectical process of history. His work is polemical, and he does not conceal the radical and revolutionary aspects of his political thought. He argues that The Communists “openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible and overthrow of all existing social conditions” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 120). He goes on to say that “the ruling classes tremble at a Communist revolution” (Marx and Engels, 1985, p. 120). Given that Marx is unequivocally envisaging the ordering of an entirely different economic, social and political structure, his vision has a utopian element. However, Marx, himself, denied that his vision was utopian. Instead, he saw a communist society, as the scientifically determined and rational culmination of the dialectical. Engels argued that utopian socialists did not look to history and science: “not one of them appears as a representative of the interests of that proletariat which historical development had, in the meantime, produced” (Engels, on-line). However, the drawing of this distinction has limited value, since the scientific method is designed to construct a dialectical logic that argues that the socialist-communist “utopia” is something that must be realized.

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Goodwin, Barbara (1997) Using Political Ideas (4th edition), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester pp. 65 – 97.

Hampsher-Monk, (1992). “Karl Marx” in A history of modern political thought: Major political thinkers from Hobbes to Marx, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford pp. 483 – 563.

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Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that liberal democracy is a system with a representative and limited government that operates within an accepted framework for political competition between different political parties. Regular elections are based on universal suffrage and are free and fair where individual rights are respected (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Based on this definition, this essay will argue that Russia has the potential to become a true democracy, but in recent years it has become an illiberal democracy or a competitive authoritarian regime. Levitsky and Way (2010) suggest competitive authoritarian regimes, or illiberal democracies, were competitive in the sense that they use competitive institutions to gain power. However, they use electoral manipulation and abuse state resources in favour of the incumbent regime (Levitsky and Way, 2010). This essay will explore how Russia has reached this stage from the formation of the 1993 constitution under Boris Yeltsin’s rule and how Vladimir Putin has transformed Russia into an illiberal democracy.

Under Yeltsin’s rule (1991-99), Russia adopted a new constitution following a referendum in 1993 (Darlington, 1995). This is the constitution that Russia still uses to this day, though it has been amended since. Under this constitution, Russia has a bicameral legislature with a Federal Assembly, a Constitutional Court and a Duma, the latter being the lower chamber of their legislature (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The president is subject to impeachment to a great degree under the Russian constitution, as the president needs a two-thirds majority in both parliamentary chambers plus confirmation by the courts, to ensure laws are passed (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Donaldson (2004) suggests that this was a time when Russia was strengthening its parliamentary and legal system. This constitution ensures that laws take precedence over presidential decrees, and the Duma played a significant part during the 1990s of resisting Yeltsin’s reforms (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Hague and Harrop (2013) praise Yeltsin’s rule as a time when Russia achieved substantial decentralisation of power. Hague and Harrop (2013) suggest that even under the changes to the Russian constitution Putin has brought in since the end of Yeltsin’s rule, Russia still has a more effective system of rule of law when compared to authoritarian China. Smith (2010) praises the 1993 constitution for ensuring that substantial legal reforms and new laws were passed to improve the legal system in Russia. The 1990s seemed like a decade where Russia could achieve true democracy because they established a constitution that allows the government to operate within a framework of limited government like in a liberal democracy.

Following the election of Putin in 2000 to the present day, the situation in Russia has changed dramatically. Firstly, Putin successfully centralised power by acquiring the appointments of regional governments throughout Russia and he created, in 2000, seven extra-constitutional federal okrugs (districts) to oversee lower level units (Hague and Harrop, 2013). Though the 1993 Russian constitution has received praise for moving Russia towards a parliamentary and legal system, the constitution has an inherent flaw of allowing the president too much power as a guarantor of the constitution (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This flaw allows the president to be able to override legislation through decrees and dismiss ministers (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The purpose behind this centralisation was to ensure that these branches of the federal government remain loyal to Moscow and allowed the state to reduce dissent (Hague and Harrop, 2013). It seemed like Russia was now losing its potential to become a true democracy as Putin was beginning the process of strengthening the president’s power over Russia. This has led to Russia becoming a competitive authoritarian regime. This was only the beginning of things to come. Ross’ (2010) suggestion that Russia is a ‘unitary state masquerading as a federation’ (p.170) seems a more accurate way to describe Russia under Putin.

Despite the work that Yeltsin made in the 1990s to ensure that the Russian constitution remained decentralised, Sharlet (2005) argues that there is now a gap between individual rights on paper and their realisation in practice since Putin came to power. Respect for individual rights are fundamental for a true democracy to exist, and this lack of respect for individual rights shows how much further away from a true democracy Russia has become under Putin to become a competitive authoritarian state. Throughout Putin’s time, the public have increasingly lost faith in the legal system and legal adjustments against the state have become increasingly difficult to enforce, particularly in the case of Russia’s richest oil oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Sharlet, 2005). Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 for fraud, and again in 2010 for money laundering (Donaldosn, 2015). His trials received international condemnation for being politically motivated and for its lack of due process (Donaldson, 2015).

Yet another distinguishing factor that contributes towards the growth of a competitive authoritarian regime in Russia under Putin is the lack of separation between the public and private sphere. Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that it is quite common in Russia for gangsters to participate in ‘free-for-all deals with the state’ and that ‘individual financiers pull the strings to fill their own pockets’ (p. 167). Putin even stated himself that he wants to decrease the degree of pluralism in Russia and how he wants ‘civil society to be adjunct to a strong state’ (Evans, 2005: p.112). For this reason, few promotional groups in Russia possess a mass membership (Evans, 2005). Despite this, Russia still has the potential to become a true democracy in allowing the promotion of business interests to the state and increase the amount of pluralism in Russia. As Peregudov (2011) argues, a network of business organisations has been established, and it is up and running. Yet, as Peregudov (2011) also highlights, the problem with this system is that it has received very little interest from Putin. It is little wonder that promotional groups in Russia do not possess a mass membership as they feel they have little influence under Putin, which demonstrates a further lack of true democracy in Russia.

It is not just business interests that are penalised under Putin’s Russia. It is also opposition parties that receive barely any attention from the media and are put at a disadvantage by the state. As Hague and Harrop (2013) suggest, in a liberal democracy, there has to be a framework for competition between different political parties. Yet in recent years, this has not happened under Putin, which shows that true democracy is not prevailing. As McFaul (2005) argues, in Russia there is an absence of independence within the media as oligarchic ranks and regional elites reduced the freedom of manoeuvre for opposition parties and political candidates. A 2004 survey showed that eighty-two per cent of Russians watched television and twenty-two per cent read newspapers, which demonstrates the scope to which Putin can reach out to people (Oates, 2005). The significant problem with Russia’s media is that there are one-hundred laws governing media conduct and many journalists fear that whatever they publish, will ultimately lead to their deaths (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This proved to be the case when journalist Anna Piltkovskaya was murdered under suspicious circumstances in 2006 (Donaldson, 2015). The 2012 presidential elections, where Putin was re-elected, despite already serving two terms, demonstrated the fundamental weaknesses behind the Russian constitution (Donaldson, 2015). Putin received considerable protest after the count was manipulated to ensure Putin was re-elected (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This is what Levitsky and Way (2010) describe as ‘electoral manipulation in a competitive authoritarian regime’ (p. 3). This move has brought Russia closer to becoming a competitive authoritarian regime. Putin reacted to the growth in protest to his rule in 2012 from feminist punk band, the Pussy Riot, by imprisoning them and he restricted the amount of protests people are allowed to hold in Russia (Hague and Harrop, 2013).

It is little wonder that people have little faith in political parties in Russia. As Huggins (2002) argues, crucial to a true democracy is that there is no limit to political participation. Russia has the worst levels of political participation amongst European nations with only one per cent of people in Russia members of political parties (Hague and Harrop, 2013). The 2011 parliamentary elections and 2012 presidential elections saw higher numbers of young people voting than in previous elections (Hague and Harrop, 2013). As White (2007) suggests, political parties seem to ‘come and go’ in Russia and this creates ‘a lack of party identification’ when compared to most parliamentary democracies (p. 27). The United Russia Party, founded by Putin in 2001, has dominated the Duma and the Federation Council since and won forty-nine per cent of the vote in the 2011 parliamentary elections (Donaldson, 2015). Levitsky and Way (2010) suggest that in competitive authoritarian regimes, the state abuses its power. The Kremlin used threats and bribes to ensure that this party was supported by Russia’s most powerful companies and regional governors (Hague and Harrop, 2013). This incident demonstrated that Russia possesses the characteristic features of a competitive authoritarian regime.

In 2008, Putin stood down as president so that Dimitry Medvedev could take over as president (Donaldson, 2015). In a cynical move, the constitution was extended so that the president could serve for six years and decided to become president again in March 2012 (Donaldson, 2015). Vladimir Rhyzkov, a Kremlin opponent and former Duma deputy who lost his seat in 2007, said of the extension terms of 2008: ‘This is very negative. Today, the president controls parliament, senate, the regions, and the bureaucracy’ (Donaldson, 2015). Hague and Harrop (2013) argue that Russia cannot achieve what is close to a liberal democracy because real change cannot occur until Putin resigns. As Donaldson (2015) argues, Russia has become ‘influenced by the power and personality of one man; Putin.’ As Levitsky and Way (2010) argue, rulers tend to make the results in a competitive authoritarian regime. Twigg (2005) praises the improvements in policy-making made by Putin in 2005 that replaced the era of Soviet privileges (free or subsidised housing, transportation, medicine for students and patients) with cash payments. Despite this, policy-making in post-communist Russia remains subject to the requirements of the political elite and industrialists who pose a threat to the president find regulations invoked against them (Hague and Harrop, 2013). For example, in 2006, Putin provided his allies from state-owned oil companies with a greater share of the Sakhalin-2 oil field by rewriting the contract with Royal Dutch Shell (Hague and Harrop, 2013: p. 359). Therefore, true democracy does not exist in Russia. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, summed up his views of the current situation in Russia in 2011: ‘We have everything- a president, a prime minister, courts and a parliament- but it’s more of an imitation’ (Donaldson, 2015). The culmination of these events has inevitably led Putin to distract attention from home by trying to restore ‘prestige and glory’ to the Russian nation through occupying Ukraine and the Baltic states to expand Russia’s territory (Donaldson, 2015).

Therefore, true democracy will not exist under Russia whilst Putin is still in charge. Russia has moved towards a competitive authoritarian regime instead. The potential for Russia to become a true democracy certainly existed under Yeltsin with the construction of the 1993 constitution which laid out the powers of the Duma, the Constitutional Court, the Federal Council and the president. The Duma played a leading part in blocking many of Yeltsin’s reforms and Russia moved towards establishing an effective parliamentary and legal system at this time. However, since the arrival of Putin, the state has centralised power to a large extent. The problem with the 1993 constitution was that it allowed the president too much power as both head of state and guarantor of the constitution. Putin has abused this clause by acquiring appointments for regional governments. Putin has ensured that the media plays a significant part in guaranteeing his re-election through electoral manipulation and giving less air time to his opponents. It may not be until 2024 that the potential for true democracy to exist in Russia re-emerges.

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“No commentator has seriously doubted the central importance of the theory of class for [Marx’s] work…it is as essential for his theory of history as it is for his analysis of the dynamics of capitalist society.” (Dahrendorf, 1959, 8) This essay examines this assertion and looks at where and how class operates within Marx’s comprehensive socio-economic theory. It analyses class as both a description and concept, and as a motor of social change – as both a structural, static element and as a dynamic, transformational one.

“The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles” are the opening words of The Communist Manifesto (Marx & Engels, 1967, 79). The entire first section of the tract is devoted to a description of classes throughout the history of humankind and how, in his own age, the emergence of two dominant classes – bourgeoisie and proletariat – was simplifying the social structure and making it ripe for revolutionary, emancipatory social change. Although Marx’s motivation for his wish to see social transformation was morally driven in the first instance, all his works eschew arguments based upon morality (Wheen, 1999). Instead, the emphasis is upon political imperatives and economic determinism, attempting to make his arguments and theories scientific and rational rather than appealing to a more intangible sense of justice and fairness.

For Marx, historical progress itself was the driver of social change, while social classes were the agents of transformation. Class definition is determined not by income or status, but by property relations which, in turn, are the result of the production process structure (Parkin, 1979). By presenting his social theories and his view of history in terms of class, such an epistemological and methodological model supported not only his analysis of society, but also his assertion that the proletariat would be the ultimate agent of human liberation ushering in a better world. Friedrich Engels claimed that Marx’s exposition of Scientific Socialism or Historic Materialism revealed immutable laws similar to the contemporaneous theories of Charles Darwin in the field of evolutionary biology (Bullock & Stalybrass, 1983). However, in claiming to discern scientific laws governing the workings and development of human society, Marx’s analysis ran the risk of becoming a predeterminist philosophy, or a form of historicism (Honderich, 1995).

Engels argued that in order “to make a science of Socialism, it had first to be placed upon a real basis.” (Engels, 1970, 43) The “realness” or authenticity elaborated by Marx and Engel placed the concept of class at the heart of subsequent Marxist philosophy. This centrality emerged from a conflict within the political left in the mid-19th century. Marx embarked upon a sustained campaign of argument and vilification against those he labelled “utopian socialists”, notably Henri de Saint-Simon, Pierre Proudhon, Francois Fourier, Eugen Duhring and Robert Owen. Although he conceded that these individuals were well-meaning, genuine believers in the principles of socialism, and successful in demonstrating through their works the ethical essence of socialism, nonetheless their paternalistic ideas were insufficient to produce comprehensive human emancipation (Wheen, 1999). They gave too little heed to the importance of class antagonism as the fundamental driver of the struggle for liberation.

In The Communist Manifesto, Marx argued that the utopian socialists committed their mistakes because the urban working class had not yet developed sufficiently for the significance of class conflict to be recognised (1848). However, this mild rebuke was followed by much more acerbic criticism. He asserted that setting up idealistic experimental communities aimed at showing there was an alternative to the exploitative nature of the capitalist mode of production removed the participants from the wider society and made them irrelevant. Furthermore, the utopians’ writings, theories and actions demonstrated not just an ignorance of, but also a denial of, the central importance of class struggle. Consequently, in seeking reconciliation between bourgeoisie and worker, such collusion made them class traitors (Marx & Engels, 1967). By adopting such an uncompromising position, Marx had committed himself to an analysis that relied upon class and class conflict to explain the past and predict the future. Other social divisions, such as race, gender, ethnicity and religion were thereafter relegated to being largely the products of economic relations – part of the superstructure of society rather than the more powerful base comprising productive forces and the relations of production (Hughes-Warrington, 2000).

Marx argued that throughout history successive waves of dominant classes, such as patricians, feudal lords and aristocrats, had merely replaced each other as exploiters of similarly successive underclasses, such as slaves, plebeians and serfs. The bourgeoisie were just the latest in a line of oppressors, but Marx asserted that they were both the apogee and the last of the exploiters (Muravchik, 2002). The emergence of the bourgeoisie superseding the aristocracy as the ruling elite was the result of the replacement of feudalism by capitalism and was characterised by industrialisation. Industrialisation was founded on the factory system which produced a new class – the proletariat. When this increasingly impoverished hired-hand sector with no part in the ownership of the means of production finally rose up in revolt against their masters, their subsequent rule would not, indeed could not, be oppressive because, consisting of almost everyone, they would have no one to exploit (Hughes-Warrington, 2000).

While the proletariat would eventually usher in socialism and eventually communism, this would not happen until they were organised. Furthermore, such organisation could not occur before the working class became aware of the nature of their oppression – namely that it was one class dividing and exploiting another rather than the moral failures of powerful individuals. This would be difficult because, “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.” (Marx, 2014, 11-12) If their consciousness was rooted in their class position, how could this chicken-and-egg scenario be resolved?

This was where the concept of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat became such a useful tool for later actual parties of government which claimed to be Marxist, in particular the regime of Stalin. Asserting that the Bolshevik/Communist Party was the vanguard of the proletariat and imbued with a consciousness somehow not beholden to their social existence, this served the purposes of allowing an elite to claim to be part of the emancipationist class, provided a useful scapegoating catch-all category of “bourgeois” for condemning and liquidating opposition, and created a reservoir of willing, obedient lower-level-leadership acolytes from the actual working class who were dependent upon accepting the ideology and direction of that elite for their accession to, and continued holding of, their privileged positions (Daniels, 2007).

However, in Marxist theory this was not how it was supposed to develop. Class consciousness, or the self-awareness of a shared, unified and unifying experience, was to be the mechanism by which revolutionary consciousness developed as workers became properly aware of the locus of their grievances rather than merely experiencing untargeted, unfocused discontent. It was the very struggle against exploitation which would produce the conditions where workers were forced to organise collectively and behave as a class, a process which would create the awareness of class and distinct class interests (Callinicos, 2010). Marx argued that keeping workers separate from each other, part of a wider phenomenon of alienation experienced by wage labourers, was an essential component of the capitalist/bourgeois system of control (Hampsher-Monk, 1992). However, just as factory-based capitalism produced the industrial proletariat, so too did it produce shared ideas which inclined the working class towards socialist solutions to their unjust existence. “What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” (Marx & Engels, 1967, 94)

Marxism sees the bourgeoisie as naturally taking measures to defend their class interests as well as their individual interests. Their most potent weapon is the state, Marx claiming that “the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” (Marx & Engels, 1967, 82) Marx viewed the state negatively and did not see it as a forum through which human emancipation and social justice could be achieved. The state was neither natural, neutral nor eternal, but simply a product of the era in which capitalism held sway. It was part of society’s superstructure, a view reinforced and elaborated upon by Lenin in 1917 in The State and Revolution: “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable”. (Lenin, 1917, 9)

Analysis of the state as the servant of capitalist vested interests demonstrates further the central and fundamental role class plays in Marxist theory. It effectively argues that there is a cohesive ruling class running capitalist societies. Despite frequent conflicts of interest among themselves, its constituent parts are ultimately united in defence of an economic and social system which works to their benefit. This dominant class, in contemporary Marxist theory, comprises not just the owners of capital, property and land, but includes senior management in large corporations, the top layers of the civil service, the judiciary, the diplomatic corps, military leaders and most of the leading figures in right-wing political parties, particularly conservative ones, although increasingly also figuring within “centrist” parties which have accepted the current neoliberal orthodoxy. While the owners of the means of production rarely hold any of the reins of political power, they are part of the same elite which provides the political leadership. The state is almost permanently under the control of the ruling class of the age, while parliamentary politics and democratic elections are in large measure facades concealing the self-interest and ultimate control of this powerful class-based elite (Coxall & Roberts, 1990).

Among more recent strains of Marxian theory, Structuralist Marxists have contributed most substance to modern class analysis. Among their most salient arguments is the assertion that contemporary liberal-democratic states steer popular perceptions of political struggle away from class-conflict interpretations and towards discourses framed in terms of rights and justice. Although the state colludes in upholding and promoting a social and economic hierarchical class system, it successfully blinds the exploited to their exploitation (Resch, 1992). Furthermore, the contemporary ruling class prefers a state which does not overtly promote their material interests, but quietly upholds their political interests. Among other activities, it does this in democratic states by redefining workers, who are in reality a class of people, as political subjects and autonomous citizens, thus isolating them from each other under the guise of upholding the rights of the individual. The aim is to hide the fact of class relationships between and among classes, and to persuade people into accepting that their interests are part of a fictional “national interest” and that the state is the surest and most legitimate defender of their freedoms and material interests (Poulantzas, 1973).

This study agrees with the opening quotation’s assertion about the centrality of class to Marxist thought, and would add that it was also critical for the (overly) optimistic predictions of imminent proletarian revolution in The Communist Manifesto. The decision to use class as the epistemological prism through which to analyse socio-economic dynamics was essential for a theory which sought to explain almost all of human history’s trajectory towards the contemporary situation of the mid 19th century – then project it forward as a teleological theory with an endpoint in the fairly near future. Class was the unifier of the theory, the motor of change and the provider of agency. Originally embarked upon to explain how the European transition from feudalism to capitalism occurred, it gradually transmuted into a metahistory of humankind (Hampsher-Monk, 1992). However, Marx’s knowledge of history was selective and sketchy, and the further back in time that he went, the more speculative it became (Hobsbawm, 2011). Critically too, his analysis was Eurocentric, dismissed religion too easily, omitted gender relations, and was surprisingly dismissive of the power of ideas vis-a-vis economic developments (Hughes-Warrington, 2000).

As an explanatory tool, as a justification for revolution, as a motivator, and as a call to action – “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it”, (Marx, 1994, 98) – the concept of class has proved a vital, useful and enduring tool. Although global socio-economic structures have moved on immeasurably since Marx was writing a century-and-a-half ago, not only the concept of class, but also the very terminologies used by him (proletariat, bourgeoisie, relations of production) are still the coinage of discourse in much Marxist writing. Depending upon one one’s point of view, this is either an attestation of the enduring truths contained within his perceptive writings, or else a dogmatic adherence to semi-sacred texts akin to biblical fundamentalists refusing to accept that the Old Testament is anything other than literal truth.

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