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Analyse the business model of supermarket chain Aldi
Introduction

Aldi, a German supermarket chain, entered the UK market in 1990 and now operates a network of over 500 stores (Aldi, 2014). The competitive landscape for UK supermarkets is fierce (Sandberg, 2013) with many different strategies being adopted, each aligned to a different segment of the market. Aldi focuses on delivering a basic, value for money shopping experience (Naslund, 2013). Such a cost leadership strategy and lower cost structure enables discount companies to enter and take a larger percentage share of the market (Harvard Business Review, 2005).

As consumers focus on saving money in times of recession, the business model used by Aldi presents an opportunity to save money on weekly food shopping whilst still buying healthy food. Supermarkets following a low cost leadership strategy often stock the same product as their rivals but deliver it under a different service model (Harvard Business Review, 2005). Smaller companies, such as Aldi, do not spend as much time publicising their plans or marketing their products, this can create competitive advantage as they are less exposed to public opinion. This leads to an information gap, however it also allows them to develop and grow quickly whilst adapting to the changing trends (Skordili, 2013). The increased demand for cheaper food is better served by discount retailers. It also removes a significant cost associated with in store branding, technology and functionality, enabling the same or similar products to be offered cheaper.

The external business environment is made up of two elements; the general macro environment which takes a wide lens view of the environment in which the business operates and the micro view which focuses on the specific industry or sector in which the business operates (McLean, 2005). The external environment refers to events or trends, which are relevant to the business, as well as being uncontrollable by the business. The external environment directly contributes to the success or failure of the business, for example in 2010 Aldi left the marketplace in Greece citing unfavourable external factors as the reason (Skordili, 2013). By understanding the external environment leaders make better decisions (Kefalas, 1981); knowing the likely impact of that decision and knowing what might affect the organisation in the future. The external business environment is changing faster than ever (Mason, 2007) and therefore being able to understand, anticipate and adapt to changing trends is a key leadership skill (Kotter, 1996).

This essay presents an analysis of the external business environment in which Aldi UK operates. Analysis of the general macro environment using PEST before a more focused analysis of the retail supermarket sector is conducted using Porter’s Five Forces Model in order to draw conclusions.

The External Business Environment

Stacey (2011) explains that the dynamic of this macro external market place can be categorised into a number of headings for the purpose of analysis. PEST allows a business to periodically scan the environment to anticipate future trends as well as identify current challenges. PEST scanning splits the environment into 4 key factors: Political, Economic, Social and Technology. This is a commonly used, simple model which allows the general market to be scanned.

The micro external environment was described by Porter as being concerned with getting raw materials to consumers, suppliers to buyers and how the connection are made in a competitive way (Linstead, Fulop and Lilley, 2004). In this model the specific sector or market in which the organisation operates is analysed, this allows the specific market challenges within that sector to be understood for that organisation. To undertake this micro level analysis Porter created a model called the Five Forces which looks at the interaction between the forces. At the heart of the model is ‘competitive rivalry’ which is impacted by 4 other forces:

Power of suppliers
Threat of new entrants
Power of customers
Threat of substitutes

Porter argued success was created by the organisations ability to negotiate with suppliers to get the right prices which enable a low cost leadership model or enable larger margins. By putting itself in this position the organisation remains in the driving seat.

PEST Analysis

There are a number of factors which Aldi need to consider as part of their PEST analysis of the UK marketplace.

The Political Environment
The UK elections in May 2015 may result in a change of government. A new government may impose new legislation, tax implications and market conditions. Furthermore, with some of the parties pledging a European referendum as part of their campaign, such a move could lead to the UK leaving the European Union which, as a German company, may present a further risk which will need to be addressed.
Employment legislation continues to change on a regular basis, 2015 has already seen significant changes with the introduction of shared parental leave (ACAS, 2015). There are continued discussions around the extension of paternity leave. Such changes have an economic impact on the business but also create risk that staff may take a case to tribunal.
It is proposed that zero-hour contracts will be abolished in 2015 (ACAS, 2015), as a supermarket it is likely that seasonal staffing is used in busy periods such as Christmas. Without zero hour contracts this could become harder to staff and more expensive.
As a European company, EU legislation is also a factor to consider as any change at a EU level will also have a direct impact on the organisation.
The Economic Environment
As the UK economy moves out of recession, there could be a change of buying behaviour from low-cost stores back to mainstream supermarkets. This shift could have a detrimental effect on market share. Aldi may need to consider how to compete in such conditions, if at all.
During times of financial pressure consumers turn to cheaper food suppliers (Skordili, 2013), which has created an ideal market for Aldi in the UK and has contributed to its growth.
This may in turn change demand, supply and fundamentally affect pricing creating instability in the company as customers go back to higher priced competitors.
A change in government may also create a different in tax requirements, which could become more costly.
Success is created through a finely tuned supply chain, with distribution and logistical capability becoming one of the key competitive weapons available (Sandberg, 2013). Aldi operates a model which has created success in Germany where the main point of competition is price, with consumers preferring lower levels of service and a narrower choice to enable a lower price (Fernie and Arnold, 2002).
The Social Environment
Discount chains could be met with a degree of social stigma, as the economy rises individuals may want to shop at more expensive leading names such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s or even Waitrose.
The UK has an aging population (Cracknell, 2010), an older workforce may be more costly in terms of sickness and present further problems for employers. With the introduction of auto-enrolment for pension schemes this adds a further cost to the business as employers will have to contribute to employees pensions.
As competitors such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s introduce a more diverse range of products including clothing, non food items, opticians, chemists, travel agencies and more which could see a change of buying behaviour.
Competitors also offer a 24 hour opening service, as the way people work becomes more diverse over time will this see a change in buying habits. Aldi may need to consider this strategy as a way to maintain market share. This will carry increased costs both in terms of overheads and staffing costs.
There have been a number of international companies highlighted in the press due to their accounting practice and what this means in terms of where they pay their tax (Barford and Holt, 2013) This could lead to a change in favour by UK consumers who may feel increased loyalty to UK established firms.
By operating a narrower product range, Aldi has moved away from abundance of choice and created a streamlined shopping experience. Busy family life may benefit from this approach of making the shopping process quicker and more focused.
The Technological Environment
Online and mobile shopping is becoming increasingly popular (Butler, 2013), currently not offered by Aldi this may be a strategy that needs to be considered. This may also need to be enhanced with other technology led initiatives such as in-store media, self-checkout and access to Wifi.
Technological infrastructures are a key component of the supply chain of the modern business, intelligent stock management and supply is key to success.
Point of sale systems and checkout facilities are significantly different in larger stores, Aldi operates a traditional conveyor belt approach with no options for self service. Enhanced service from competitors such as offering to pack up bags for consumers creates a different in store experience however the average time per person will increase.
Five Forces Analysis

Within the grocery sector in the UK there is fierce competitive rivalry. A micro analysis is presented below:

Threat of New Entrants – Low

The threat of new entrants is relatively low due to the cost of entry and the competitive environments.

The cost requirement for a new brand to establish itself in the market is high. Building a large retail estate network coupled with stock levels will take significant investment.

As Tesco enters a period of decline, due to what is widely considered unethical practice, bad financial management and abuse of power (Proud, 2015). This may lead to a decline in consumer favour leading to opportunities for merger and acquisition of the brand.

Threat of Substitute Products – Medium / HighBy offering a narrow product range, Aldi remains agile to changing trends. Products can be changed quickly in the event of changing market trends.
Aldi operates relatively small stores therefore limiting the number of products that can be offered. Substituted could therefore be offered by larger stores, with more space to offer an increased product range.
The Bargaining Power of Suppliers – Low
Supermarkets have greater bargaining power than suppliers, often pushing for discounts and favourable terms due to the scale of buying power (Proud, 2015).
Suppliers may favour larger orders from the bigger competitors, therefore are less willing to offer discounts and offers to the Aldi chain. However Aldi still operates a chain of 500 stores so has a degree of buying power in its own right. It also has the additional power to buy across multiple countries in order to get favourable terms.
The Bargaining Power of Buyers – High
Buyers can make choices about which supermarket to use very easily based on offers, availability of items and ease of access.
Aldi does not offer a loyalty scheme so there is no additional incentive to return week on week.
Rivalry among Existing Firms – High
The sector is subject to intense rivalry with a focus on cost. Many brands offer to match prices of their competitors and undertake price comparison activities. This fierce rivalry leads to aggressive marketing campaigns with each player trying to win market share from the other. This increase competitive activity creates additional costs through advertising and marketing as well as leading to reduced prices (Linstead, Fulop and Lilley, 2004.
Aldi operates on a low level of fixed costs in order to deliver lower priced products, with competitors also targeting this lower price point this presents a risk to Aldi if they are not able or willing to invest in advertising to address such activity.
Conclusions

Aldi operates in a highly competitive market place, both the macro and micro perspectives show challenging market conditions. Whilst new entrants are unlikely there is a clear need to explore changing customer buying trends and how interactive routes to market contribute to customer loyalty. With buying patterns moving towards 24 hour shopping, online marketing and self-service, consideration needs to be made around whether this needs to be included in Aldi’s long term strategy.

The UK election in May 2015 presents the most immediate challenge, particularly if that results in a change of government and possible European referendum. Should the UK leave the EU this is likely to present Aldi with a financial challenge as well as imposing possible import restrictions for products. Equally, such a move could also see buying trends move towards British companies.

Aldi continues to thrive in the market, however a change in the disposable income of its customers may also change buying habits. Focus on retention of market share needs to be integrated into the strategic sustainability plans, particularly in the absence of any loyalty schemes. Continual development and alignment to its target market is critically important to maintain market share and ultimately survive.

Consideration needs to be made around what consumers want from their experience. By undertaking market research and focus groups Aldi will be able to understand what is working and what may be useful to start to consider. In a world where change is the norm it should be expected that all businesses will have to adapt and become more agile to some degree.

References:

ACAS (2015). www.acas.org

Aldi (2014). www.aldisuppliers.co.uk

Auyama, Y. (2007). Oligopoly and the Structural Paradox of Retail TNCs: an assessment of Carrefour and Walmart in Japan. Journal of Economic Geography. 7. P471-490.

Barford, V. and Holt, G. (2013). Google, Amazon, Starbucks: The rise of tax shaming. BBC News (retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20560359)

Butler, S. (2013). Online and Upward: UK internet shopping hits record high. The Guardian (retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/17/online-internet-shopping-high-street-record)

Cracknell, R. (2010). The Ageing Population. Key Issues for the New Parliament. House of Parliament Library Research. (retrieved from http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons/lib/research/key_issues/Key-Issues-The-ageing-population2007.pdf)

Fernie, J. and Arnold, S. (2002). Walmart in Europe; prospects for Germany, the UK and France. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management. 30 (2). P 92–102.

Harvard Business Review (2005). Strategy; create and implement the best strategy for your business. Boston, MA.

Kefalas, A. G. (1981). Analysing Changes in the External Business Environment. Planning Review. 9 (4). P26-46.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Kill Complacency. Fortune. 5. P 122-4.

Linstead, S., Fulop, L. and Lilley, S. (2004). Management and Organisation; a critical text. Palgrave, New York. NY.

McLean, J. (2005). Management Techniques and Theories. British Journal of Administrative Management. 48. 17-17.

Mason, R. B. (2007). The External Environment Effect on Management and Strategy. Management Decisions. 45 (1). P10-28.

Naslund, D. (2013). Keeping the Customer (relatively) satisfied. Strategic Direction. 30 (3). P13-15.

Proud, A. (2015). The decline of Tesco is a good, old-fashioned morality tale. The Guardian. (retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11351115/The-decline-of-Tesco-is-a-good-old-fashioned-morality-tale.html)

Sandberg, E. (2013). Understanding logistics-based competition in retail; a business model approach. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management. 41(3). P.176-188.

Skordili, S. (2013). The Sjourn of Aldi in Greece. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research. 8 (1).

Stacey, R.D. (2011). Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics. Laureate Education Inc. London, England.

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On a global scale, several important firms are determined to attain “Agile management” as this enhances a company’s capability to swiftly manage” internal and external” transformation and gain competitive advantage (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831). An “agile” company is adept in its ability to “detect changing markets, rapidly learn to take advantage of these market changes, detect new techniques, adapt these techniques to organisational culture” in order to incorporate them into the company “while maintaining their spirit”, efficiently exploiting them to meet changing “standards in diverse markets” and adapting “products to individual preferences” (Desouza, 2006, p123). To be able to react rapidly to transformation by making “quick decisions” on methods to counter the transformation and consequently execute the methods, it is crucial for organisations to effectively utilise Information Technology (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831).

A Management information System (MIS) is useful by way of its procedure and as such it must be effortlessly up to standard for a firm (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831). The usefulness of MIS is measured by how much the system is utilised, whether end-users are content with the system, “favourable attitudes about MIS functions, achievement of objectives” and whether it increases business profitability (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831).

MIS Risk

As an MIS system is made up of “hardware and software”, consequently transformations in the system make it susceptible to a “penalty of change” such as “system failure” or other costly time consuming risks (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831). As such technology must be effectively applied to the MIS “infrastructure (hardware, software and data)” in order to eliminate or minimise system risk (Khosrow-Pour, 2001, p 831).

MIS issue

A “field research” at a UK bank to analyse a “multidisciplinary” move towards “empirical investigation” on handling Information Technology concluded that the dialogue between those “who request development of a management information system (MIS), the client or sponsor and the technologists” who build the systems usually creates a “confused picture” (Currie, 1995, p7). The clients are usually not clear about their systems requirements and consequently this leaves room for interpretation on the part of the “technologists” (Currie, 1995, p7). In addition, an “ad hoc approach” originates from problems experienced by “project managers” in detecting suitable “financial and non-financial performance” measures for continuous observing and managing of Information Technology projects (Currie, 1995, p7).

How to address the MIS issue

The issue is a result of miscommunication between the business and Information Technology. Management has to ensure that the dialogue between the two teams is effective and also that organisation goals such as high productivity and cost reduction are included in the planning of an MIS systems implementation or change.

Design/UCD Failures

Strategic Information Systems can sustain and “shape” business strategy to impact “organisational performance” in a relationship that forms a “trilogy” (Croteau et al, 2001, p78) however; the design and development” of Information Systems plays a major factor in the use of Information Technology (Das et al 1991, cited in Croteau et al 2001, page 80). User centred design places the end user’s requirements and ability at the “forefront”, conversely current technology focuses on the quest for technology answers with no consideration for the end user’s requirements in terms of “functionality” and ease of use (Kent et al, 2003, p87).

UCD Failures

An eminent online book retailer’s first online ordering system had a major costly flaw (Hambling et al, 2008, p10). System developers had included an electronic refund facility that allowed users to receive credit on their debit or credit cards if they purchased a negative number of books (Hambling et al, 2008, p10). During testing the systems developers did not anticipate that online shoppers would try to order a negative number (Hambling et al, 2008, p10). The program was amended to allow only the retailer’s administrative staff to carry out refunds (Hambling et al, 2008, p10).
Another UCD failure resulting from inadequate software design and testing was when the “European Space Agency Ariane 5” was initially launched in June 1996 and failed after 37.5 seconds (Hambling et al, 2008, p10). A software glitch resulted in the rocket deviating from its “vertical ascent” and had to be put into “self-destruct” mode to prevent the disastrous consequences of an active horizontal rocket (Hambling et al, 2008, p10).
Furthermore, when the UK government launched “online filing tax returns”, a weak security design allowed access to other users’ confidential earnings data regardless of log in location (Hambling et al, 2008, p10).

How to prevent UCD failures

A manager must ensure that the end users of the system are the main focus of any system design with particular reference to a user’s computer skills, security and the main objective of building the system, to improve business process. Consequently if the design is user focused; it is bound to function as intended. In addition, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the process whereby end users test a system to ensure that it “meets their business needs” (Hambling et al, 2008, p45). Although this process is seen as the responsibility of the end users of a system, it should be managed by managers to prevent errors (Hambling et al, 2008, p45).

Project Failures

A failed project is one that exceeds its set budget, over runs, does not incorporate organisational goals or just one that is cancelled (Standish Group International 1994, cited in Linberg 1999, page178). The proportion of IT systems failure is still high when compared to other technologically advanced projects (Yeo, 2002) and although there have been some “success stories” in systems “development” projects these have been overshadowed by “broadly publicised failures” (Linberg, 1999, p177). When Information Systems projects fail, the trustworthiness of technical staff is negatively impacted (Remenyi, 1999, p5) and it is believed that the lack of risk management has greatly contributed to these project failures (Remenyi, 1999, p9). With particular reference to Information Systems projects, failure can range from little technical hardware problems to total “system failure” that harms a firm’s business activity by creating huge costs (Remenyi, 1999, p19). Consequently, ineffective risk management is synonymous with leaving the results of a project to chance and “unfounded optimism” (Fairley 1990, cited in Remenyi 1999, page9).

Project Failure Issues

When there are unrealistic expectations and people “try to do the impossible”, projects are likely to fail (Linberg, 1999, p177). A good example is a company bending over backwards in an attempt not to lose a significant client (Linberg, 1999). An unrealistic software development project deadline was set and when programmers protested profusely that is was just impossible, more programmers were added on to the project that was already operating around the clock (Linberg, 1999). Needless to say the project failed and the client was not retained (Linberg, 1999).
Another example of a failed project was a large one that over run by at least eighteen months, had eight absconding “team leaders” out of a total nine, lacked clarity in the project definition and involved excessive working hours of more than sixty a week. However because the project was eventually finished, the project programmers did not have see the project as a failure even though it was due to the very late completion and inadequate project planning (Linberg, 1999).

How to address the project failure issues

The approach to the first project should have been honest and realistic in order to meet the client’s needs and also increase the likelihood of repeat business with the client. This is due to the fact that “a consulting engagement is successful if the consultant has met client expectations” (McLachlin, 2000) and if this is the situation then” the consultant has enhanced his or her reputation, with expectations of future revenue streams – whether or not any immediate income has been received” (McLachlin, 2000). Consequently business managers should first ensure that they can deliver before taking on the task.
With reference to the second project failure, a carefully structured project plan with a clear project definition needs to be in place before management embarks on a project. A well structure project plan with carefully allocated resources, effective risk management and well monitored project stages will introduce and enforce project and budget controls.

E-Commerce and its Issues

E-commerce is a compressed name for a broad range of unified business ideas, “technologies and cultural phenomena” (May, p2). E-commerce is about online retail commerce for certain individuals and for others, it concerns the sale of advertising space amongst other things (May, p2). Nevertheless, irrespective of its definition, E-commerce has warranted a lot of interest and in fact it is a vital transformation in “the way business is conducted” (May, p2). E-commerce has resulted in creating new prospects for several businesses in various industries to contend in the “global marketplace” (Chaffey, 2006, p4). As a result of readily available information on businesses, goods and services, companies are rapidly expanding the customer base and retaining customers due to the resulting improved client-customer relationships (Chaffey, 2006, p5).
However, E-commerce software programs need more technical support than a good number of conventional “business systems” (May, 2000, p222). Business to business and “business-consumer” online programs demand twenty four operations around the clock, seven days a week right through the year (May, 2000, p222). Even though mirror sites are run to ensure “scalability”, web systems failure still occurs with several pages experiencing downtime (May, 2000, p222).

E-commerce Issue

A website experienced an overload and needed to be taken offline in November 2005 due it being incapable of handling a lot of simultaneous logins resulting from publicity on some information on the website (Hambling et al, 2008, p10). Although this is a frequent occurrence in today’s online activity, the main issue in E-commerce is security risk and as the confidence of shoppers determines the frequency and amount of purchases made online, this is indeed a very significant point.
An online consumer’s perception of security is affected by absence or presence of “third party certification” software on their websites (Pingjun et al, 2008). A review of a representation of the link between “third-party identifying logos, trust transfer and trust build-up” based on information acquired from an “online survey” confirms that when online consumers see a “third-party seal” on a shopping website, they tend to transfer their trust in the security “logo” to “online e-marketers” (Pingjun et al, 2008).
These issues should be handled by anticipate overload from a technical perspective and also by ensure the consumer confidence is gained and retained in E-commerce.

New Technology

Today’s world is an age of unique transformations within technology in the midst of technology transforming communication, work, how business is conducted and how people socialise (Boreham, 2006, p1). When new technology is implemented, it is expected that management will impact how it is adapted by the workforce, despite this, an empirical study states otherwise (Leonard-Barton et al, 1988). When new technology is implemented, staff with existing technical abilities adapt automatically whereas staff low on computer literacy skills wait to be directed by management (Leonard-Barton et al, 1988).
However, as an increasing amount of time and “investment capital” is absorbed by Information Technology and its consequences, business managers have a developing “awareness” that technology cannot be the “exclusive territory” of specialised IT companies or the Information Systems department (Porter 2008, p73). Businesses notice their competitors employ Information Technology to gain competitive advantage and acknowledge the necessity to become “directly involved in the management of new technology” although “in the face of rapid change, they don’t know how” (Porter 2008, p73).

New Technology Issues

New Technology is usually opposed as it usually involves change and people assess the size of the change required. New technology also usually results in a “large-scale organisational change” and consequently extra caution is applied as individual feelings must be influenced to get people to participate in new technology (Kotter et al, 2002, p1). In theory the opposition to new technology also known as the “crisis of progress” is as unconnected as it is connected in that community response to new technology impacts new technology “in a circular process” (Bauer, 1997, p2).
Management should address resistance to new technology by first ensuring a “readiness for change” through training and guidance.

References

Bauer M, 1997.Resistance to New Technology: Nuclear Power, Information Technology and Biotechnology; Cambridge University Press

Boreham P., Parker R., Thompson P., Hall R., 2006. New Technology Work; Routledge

Currie W. 1995.’The IT strategy audit: formulation and performance measurement at a UK Bank’. Managerial Auditing Journal.10 (1). pp 7-16.DOI:10.1108/02686909510077343. www.emeraldinsight.com. (Accessed: 15th February 2010)

Chaffey D., 2006. E-Business and E-Commerce Management; Prentice Hall

Desouza K. C., 2006.Agile Information Systems: Conceptualization, Construction, and Management; A Butterworth Heinemann Title

Hambling B., Morgan P., Samaroo A., 2008. Software Testing: An ISEB Foundation; British Computer Society

Kent S. T., Millet L. I., 2003. Who Goes There?: Authentication Through the Lens of Privacy; National Academics Press

Khosrow-Pour M., 2001.Managing Information Technology in a Global Economy: 2001 IRMA Proceedings; IGI Publishing

Kotter J P and Cohen D S(2002), The Heart of Change; Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations, Harvard Business School Press

Leonard-Barton D., Deschamps I., 1988.’Managerial Influence on the Implementation of New Technology’. Management Science. 34(10). Pp 1252-1265.www.jstor.org. (Accessed: 16th February 2010)

Linberg K. R., 1999, ‘Software developer perceptions about software project failure: a case
study. The Journal of Systems and Software.49 (1). pp 177-192.www.elsevier.com. (Accessed: 16th February 2010)

May P., 2000. The Business of Ecommerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology; Cambridge University Press
McLachlin R. D., 2000,’Service quality in consulting: what is engagement success, Managing Service quality, 10(4).pp. 239-247. www.emeraldinsight.com. (Accessed: 16th February 2010)

Pingjun J., Jones D. B., Javie S., 2008.’ How third-party certification programs relate to consumer trust in online transactions: An exploratory study’ .Psychology and Marketing. 25(9). Pp 839 -858. www3.interscience.wiley.com. (Accessed: 16th February 2010)
Porter M. E, 2008, On Competition; Harvard Business School Press 2nd Edition
Yeo K. T., 2002.’Critical Failure Factors in Information systems projects’. International Journal of Project Management.20(3). www.elsevier.com. (Accessed: 16th February 2010)

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Describe the Structure and Functions of Microtubules – Why Can Drugs That Interfere With Microtubule Assembly Be Used as Cancer Therapy?

Introduction

Microtubules form as a highly organised network of polarised tube filaments from a protein called tubulin. Its regulation is needed for processes such as mitosis, cell migration, cell signalling and cell trafficking. The microtubules themselves are regulated by several kinases and phosphatases via signalling cascades, and concomitantly by interactions with actin cytoskeleton and adhesion sites.

Microtubule-targeted drugs (MTDs) constitute a major anticancer therapeutic class having properties of anti-mitotic and anti-angiogenic properties, thereby inhibiting malignant cell growth mainly by altering microtubule dynamics in both cancer and endothelial cells. The key to design of MTDs and the understanding of tumour progression regulators is the identification of proteins regulating the microtubule network.

Cell Morphology and Function

As the name implies, microtubules are hollow tubes having an external diameter of roughly 25nm and a cell wall thickness of 5-7nm. One of their functions is to transport organelles (e.g. secretetory vesicles) through the cytoplasm, a particularly important role in nerve cells where axoplasmic flow is required. They also have a critical role in cilia and flagella movement. Microtubules originate from a complex structure known as centrosome.

Between cell divisions (figure 1), the centrosome is located at the centre of a cell near the nucleus. Embedded in the centrosome are two cylindrical centrioles, arranged at right angles to each other. At the onset of cell division, a centrosome divides and the two daughter centrosomes move to opposite poles of the nucleus to form a mitotic spindle

The functions of microtubules are important to the survival of eukaryotic cells because, along with actin and intermediate filaments, microtubules constitute the cytoskeleton which offers shape and strength to the cytoplasm. It is therefore vital that we understand their fundamentals, such as what they are composed of and how their structure is both maintained and destroyed within cells.

As mentioned in the introduction, the building blocks microtubules are tubulin. However, only two forms of tubulin, ?-tubulin and ?-tubulin, play a role in the formation of the microtubule structure. When the ? and ?-tubulin bind, a useful subunit called a heterodimer forms.

When intracellular conditions favour assembly, tubulin heterodimers assemble into linear protofilaments, which in turn assemble into microtubules. All such assembly is subject to regulation by the cell. [11]

The interactions holding ? and ?-tubulin in a heterodimeric complex are strong enough that ? tubulin subunit rarely dissociates under normal conditions. Each tubulin subunit binds two molecules of GTP. One GTP-binding site, located in ?-tubulin, binds GTP irreversibly and does not hydrolyze it, whereas the second site, located on ?-tubulin, binds GTP reversibly and hydrolyzes it to GDP. The second site is called the exchangeable site because GDP can be displaced by GTP. The recently solved atomic structure of the tubulin subunit reveals that the non-exchangeable GTP is trapped at the interface between the ? and ?-tubulin monomers, while the exchangeable GTP lies at the surface of the subunit

Microtubules may appear to be stable but they usually oscillate between growth and shortening phases. During growth, heterodimers are added on to the end of a microtubule, and during shrinkage they come off as intact subunits. [11]

This active process of assembly and disassembly can be inhibited by a range of drugs that bind to many sites in the ?-tubulin subunit. These drugs prevent mitotic division and ultimately lead to cell death, by means of necrosis and apoptosis.

The subunits are aligned end to end into a protofilament. The side-by-side packing of protofilaments forms the wall of the microtubule. In this model, the protofilaments are slightly staggered so that a-tubulin in one protofilament is in contact with a-tubulin in the neighboring protofilaments.

Microtubules and Cancer Therapy

The aim of treatment in patients with cancer is cure or, if this is not possible, effective palliation of many cancers present as localised tumour masses, but surgery or radiotherapy often fails to eradicate the disease, which eventually becomes widespread. For this reason, there is a trend to incorporate systemic treatment with local treatment at the time of diagnosis. [3] The basic mechanism of anticancer drugs is the inhibition of cell proliferation processes.

However if they fail to selectively target tumour cells over proliferating normal cells, this renders the drug toxic. This particularly arises in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal epithelium and hair follicles. A cytotoxic drug is said to be selective in cancer therapy if it inhibits malignant composite cells undergoing division and concomitantly allows for normal cell proliferation.

Anticancer drugs are classified according to their sites of action either during the cell cycle or along the synthetic pathway of cellular macromolecules. Some drugs are only effective during part of the cell cycle, which are termed phase-specific drugs, while others are cytotoxic throughout the cell cycle usually called cycle-specific drugs [3].

Vinca alkaloids and taxanes are drugs that inhibit mitosis by binding to the microtubular proteins necessary for spindle formation. They can therefore be classified as phase-specific drugs – to be more precise however; they are M-phase specific.

The main vinca alkaloids are vincristine, vinblastine and vindesine. They have been used in the treatment of cancer for over many years. It is because of their efficacy that has guaranteed that they remain among the drugs of choice for numerous types of human cancers, “They are used in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, lymphomas and some solid tumours” [3]. They bind to tubulin and inhibit its polymerisation into microtubules which prevents spindle formation. [14]

Microtubules are central to a number of cellular processes including the formation of the mitotic spindle. It is without a doubt that the destruction of the spindle leads to a loss of chromosome segregation which consequently inhibits cell division causing cell death.

Although the cell spindle was an obvious goal for further drug development, research in this area was obsolete until the exciting clinical results of the taxane drugs were reported in the late 1980s [4].

The taxanes paclitaxel and docelatel also bind to tubulin, however these agents, in contrast to the vinca alkaloids, stabilise the spindle and produces mitotic arrest. Thus, microtubule stabilisation leads to similar effects as microtubule disruption.

Research in the field has again increased following the observation that agents that bind to tubulin can selectively destroy the arrangement of blood vessels within tumours, causing widespread tumour necrosis [5]. It may be possible that the vinca alkaloids and the taxane drugs also exert part of their tumour-destroying action through an antivascular mechanism. This may depend on targeting endothelial cells rather than tumour cells for drug action. A possible advantage of this approach is that endothelial cells are not transformed and are unlikely to acquire mutations resulting in drug resistance. [6] The destruction of the tumour vasculature also arises through a tubulin-related mechanism.

The disorder of the microtubular arrangement impairs the cell function because microtubules are involved in the maintenance of cell shape. The tumour selectivity begins from the unsystematic character of tumour blood vessels. Rouget cells or pericytes are associated abluminally with all vascular capillaries and post-capillary venules. [10] The tumour blood vessels lack these cells along with sustaining smooth muscle which causes them to be feeble.

Therefore the endothelial cells lining the tumour blood vessels are more vulnerable to the effects of vinca alkaloids and taxanes. Although contact with these anticancer drugs is experienced by all vascular endothelial cells, it is the vulnerable tumour blood vessels that are damaged the most. This ultimately leads to necrosis of tumour cells that were reliant on the blood vessels.

One problem seen in these studies is the survival of cancer cells at the periphery of the tumour [7]. These are nourished from the blood vessels of the normal neighboring tissue and are therefore not affected by the damage of blood vessels in the tumour. These tumour cells are likely to increase in number again. For that reason, it is doubtful that these anticancer drugs will be effective unless given in combination with additional therapies. This may be strikingly more successful than single drugs, for example in the treatment of some cancers such as Hodgkin’s disease. [3]

The shortcoming in previous clinical trials on agents targeting tubulin was the rejection of potentially useful agents because interest was more centered on toxicity and survival of drugs, rather than the action or effects of drugs on blood vessels. The breakthrough of new antivascular treatments would be an essential addition to cancer therapy; hence it is these agents that are presently most fascinating to scientists.

Other Drugs That Inhibit Function of Microtubules

There are more than thirty drugs in the past or in present clinical development. [13] In order to maintain a reasonable size for the following sections, only a few of the more fascinating drugs will be discussed. Some that where not mentioned previously include:

Taxol – an anti-cancer drug, stabilises microtubules
Colchicine – binds tubulin and blocks polymerisation. Microtubules depolymerise at high colchicine concentration.
Nocodazole – causes de-polymerisation of microtubules.
Actinomycin – antibiotic able to halt cancer, not widely used as it is highly toxic
The Microtubule Network as a Target for Therapeutic Agents

The various M-phase specific drugs act by targeting different parts of the heterodimer. To date, three binding areas have been acknowledged: the colchicine site close to the ?/? interface, the region where the vinca alkaloids bind, and the taxane binding pocket. [13]

Colchicine, currently a medication for acute gout, also inhibits cell division and has therefore previously been used in cancer therapy. It binds to a site near the ? and ?-tubulin interface within the microtubule, blocking microtubule polymerisation [15]. However, its high toxicity prevents its use for current cancer therapy.

Vinca alkaloids inhibit microtubule assembly by cross-linking at the inter-dimer interface; they sterically distort the protofilament and induce tubulin to form alternate spiral polymers [16].

The mechanism of action of taxanes is quite different from that of the other two, for it promotes the assembly of microtubules, resulting in highly stable, non-functional polymers. Taxanes bind at the M loop on the ?-subunit, stabilising lateral contacts between protofilaments [17].

Antimitotic agents that interact with microtubule components are of interest for the insights they can provide into the roles of microtubules in cells and the subtleties of tubulin structure and also for their potential activity in the treatment of human neoplastic diseases. A variety of bioassays have been used to identify new antitubulin agents and new techniques have been developed to further understand their biological potency and mechanistic basis at the molecular level.

Drug Combinations

Although M-phase specific drugs are remarkable in that it prevents further malignant growth, the administration of combinations of drugs given intermittently often produces better results than more continues treatment with a single drug. The rationale is that a combination of drugs with different toxic effects and affecting different biochemical pathways has anti-tumour activity without addictive toxicity. [3]

However, a large number of antimitotic drugs are currently under development, this implies that microtubules are still a very worthwhile target for anticancer therapies.

Bibliography

[1] Gillian Pocock, Christopher D. Richards. Human Physiology: The Basis of Medicine (Oxford Core Texts). Oxford University Press; 3Rev Ed edition (Jan 2006). p 23

[2] http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/cell_cycle.html

[3] Michael J. Neal, Medical Pharmacology at a Glance, Blackwell Publishing; 5^th Edition (Aug 2005), p92-93

[4] Rowinski, E.K., Cazenave, L.A., Donehower, R.C. (1990) Taxol: a novel investigational antimicrotubule agent. J Natl Cancer Inst 82, 1247-1259.

[5] Dark, G.G., Hill, S.A., Prise, V.E., Tozer, G.M., Pettit, G.R. and Chaplin, D.J. (1997) Cancer Res 57, 1829-1834.

[6] Antivascular therapy: a new approach to cancer treatment. British Medical Journal, March 27, 1999 by A J Hayes, L Y Li, M E Lippman

[7] Zhao, S., Moore, J.V., Waller, M.L., McGown, A.T., Hadfield, J.A., Pettit, G.R. and Hastings, D.L. (1999) European J Nuclear Medicine 26, 231-238.

[8] http://www.ba-education.demon.co.uk/for/science/dnaphotos/dnaphoto.html

[9] http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/biobk/BioBookmito.html

[10].http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8915187&dopt=Abstract

[11] http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/studies/invertebrates/microtubules.html

[12] Harvey Lodish, Arnold Berk, Lawrence S. Zipursky, Paul Matsudaira, David Baltimore, James Darnell. Molecular Cell Biology, W. H. Freeman; 5th edition (2003) p1036-1035

[13] Jordan, A., Hadfield, J.A., Lawrence, N.J. and McGown, A.T. (1998) Tubulin as a target for anticancer drugs: agents which interact with the mitotic spindle. Med. Res. Rev. p18

[14] H.P. Rang, M. Maureen Dale, James M. Ritter, Philip Moore, Pharmacology, Churchill Livingstone; 5th edition (31 Mar 2003), p 704

[15] Downing, K.H. and Nogales, E. New insights into microtubule structure and function from the atomic model of tubulin. (1998) Eur. Biophys J 27, 431-436.

[16] Wilson, L., Jordan, M.A., Morse, A. and Margolis, R.L. (1982) Journal of Molecular Biology 159, 125-149.

[17] Snyder, J.P., Nettles, J.H., Cornett, B., Downing, K.H. and Nogales, E. (2001) Potential for self-assembly and microtubule interaction 98, 5312-5316.

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Introduction

In general, the term ‘evolution’ can imply a drastic or gradual change from a very broad perspective. Life on earth, the universe,galaxies, as also the earth in general have evolved through millions of years. In this essay we consider only one aspect of evolution emphasizing on evolution as a biological tool for change among species and consider fossil record as supportive of both evolution theories and also the other theories contrary to evolution. Evolution is the central unifying concept, a theory that successfully connects biology, palaeontology and other branches of science. Evolution is a gradual descent of organisms accompanied by changes that help the organisms to adjust and adapt to the surroundings. ‘Descent with modifications’ as Darwin contended implies changes in organisms in successive generations (Mayr, 1976). These changes are triggered by the derivation of new species and there is a change in the properties of populations of organisms and these properties tend to transcend the lifetime of any single individual. Newers pecies are modified versions of older species.

Although, individual organisms do not biologically evolve,populations evolve when heritable genetic materials are transmitted from one generation to another. Biological evolution can range from very limited changes to drastic transformations on a large scale changing the entire special together and bringing in new forms. Evolution can thus be defined as inheritable changes in populations of species that are spread and transmitted over many generations (Zimmer, 2002). It is also more scientifically defined as changes in the frequency of alleles within a gene pool carried through different generations as understood in the Darwinian version of the theory(Dawkins, 1989). Evolution studies are supported by detecting changes in gene frequency within a population and the fact that the theory of evolution emphasizes on a common ancestor, only indicates that two or more species show successive heritable changes in populations since they are separated from each other as distinct forms (Allen and Briggs, 1989). Most popular definitions of evolution however highlight not the transmission of heritable traits and changes but the processes of diversity that has given rise to millions of species from the most primitive organisms. Here however we move on to the evidence for and against evolution theories and the role of fossil record in this context. Some researchers claim that the theory of evolution has been supported by four primary sources that serve as evidence (Zimmer, 2002; Allenand Briggs, 1989):

The fossil record that tracks changes in early and primitive forms of life
The anatomical and chemical similarities in the constitutions of different species.
The genetic changes observed and recorded in several living organisms over several generations
The geographical spread and distribution of species that seems to suggest a definite pattern, and
The Fossil Record

Fossils are buried in rock layers as indentations of dead plant and animal materials. The totality of these artefacts and their impressions on the rock formations is considered a fossil record. Fossil record as we have briefly mentioned is the primary source of evidence supporting the theory of evolution and the gaps in these records ironically also forms the bone of contention taken up by anti-evolution theorists. Fossil records are used by scientists to understand the process of evolution in general, and the subsequent changes in several species at several times of the earth’s existence(Donovan and Paul, 1998).

The Fossil Record seems to provide an important clue to the changes in primitive and even now extinct species and this definitely helps us to frame a conceptual graph on how evolution has taken shape. Fossil and rock record forms the primary source of evidence collected by scientists for nearly400 years and the consequent database obtained is mainly observational. The fossil record among all other evidence gives a large database of documented changes in past life on earth. The use of Fossil record to study life forms on earth dates back to pre-Darwinian times and the changes in life forms could be studied from a sequence of layers of sedimentary rocks and fossils of different groups of species were found in each of these successive layers (SA, 1982).Sedimentary rocks are found widely across the earth’s surface and are formed when small particles of sand, mud or gravel, shell or other materials withered off by water or wind accumulates in sea beds and oceans. As these sediments pileup they bury shells, leaves, bones, and parts of living organisms. Layers of sediments are thus formed for every large period of time and all these layers become subsequently cemented to each other to become different layers of sandstone,limestone, shale and so on. Within these layers of sedimentary rocks the plant and animal remains become buried as fossils and are later revealed as fossil records (Allen and Briggs, 1989). From these fossil records several species have been identified, some of which are extinct and some of which have traits transitional between different major groups of organisms. Fossils of transitional forms actually give considerable evidence of species evolution over time. However there is not enough evidence through fossil records to conclusively prove evolution, as there are still talks of ‘missing links’ as very few and according to some, no transitional forms have been actually discovered. The Fossil record data available to us is incomplete and in conclusive at present.

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,William Smith, a British Engineer observed different assemblages of fossils preserved at different levels and different ages of rocks. These assemblages succeeded one another in a regular and determinable order (cited in, Wikipedia,2004). This was further bolstered by the fact that rocks collected from different locations showed similar fossil formations according to the different times they represented. Smith named this correlation of rock fossil data as the principle of faunal succession. The occurrence of faunal succession was one of the primary arguments of Darwin who used fossil evidence as supporting the theory of evolution.

Various modern approaches to the theory of evolution have been recently developed. Mayr claims that the theory of Punctuation for instance has two basic points that

most or all evolutionary change occurs during speciation events, and
most species usually enter a phase of total stasis after the end of the speciation process (which involves formation of new species).

Speciation thus involves transformation of species in geological time (Erwin and Anstey, 1995). Formation of new species is explained either by phyletic gradualism or a gradual steady transformation of species by phyletic evolution highlighting the deficiency of the fossil records, or by sympatric saltational speciation that highlighted punctuational equilibria and branching of species rather than transformation as lineages as the real explanation for evolution (Mayr and Provine, 1998). Biologists like Gould and Eldredge have also supported punctuation theories. Richard Dawkins on the other hand stresses on the principle of gene multiplication where genes as replicators seems to be the focal point of defining evolution (Sterelny, 2001).

In quite an important paper Volkenstein (1987) suggests that there can be no contradiction between punctuated equilibrium and phyletic gradualism if synergetics and theory of information are incorporated within the theory of evolution. Punctualism can be seen as phase transition maintaining the directionality of evolution. Volkenstein argues that Punctualism, non-adaptationism and neutralism form the triad of internally connected features of evolution.

Problems with Fossil Records

Of course at that point, the absence of a proper theory of evolution prevented Smith or other researchers from providing an explanation of the actual cause of faunal succession. The cause of faunal succession as is known today is mainly due to evolution of organisms and species that change,transform or become completely extinct, leaving behind their traces on earth as fossils. Age of rocks and the changes in species features are both determined by fossil record and faunal succession used as tools in bio stratigraphy. However fossil data show extremely few records of transitional species,organisms that can conclusively suggest how and when evolution of new and different species occurred (Donovan and Paul, 1998). Darwin himself suggested that the geological record itself is imperfect and incomplete and this is further strengthened by the fact that transitional species were short lived and had very narrow geographical range.

Radiometric and Carbon dating have made it possible to identify fossils more than 3.5 billion years old and have indicated that animal species may have appeared abruptly, a phenomenon which Darwin himself found difficult to accept. Even though one or two forms of organisms which may be considered as transient have been identified, there are no records of transitional plants and thus an evolutionary plant history could not be drawn as of yet. Along with these issues it has also been seen that most of the fossils found are of species which have existing forms and are either similar to existing species or are completely identical. The intermediate temporary stages as serve to act, as links between two related species seems to have been completely downplayed by the fossil data obtained. Animals seem to have remained more or less unchanged through all these years. Despite the collection of a huge number of fossils,nearly all of them being fossils of presently existing animals have created problems for the theory of evolution. It is a general belief that based on fossil discoveries already made, there will be little or no evidence that evolution had actually occurred and continues to occur (Donovan and Paul,1998). If animals die a natural death, they are usually decomposed even before being fossilized. However during sudden catastrophes can bury the animals and embed them deep in the earth. Some rocks and organisms that transformed to show fossils for years and decades were actually deposited within a short period of time.

Although Darwin based his arguments heavily on fossil record, most scientists now believe that fossil record is actually incompatible with evolutionary theory as no transitional links or intermediate forms have been discovered among this huge collection of fossils in all these years. This suggests that there is no real evidential data that the theory of evolution is in fact true. There is no evidence of partially evolved species or intermediate forms either in the past or in the present fossil record and the fossil record available is quite representative of all fossil data that will ever be collected. Evolution seems to point out towards more undefined and partially evolved species, fact completely undermined by available fossil record that shows well-defined organisms rather than gradual gradations. The incomplete fossil record is the primary bone of contention in the evolutionary debate and seems to give an edge to non-evolutionists.

Conclusion:

Considering all the aspects of the debate and gaps in fossil records and weighing this against evolution theories highlighting either generational transformation of lineages or drastic changes and speciation at specific periods, we can conclude that available gaps in fossil record may be more indicative and supportive towards speciation and abrupt changes rather than gradual evolution through phyletic transformation.

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NHS Cervical Screening Programme: Liquid Based Cytology vs. Conventional Cytology
Introduction

Cervical screening, such as the regular programme provided by the NHS, is a very successful way of detecting the early signs of cervical cancer (Kitchener, Castle, & Cox, 2006). The NHS programme screens around 3.5 million (Moss et al., 2003) to 4 million (Karnon et al., 2004) women annually and it is estimated that this prevents between 1100 and 3900 cases of cervical cancer a year (Moss et al., 2003). In recent years a new way of screening the cervical samples has been developed. This is referred to as liquid based cytology rather than conventional cytology. However, there has been considerable debate over the costs and benefits of the new technology, as will be examined below.

Background Information

Cervical cancer is linked to human papillomaviruses (HPV), a family of common sexually transmitted viruses (Eifel, Berek, & Markman, 2011). It is believed to be fairly common for women to be exposed to HPV viral cells but usually these are readily cleared by their immune response (Bosch & Iftner, 2005). However, in some instances women can develop an HPV infection following exposure to viral cells. The infection can seem largely asymptomatic but actually causes the abnormal multiplication of cells in the cervix, leading to warts, lesions or benign tumours and, if the infection persists, it can cause cervical cancer (Bosch & Iftner, 2005; Eifel et al., 2011). In fact, HPV is believed to be the main, perhaps even the sole, cause of cervical cancer.

The NHS cervical screening programme is available to women aged between 25 and 64 years of age and involves taking a regular swab or smear of cells from inside their cervix (Moss et al., 2003). These are then sent to a pathology laboratory where they are screened by a cytologist for any abnormalities associated with HPV. In the absence of any abnormalities women between the ages of 25 and 50 years are advised to return for testing every three years, and those aged between 50 and 64, every five years (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). The 2013 national statistics for the UK screening programme indicated that 78.3% of eligible women were up to date with their smear screening (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013).

Cervical Cytology

The focus of this essay is on the process that takes place in the pathology laboratory, where the cervical samples are sent for cytological screening. A cervical cell sample that has no abnormal cells is categorised cytologically as being negative (negative for the presence of HPV or risk of cervical cancer). Alternatively, samples may be identified as containing borderline abnormal changes, or having dyskaryosis (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). In some literature the terms dysplasia or CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) seem to be used in place of dyskaryosis (Eifel et al., 2011), but NHS literature seems to make most consistent reference to dyskaryosis. The extent of dyskaryosis is then classified across a range from mild to severe. Depending upon the severity, the woman may be referred for colposcopy or recalled for a repeat cervical smear test 6-12 months later. In the 2013 national statistics, 6.5% of cervical samples were identified as being abnormal, although only 1.2% were classified as being high risk (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013).

Recently a new cytological screening technique has been developed, called liquid based cytology (LBC). The aim of this new method was initially to try to reduce false-negative and false-positive results (Karnon et al., 2004; Siebers et al., 2009), as well as the number of samples that are ‘inadequate’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ for effective screening (Arbyn et al., 2008; Siebers et al., 2009). In the conventional cytology method, a woman’s cervical sample is transferred directly from the collection spatula onto a microscopic slide (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003). This transfer process seems to sometimes lead samples to be ‘inadequate’ for screening because the transferred cells are too difficult to clearly discern. This manual process does also, very occasionally, result in false results, even when conducted by experienced cytologists. The liquid based cytology (LBC) method involves a slightly different approach to the preparation of the slides. The cell sample is placed into a vial containing a preservative fluid (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003). This creates a liquid suspension of the sample, which can then be poured onto the slide in a very thin, uniform layer. However, debate remains over whether this method really offers a substantial improvement over conventional cytology. The main points of contention surround accuracy and cost effectiveness, with other arguments relating to patient anxiety and opportunities for HPV testing.

Exploring the Issues
Accuracy

Evidence is mixed over whether LBC offers a substantial improvement in accuracy compared to conventional cytology. Early studies, such as that by Monsonego et al. (2001), were very favourable towards LBC. Further, in an extension of the LBC technique described earlier, it became possible for a computerised system to read the LBC slides to identify potential areas of concern prior to examination by a cytologist (Davey et al., 2007). Across a large Australian sample of over 55,000 women, Davey et al. (2007) found that this method of LBC was significantly better at detecting additional high grade histology cases than conventional cytology. However, more recent studies seem to undermine these reputed improvements of LBC over conventional cytology. For instance, in 2009, Siebers et al, drawing upon a sample of close to 90,000 women in the Netherlands, concluded that LBC “is neither more sensitive nor more specific in detecting CIN or cancer” (p.1764). This same point is reiterated almost exactly by Arbyn et al. (2008) at the end of their thorough review of the most reputable, gold standard comparison studies.

Whilst this creates a somewhat inconclusive picture, it is evident that LBC has not offered as marked an improvement in accuracy as might have been hoped. However, it is important to point out that none of the studies suggest that LBC is less accurate than conventional cytology. In fact, all of the studies mentioned above agree that LBC probably is more sensitive at picking up mild abnormalities and changes. It is just that this too is framed from a negative angle in the more recent studies because of concerns that unnecessarily following up these cases, when they are likely to be cleared by the patient naturally, would waste resources that would be better focused on high risk patients (Arbyn et al., 2008).

There is, however, one clear point that emerges in favour of LBC in relation to accuracy. All studies seem to conclude that LBC does reduce the number of inadequate or unsatisfactory samples (Arbyn et al., 2008; Davey et al., 2007; Doyle et al., 2006; Moss et al., 2003; Siebers et al., 2009; Williams, 2006). For example, when LBC was initially trialled at three sites in the UK in 2002, Moss et al. (2003) collated data showing that LBC reduced inadequate slide preparations from 9% of samples down to 1-2%. In Scotland the difference was even greater, falling from 13% to 1.9%, and consequently referrals to colposcopy for women with repeated unsatisfactory results dropped from 25% to just 0.5% (Williams, 2006). These improvements substantially raise the efficiency of the whole screening programme. Therefore, it seems likely to have been these sorts of results that influenced the NHS that it would be cost effective to adopt LBC across the UK (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003; Williams, 2006).

Cost Effectiveness

Turning to cost effectiveness, there are a number of aspects to take into consideration. As mentioned above, LBC may lead to a potential increase in costs if there is an increase in following up low risk abnormalities. Whilst this is framed negatively by Arbyn et al. (2008) it might be better, both for the patient and economically, to fully confirm that there is no cancer risk earlier on, rather than allowing any potential cancer to develop. Further, the significant reduction in inadequate samples may outweigh this through much larger potential savings. Reducing the number of women who are recalled due to an inadequate sample saves valuable nursing time, reduces administration costs and reduces the costs associated with repeating the whole procedure. With these primary care benefits in mind, Moss et al. (2003) estimated that LBC could generate savings of between one to ten million pounds annually.

More recent studies have focused on the laboratory to consider whether LBC improves productivity during this part of the process. Doyle et al. (2006) studied several laboratories during the change over from conventional cytology to LBC and found that on average each scientist was able to process more samples per day. The data collated by Williams (2006) similarly demonstrated that overall workload in the laboratories decreased and backlogs were cleared. Presumably, if LBC is combined with the computerised imaging technology that automates a large part of the process, there may be further efficiency as cytologist time and effort can be focused on the samples identified to contain abnormalities.

Of course, all of this economising does not take into account the initial investment costs involved, or the on-going cost of the LBC specific materials. It is notable that both techniques mentioned in the NHS pilot study, ThinPrep and SurePath, are registered trademarks. Perhaps this is why more recent studies tend to argue that one of the disadvantages of LBC is that it is more expensive, both in terms of initial outlay and on-going operating costs (Arbyn et al., 2008; Eifel et al., 2011). Therefore, Arbyn et al. (2008) suggest that “economic advantage might be peculiar to the United Kingdom where inadequacy rates for the conventional Pap were excessively high” (p.175).

Patient Anxiety

Beyond economics, another important point to consider is patient anxiety. A benefit of reducing inadequate samples is the reduction in anxiety for the patient. Although the nurse may try to reassure the woman that an inadequate sample does not indicate any abnormality, it may be difficult for the patient not to fear a risk of cancer. On the otherhand, if minor abnormalities picked up via LBC are followed up, as Arbyn et al. (2008) suggest, this might create unnecessary stress and anxiety for these patients and their families. This seems to suggest that between the two technologies patient anxiety may balance out – being alleviated for some patients or created for others. However, perhaps the balance swings in favour of LBC here, as it would seem preferable to monitor cases of mild abnormality just in case these progress, rather than to create unnecessary anxiety due simply to technical inferiority.

HPV Testing

The other key advantage of LBC is the potential it offers to conduct additional laboratory tests. Preparing an LBC slide from the cervical sample uses only a small amount of the solution in the vial. Therefore, the remainder can be subjected to further tests. In particular, it is now possible for laboratories to test for the presence of HPV using HPV DNA testing (Kitchener et al., 2011). Any cases showing cell abnormalities during LBC can undergo HPV testing on the same sample. This might clarify any false-negative cases or mild abnormalities without the woman even knowing. It would also reduce the costs of referring false-negative patients for colposcopy or for an unnecessary recall screening.

Whilst controversy has largely focused on conventional cytology and LBC, the NHS actually introduced LBC in combination with HPV testing (Moss et al., 2003). Recent studies have demonstrated that HPV testing may be more powerful than cytology, and suggest it may come to replace cytology as the primary screening technique (Katki et al., 2011; Kitchener et al., 2011). Katki et al. 2011 advocate that one negative result via HPV testing offers “strong reassurance against cervical cancer for five years in women from age 30” (p.1470). This could significantly reduce primary care costs as currently women aged 30-50 are tested every 3 years under the NHS screening programme. Kitchener et al. (2011) have gone further than this, suggesting that HPV testing might even allow the interval between cervical screens to be extended to every six years.

Conclusion

There has been significant debate around the shift from conventional to liquid based cytology when screening for cervical cancer. This has been particularly heightened given the evidence that LBC does not appear to reduce false-positive or false-negative results in the way that had been hoped. However, in the UK at least, LBC significantly reduces the number of ‘inadequate’ samples, reducing primary care costs and patient anxiety in these cases. Although it is a little unclear whether LBC is more cost effective when all costs are taken into consideration, it seems that by investing in the technique the NHS is now well placed to quickly and easily adopt new scientific developments, such as wide-scale HPV testing. Given LBC, HPV DNA testing and the HPV vaccination, cervical cancer prevention seems to be a rapidly advancing area of science where new developments progress fairly quickly from research into routine health practice. Therefore, it seems wise that the NHS chose to invest in LBC and HPV testing when it did so that it can keep apace, and continue to offer cutting edge cancer screening to women.

References

Arbyn, M., Bergeron, C., Klinkhamer, P., Martin-Hirsch, P., Siebers, A. G., & Bulten, J. (2008). Liquid compared with conventional cervical cytology: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 111(1), 167-177.

Bosch, X. F., & Iftner, T. (2005). The aetiology of cervical cancer. Sheffield: NHS Cancer Screening Programmes.

Davey, E., d’Assuncao, J., Irwig, L., Macaskill, P., Chan, S. F., Richards, A., & Farnsworth, A. (2007). Accuracy of reading liquid based cytology slides using the ThinPrep Imager compared with conventional cytology: prospective study (Vol. 335).

Doyle, B., O’Farrell, C., Mahoney, E., Turner, L., Magee, D., & Gibbons, D. (2006). Liquid-based cytology improves productivity in cervical cytology screening. Cytopathology, 17(2), 60-64.

Eifel, P. J., Berek, J. S., & Markman, M. A. (2011). Cancer of cervix, vagina, and vulva. In V. T. DeVita, T. S. Lawrence, & S. A. Rosenberg (Eds.), DeVita, Hellman and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology (9th ed.). Phildelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.

Health and Social Care Information Centre. (2013). Cervical screening programme, England 2012-13. Leeds: UK Statistics Authority. Retrieved from http://www.hscic.gov.uk

Karnon, J., Peters, J., Platt, J., Chilcott, J., McGoogan, E., & Brewer, N. (2004). Liquid-based cytology in cervical screening: An updated rapid and systematic review and economic anylsis. Health Technology Assessment, 8(20).

Katki, H. A., Kinney, W. K., Fetterman, B., Lorey, T., Poitras, N. E., Cheung, L., . . . Castle, P. E. (2011). Cervical cancer risk for women undergoing concurrent testing for human papillomavirus and cervical cytology: a population-based study in routine clinical practice. The Lancet Oncology, 12(7), 663-672.

Kitchener, H. C., Castle, P. E., & Cox, J. T. (2006). Chapter 7: Achievements and limitations of cervical cytology screening. Vaccine, 24, Supplement 3(0), S63-S70.

Kitchener, H. C., Gilham, C., Sargent, A., Bailey, A., Albrow, R., Roberts, C., . . . Peto, J. (2011). A comparison of HPV DNA testing and liquid based cytology over three rounds of primary cervical screening: Extended follow up in the ARTISTIC trial. European Journal of Cancer, 47(6), 864-871.

Monsonego, J., Autillo-Touati, A., Bergeron, C., Dachez, R., Liaras, J., Saurel, J., . . . Mottot, C. (2001). Liquid-based cytology for primary cervical cancer screening: a multi-centre study. British Journal of Cancer, 84(3), 360-366.

Moss, S. M., Gray, A., Legood, R., & Henstock, E. (2003). Evaluation of HPV/LBC cervical screening pilot studies. UK: First report to the Department of Health evaluation of LBC (December 2002).

Siebers, A. G., Klinkhamer, P. J. J. M., Grefte, J. M. M., Massuger, L. F. A. G., Vedder, J. E. M., Beijers-Broos, A., . . . Arbyn, M. (2009). Comparison of liquid-based cytology with conventional cytology for detection of cervican cancer precursors. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 302(16), 1757-1764.

Williams, A. R. W. (2006). Liquid-based cytology and conventional smears compared over two 12-month periods. Cytopathology, 17(2), 82-85.

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In the age where media inhabits numerous conduits for the production of culture it is difficult to imagine culture without its mediated form, from television and comic books to fashion and postcards, culture is derived through a range of diverse vehicles. We experience our cultural life through media in various ways.

Modern society is founded on universal law, enlightenment of reason and science is the solution to social problems, utopia is possible (except the poor will always be poor); Western-centric humanism will save the world; mass consumption means mass employment and modern society contained in the grand narrative of history.

Progressive social transformation of the post-modern turn will take us on new adventures; resituating science, technology, society & capitalism into a multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary framework. One attempt to account for the emergence of post-modern condition is the shift during the 20th century of the economic needs of capitalism from production to consumption. Reality is what we see fit by these various forms of seductive illusion.

The prefix ‘post’ clearly implies a break, a relation to a period that has happened before. In the case of post-modernism the previous period is undoubtedly ‘modernism’. Thus, postmodernism refers to a breakdown of the distinction between culture and society – emergence of a social order in which the importance and power of the mass media and popular culture means that they govern and shape all forms of social relationships. For Lyotard, a key post-modernism theorist, the post-modern condition is neither a periodizing concept nor does it refer to the institutional parameters of modernity and post-modernity. Rather it is:

“…the condition of knowledge in the most highly developed societies. I have decided to use the word post-modern to describe that condition… (it) designates the state of our culture following the transformations which, since the end if nineteenth century, have altered the rules for science, literature, and the arts” (Lyotard, 1991, pg xxiii)

Lyotard refers to postmodernism as a loss of faith in meta-narratives, the big stories that have justified the rational, scientific, artistic and political world of the modern world. Rejection of all overarching and totalising thought; Marxism, liberalism, etc. that tell universal stories which organize and justify the everyday practices of a plurality of different stories (narratives); Science, which has developed importance since the Enlightenment, has assumed the status of a meta-narrative, organizing and validating other narratives on the road to liberation. Lyotard says “since Enlightenment status as a meta-narrative has waned.” Science is no longer seen to be making progress on behalf of mankind.

It’s a breakdown in distinction between art and popular culture: there are no longer any agreed and definite criteria which serve to differentiate art from popular culture. For example, take Warhol – Velvet Underground art becomes increasingly integrated into the economy both because it is used to encourage people to consume through the expanded role it plays in advertising, and because it becomes a commercial good in its own right.

Popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us. The world which tries to come to terms with a media-saturated society.

Mass media was once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and reflecting society. Now, reality can only be defined as the surface reflections of this mirror. Society has become subsumed within mass media – it is no longer a question of distortion of reality, since the term implies that there is a reality outside the surface simulations of the media, which can be distorted, and this is precisely what is at issue according to post-modern theory. Is the media creating reality?

Linked to this is the notion that it is more difficult to distinguish the economy from popular culture. The realm of consumption is increasingly influenced by popular culture. For example, we watch more films because we have a VCR, then they reference and advertise products that we go and buy. Surface and style have become more important and evoke a kind of designer ideology. The obsession with being super-model thin, fad-diets, use of sexuality, football, designer clothing, and many more simulations that work as a network in exchange order with each other to create reality narrative for post-modern consumer. The argument is we increasingly consume images and signs for their own sake rather than for their usefulness or for the deeper values they may symbolise. The very values that ‘modernists’ used to talk about.

In the production-era machines had to be built and updated, basic materials like iron and steel made, infrastructures such as roads, rail, communication had to be laid down, the work force had to be taught the work ethic: Taylorisation and Fordism. Once this was established, the need for consumption emerges. And people need to acquire a consumer ethic. The need to consume becomes equal to the need to produce. Increased affluence combined with consumer credit, advertising, marketing and design. Culture celebrates consumerism and style, therefore the media becomes more important. New occupations or changed role of older ones involved in need to make people consume: advertisers, marketing, design, journalism, television, finance, etc.

Consuming images

In his essays, Stuart Hall has conceptualized the production and consumption of the television message as a complex social construction of meaning within the semiotic framework. His theory of encoding/decoding is very important in the discourse of consumption of advertising in TV. The polysemic images have been encoded in a particular way and the process of decoding is not symmetrical. Looking back at the work of Barthes we understand that advertising texts are polysemic and at the connotative level of signification signs possess fluidity which enables them to be articulated in multiple ways (Barthes, 1973, pg 122). Eco argues that the viewers determination to decode the message in aberrant ways are to be found in the readers general framework of cultural references such as his ideological, ethical religious standpoint, value systems, etc, (Eco, 1998, 141).

Following the same path of consumption and ideology, Baudrillard follows Althuesser in arguing that the subject is constituted through social classifications and ideological processes. Ideology converts humans into subjects. Ideology lets us mistakenly recognize ourselves as autonomous self-determining agents, whereas in fact we are subjects formed through a social physic processes. Ideology therefore is not the mirrored inversion of the real but our imaginary or symbolic to our shared conditions of existence. Watching the latest Levi jeans advertisement we are addressed as individual consumers with our own unique passion and desires. The ideological effect of the ad lies in its ability to interpellate us in this way. Althusser complicates Marx beautifully by not accepting the concept of ideology as false consciousness. It is material practice produced by ideological state apparatuses. It makes us think are sovereign consumers rather than a member of social class. (Stevenson, 2002,150)

In the age of postmodernism where the product is a sign instead of a commodity, as Baudrillard argues, the way in which adverts are consumed by television viewers depend on the very same framework Eco talks about. Jean Baudrillard’s essay “The Ecstasy of Communication” evokes TV and its technologies as a metaphor for the regime of simulation in the contemporary western culture.

A TV screen cannot be thought simply as an object to be looked at, with all the old forms of psychic projection and investment; instead, the screen intersects responsively with our desires and representation and becomes an embodied from of our psychic worlds. What happens on the screen is neither on the screen nor in us, but in some complex, virtual space between the two. Marshall McCluhan’s notion that the “medium is the message” is clearly related to consumption theory. McCluhan argues that television influences viewers’ thinking processes and leads to alienation and individualism. But McCluhan sees this not as the result of television content but rather caused by the sensory nature of the medium itself. It is the form of the medium, according to McCluhan, and not its content that influence viewers (Mcluhan, 2002, pg7).

TV advertising is a representative part of the arena where the post-modern scene of simulation takes on the relationship between the product and consumer. Baudrillard has contributed significantly towards the theory of consumption. He abandoned Marxist analysis after his book called the ‘Symbolic Exchange and Death’ (1976). He argues that through a more explicitly post-industrial analysis the real relations of production and consumption have been replaced by a sign system. According to Baudrillard the arrival of consumer society requires a radical reconstruction of critical theory. Baudrillard argues that before goods (objects) can be consumed they must become signs (Baudrillard, 1988, pg 23). The meaning of the objects is established through the organisation of signs into codes. It is only through these codes that people realise their sense of self and their needs. The codes themselves are hierarchically ordered, being used to signify distinction of statue and prestige. As Baudrillard argues “a need is not for a particular object as much as it is a ‘need’ for difference (the desire for social meaning) only then we will understand that satisfaction can never be fulfilled, and consequently that there can never be a definition of needs”. A subject whose needs are fixed by human nature does not consume the object. Social goods are consumed not to satisfy pre-existing needs but to signify social distinctions.

We have become completely absorbed by adverts, images and simulation. Baudrillard would call this simulation as an ecstasy of the real. In Baudrillard’s “hyper-reality” and “simulacra” terms, the storied images of Nike sports heroes are more real than the reality of Third World workers to millions of consumers. However this consuming condition is an obsession and the product of late capitalism in Western societies.

Digitally created commercials – Faking the real

When we examine television advertising we once again find art and technology being used to create simulations that tell stories in an effort to evoke desired reactions from audiences. But in advertising we see a strange new cultural creation: the 20-second ‘cinematic’ production full of dancing, singing and joke-telling characters playing physicians, housewives, and used car salesmen, with ultra-abbreviated plots and quick resolutions of conflict in which the characters overcome obstacles and fulfil their desires in record time with the help of the product. Unlike movies, which will evoke the wrath of the audience if the unfolding of the story is interrupted, in commercials there is virtually no story to interrupt. The entire commercial is a dynamic, graphic, field composed of images, music, theatrical performances, superimposed illustrations, narration, and other elements, which reinforce each other to achieve their effect.

Commercials also include another kind of simulation in the form of digitally manipulated images that are used to portray another realm of fantasy in which the limits imposed by the physical world no longer seem to be in effect. As a result, they are full of talking dogs, giant sized children, products that zoom into space, dancing credit cards and scenes that suddenly become two-dimensional which spin out of existence, creating a virtual world that surpasses anything produced by Imax or Nintendo.

Commercials take these elements – visual fantasy, deceptive images of the products, and false claims – and weave them into their various approaches. There are, perhaps, a handful of approaches that they rely on and put together in different ways, just as theme parks, video games, television and news fall into a few basic categories.

The product, no longer able to offer satisfaction on its own ground (“a potato chip is a chip is a chip”), instead offers the consumer a chance to be part of a certain ‘crowd’ or ‘scene.’ They belong to a cool “product tribe,” revelling in the image and sensibility that the product somehow mystically confers – the fetishism of commodities. More and more people are being sold style, image, and celebrity, since there is no substance or material satisfaction to the product-in-itself. Concealed within the jump-cut flash of post-modern advertising is a simple code: consumption is a mode of transcendence, a way to take part in something larger than yourself, the “Pepsi Generation.” Today, ads are filled with a strange sort of rugged selfishness, misanthropy, and mean-spirit people (“touch my Doritos and die.”) A person is told sternly to buy as much as they can of the product but never to share with friends. “Get your own,” they’re told. Latest ads on TV have that narrative that goes on and on and takes the form of a mini soap or a series of short cinematic films. The product is like a movie star. The product has taken the stand of the character in the commercial. It has become another simulation for audiences. Small Nokia phones that are given a character play a different role in each different Nokia commercial.

Digital technology has given designers the ability to make real characters and models that we see in everyday TV. The big entities spend millions of pounds in one 60 second commercial. The commercial has the production company behind it; director, actors and the whole set that would normally be used in film production.

Many television commercials thus give us another variation on Umberto Eco’s absolute fakes; they are false promises that make everything seem better than it is. Like theme parks, they make mundane realities look like transcendent utopias.

All cultures place people inside invented worlds, so that in itself, isn’t what is new about all this. The human world is by nature full of fictionalization and metaphor and drenched in stories and metaphysical assumptions, much of it contrived by conscious and unconscious design to support the claims of those in power. But never before has a culture been scientifically invented in this way, using the tools of rationalization – including marketing studies and computers – to sell products and a way of life. These tools of rationality extract the essence of our own irrationality – our fantasies, imbued with fears and desires – and give them back to us in the form of their invented worlds. Real experiences and things have been replaced with simulacra – copies without an original. Due to the power of mass media advertising, our relationship to the signifier has changed. Now it hides the absence of a signified: conceals the inability to deliver real satisfaction by cleverly simulating it. Part of our hyper-real lives is the fact that our simulations are more real than real.

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Introduction

Some of the artists known for their work of art in the Renaissance period consist of Giovanni Bellini, Leonardo Da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael. The Renaissance was a time period in which stunning sculptures and artwork increased all over the world (Denna’s World: The Renaissance, 2008). It described the high points of humanism and the expression of creativity and beauty of life. The Renaissance period rapidly approached the simplicity, monumentality and heftiness of the art of Renaissance of the early 16th century (Denna’s World: The Renaissance, 2008).

Artists and their contribution

The three artists which I have chosen are Leonardo de Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was the incarnation of the Renaissance ideal of the universal man. He was the first artist to achieve comprehensive mastery all over the branches of art (Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519), 2008). Besides being a scholar in the natural sciences, medicine and philosophy, Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. He was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor whose brilliant paintings characterized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His art contribution includes: The last supper, Mona Lisa and St. Jerome in the Wilderness (Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519), 2008).

The last Supper

The Last Supper is a 15th century painting created by Leonardo Da Vinci for his supporters. His painting particularly portrays the reaction given by each follower when Jesus said one of them would deceive him (Leonardo Da Vinci, 2008). With various degrees of anger and shock, all twelve apostles have different reactions to the news.

Mona Lisa:

During the Italian Renaissance, Mona Lisa is a 16th century portrait painted in oil by Leonardo Da Vinci. The painting depicts a woman whose expression is often described as enigmatic (Leonardo Da Vinci, 2008). The ambiguity of the sitter’s expression, the monumentality of the half-figure composition and the subtle forms of modeling were the qualities that have contributed to the fascination in the painting (Leonardo Da Vinci, 2008).

St. Jerome in the Wilderness

This painting was an unfinished painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The painting depicts Saint Jerome during his draw back to the Syrian Desert, where he lived the life of a solitary person (Leonardo Da Vinci, 2008).

Raphael Sanzio

Raphael was an Italian painter and designer of the Renaissance period. He was known for the excellence and refinement of his paintings and drawings. Raphael is best known for his large shape compositions in the Vatican in Rome (Raphael, 2008).

Vision of knight

The theme of the painting was controversial. The painting depicts a sleeping knight who was dreaming to choose between Virtue and Pleasure. There were two feminine figures that were representing as the ideal attributes of the knight (Raphael, 2008). The picture holds the ideals of a scholar, soldier and lover.

Madonna and the child

The painting describes a woman known as Madonna who is holding the Christ Child with enormous kindheartedness. The pictures itself says that they two are linked in such a way that any reader can read the book which is open for all (Raphael, 2008).

Connestabile Madonna

The Connestabile Madonna is a small and unfinished painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. The painting reveals the Madonna holding the Child while reading a book (Raphael, 2008).

Michelangelo: Michelangelo was a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet who usually used to make the use of an unparalleled influence on the expansion of Western art.

Bacchus: Bacchus is a marble sculpture designed by Michelangelo. The statue represents Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, in a revolutionary intoxicated state. Bacchus is shown with rolling eyes, with staggering body, almost teetering off the rocky outcrop, sitting behind a faun and eating the bunch of grapes that are slipping out of his left hand (Michelangelo, 2005).

David: It is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture and one of the greatest works of Michelangelo. The painting describes the statue of the young Israelite king David that almost without doubt holds the title of the most identifiable stone sculpture in the history of art. The picture is regarded both the symbol of strength and youthful human beauty (Michelangelo, 2005).

Pieta: it is a marble sculpture designed by the Michelangelo. This work of art gives a picture of the body of Jesus on the knees of his mother Mary after the excruciation. The theme is basically of Northern origin (Michelangelo, 2005).

I have chosen these particular pieces because their work is admired for the clarity of form and ease of composition and for the visual achievement of the ideal of human dignity. The structural design of the Italian Renaissance period is the most lucid and comprehensive volume available till today.

The painting of these artists extravagantly illustrates the readers everything they need to know about the architectural life of the paintings and drawings. The art in Renaissance shows the freshness and breadth of approaches used by the artists. The drawings of the renaissance period focus on works of art, their creators and the state of affairs that affect the creation. The sculpture of Michelangelo defines the work of art very clearly and specifically.

Renaissance period

The renaissance period was a period of attractive artwork and structures. These pictures and sculptures boomed all over the Western Europe. The renaissance period of art was expected to commence in Rome, but it started out in Italy where there was always a remainder of classical-styled structural design (Denna’s World: The Renaissance, 2008). In renaissance period, there was a greater interest in the depictions of pattern and color.

Color was underlined by utilizing the diverse marble inlays, for example, the front wall of the church of the Certosa di Pavia and Venetian structural design. There were many painters and sculptors from the period of renaissance period. All these paintings and the sculptures are the important work of art and also balance the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism (Denna’s World: The Renaissance, 2008).

The museums which I visited at the end of the essay are Musee du Louvre in Paris and Vatican Museums, Rome.

References

Denna’s World; The Renaissance,(2008). Retrieved June 11, 2008 from http://www.dworldonline.com/REN.HTM

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 – 1519). Retrieved June 11, 2008 from http://www.theartgallery.com.au/ArtEducation/greatartists/DaVinci/about/

Leonardo Da Vinci, (2008). Retrieved June 11, 2008 from http://www.abcgallery.com/L/leonardo/leonardo.html

Michelangelo, (2005). Retrieved June 11, 2008 from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/michelangelo/

Raphael, (2008). Retrieved June 11, 2008 from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/raphael/

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Journal entry for Readings

This essay provides a very good understanding about Art and I found it very interesting. Art is basically a conceptual concept. In other words, it can be defined as a creation, which is created by the will of person. As per my study, different forms of art exist but the author has laid the emphasis on graphic art. In this type of art, the design is created on a material like Plexiglas or rubber so as to move the designs onto another medium like wood, paper, cloth, metals, and plastics etc.

In the present scenario, Japanese manga are inspiring the comic artists of the west, fashion designers, modern artists and millions of ordinary readers. The appearance of the wide-eyed figures of manga are found over t-shirts, video games, CD covers and even in the museums of art (Manga and Japanese Contemporary Art, 2005).

I found the article very informative as it depicts the collection of the most appealing artists from modern manga and also tells me about the different variety of manga styles. It also contains the prints of woodblock by Hokusai. The exhibition of graphic art and its program of events depict the fan culture, which is closely linked with manga. The examples include cosplay or dressing similar to the manga characters.

This program of events permits the visitors to attempt their hand at manga, listen to lectures on modern Japanese culture and also provides an experience of singing karaoke. In this article, the author has depicted cute and funny figures along with the strange and aggressive figures similar to those of manga (Manga and Japanese Contemporary Art, 2005).

Journal entry for controversies

In my point of view, art is created by the mind. It is the blend of ideas and concepts. In my point of view, art should be such, which doesn’t hamper any religion, values or beliefs i.e. art should form the basis of inspiration for the viewers by containing effective messages in it. But if the art is developed for a particular reason, it might lead into big controversies (Cox, 2006).

A controversial event took place in the Dallas Museum of Art. Here, Sydney McGee who was a teacher (female) took a group of children aged 9 to 10, in Frisco from Fisher Elementary School to the Art museum of Dallas. It was found that the father of a child has filed a complaint that his child has been exposed to art which was absolutely unauthorized as he was shown an abstract nude. As a result, this brought controversy upon the school. Therefore, art should be created so that it is appreciated by its viewers and creates a good impact on them (Cox, 2006).

Another controversial issue was that Hitler could not become part of the art school because it was painted in a traditional style and hence, was not able to fulfil the criteria of the art school. Art school requires a contemporary way of painting, which is less realistic. Hitler, during his regime, barred new artists, who were selling artwork and was in favour of the traditional artists. Art varies from place to place and as a result to this, the frequency of controversy increases.

Journal entry for movies

I found certain movies like Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Agony and the Ecstasy very artistic. Both of these movies have depicted art in their content but in different ways. In the movie Girl with a Pearl Earring, an artistic temperament is depicted by girl. The movie reveals an artistic passion.

The photography in the film is very sensuous, showing the golden age of Dutch culture. The pictures in the photography contain fantastic colour and scale, crowded with plentiful costumes and magnificent architecture. This photographic art keeps the eyes engaged.

In 1930s, the art scene in America was greatly dominated by the practicality and regionalism. The film on Jackson Pollock by Ed Harris presents a powerful picture of Jackson Pollock. The film has performed in an outstanding manner by evoking the true feeling of the time duration with the help of the costumes and scenery. The film depicts the darker side of Pollock’s life as he struggled with demons. This movie became the centre of attention for those American people who liked the modern art.

Art in Exile

On the other hand, the film Agony and ecstasy shows huge interesting reflection of art. It is characterized as the superior period piece, which became an epic. I really appreciate this movie as it pictured Charles Heston as the grand artist. I really found it fairly attractive, the way they have displayed the stressed relationship. The movie depicts the true sense of the art and love. This movie clearly describes how art can move the soul of the person. I admire the extent of time spent by chuck in learning how to paint (Reed, 1965).

Journal entry for the relevance with the Puerto Rico:

In the late 20th century Graffiti has turned into a well-known force in urban settings. The extent of attitudes towards graffiti has shown a broad and contentious concept. Most of the writers regard the graffiti as a social term, which was introduced for culture around 70’s. Therefore, I would use graffiti as writing.

The tradition of folk art for carving the santos i.e. using saints of wood for house hold devotion forms the par of Puerto Rican culture. The santos from the past served as the prime object of devotion, but at present they form the part of artistic merit, which is because of the link with the ancient culture of Puerto Rico.

Both the old and new santos of Puerto Rican function continuously in a devotional framework for a few number of their owners and santeros. For the carvers of Puerto Rico, carving a santos forms a religious experience (Dennant, 1997).

Graffiti showed inter connected factors to the world of hip-hop, sometime also studied as a part of its own entity. Graffiti depicts an artistic aspect of confrontation towards the authority and simultaneously reflects expression towards subculture. I have found that in the early time of Christianity, saints were given honour as role models, courageous heroes and guardians.

In the present time the carving of the santeros remind me of the fundamental task played by these holy pictures in the everyday lives of supporters. From the point of dedication towards the signs of Puerto Rican traditions and art, the modern santos from Puerto Rico fit into the highly prosperous tradition, which goes forward to progress in response to the changes in the political, social and religious context.

References

Manga and Japanese Contemporary Art. (2005). Retrieved August 23, 2008 from http://www.taidemuseo.hel.fi/english/tennispalatsi/programme/manga.html

The Santos Tradition. (2004). University of Florida. Retrieved August 23, 2008 from http://www.harn.ufl.edu/santos/introduction.php

Carol Reed (1965). The Agony & The Ecstasy. [ONLINE] Available at: http://charltonhestonworld2.homestead.com/AgonyEcstasyPg1.html. [Last Accessed 23 August 2008].

Ian Cox (2006). Teacher Sacked Over Nude. [ONLINE] Available at: http://coxsoft.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/teacher-sacked-over-nude.html. [Last Accessed 23 August 2008].

Pamela Dennant (1997). The Emergence of Graffiti in New York City. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.hiphop-network.com/articles/graffitiarticles/emergenceofnycitygraffiti.asp. [Last Accessed 23 August 2008].

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The Greek Revival and the Gothic Revival are terms that carry specific meanings in relation to the history of architecture. What did they represent at the time and what was the nature of the conflict between the respective adherents?

The Gothic Revival represented chiefly two things: firstly, in its earlier form, it was a Romantic celebration in stone of the spirit and atmosphere of the Middle Ages; secondly, in its later and more serious form, the Gothic Revival reflected the architectural and philosophical conviction of its exponents that the moral vigour of the Middle Ages was reflected in its Gothic architecture, and that the reintroduction of this Gothic style of architecture to eighteenth-century society could re-invigorate it morally. Neo-Gothic architecture in its earlier forms, typified by buildings such as Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill, was characterized by a highly ornamental, decadent, visually powerful and intricate style; and, what is more, a style that cared little for functionalism or strict adherence to specific structures. By these characteristics Neo-Gothic architecture encapsulated the Romantic literary and poetic spirit of the age, as had been evinced in the works of men like Horace Walpole, Alfred Tennyson and Sir Walter Scott. In this sense, the Neo-Gothic was a nostalgic and sentimental backward glance. In a different sense the Gothic Revival represented the attempt of certain architects and churchmen to transfer the liturgical vigour of Gothic churches of the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century by capturing it in stone. Thus men like Augustus Pugin and John Ruskin came to argue that the Gothic Revival represented a standard of moral excellence that was to be practised and imitated as widely as possible.

The Greek Revival grew out of the neoclassicism movement, and represented in essence an attempt by its adherents to find in the architecture of antiquity a form of architecture that corresponded to the principles of reason and order emerging from their own Age of Reason and Enlightenment. Neoclassicism, and the Greek Revival in particular, represented a pursuit for architectural and intellectual truth. An architect could perceive in the forms of antiquity principles of excellent reasoning and intelligence that prevailed in the rationalistic spirit of his own age, and by reinvigorating the ancient style the neoclassical architect could build buildings that were inspired by and inspired in others principles of reason and rationality. Neoclassicism and the Greek Revival conflicted with the Gothic Revival because they perceived the moral truths claimed by the Gothic revivalists as chiefly illusory and false. The Gothic Revival was, in the neo-classicist’s eyes, a decadent celebration of style over substance that elevated illusion and ornament above reason and truth. Neo-Gothic architects were seemingly content to produce endless copies and weak imitations of Gothic style merely to please frivolous aristocrats; neo-classicists however believed that their architecture was a creative act that gave birth to constantly new adaptations of the classical model. Neo-Gothic architects in turn conflicted with neoclassicism because it was cold and devoid of emotion, feeling or moral purpose; its elite attitude rendered any collaboration between the two styles most difficult.

Art historians divide the Gothic Revival into two stages, and each of these stages came to represent quite different ideas. The first stage of the Gothic revival was characterized a ‘raw’ and naive imitation of Gothic architecture that lacked either an architectural philosophy or a coherent system of organization. The first building of this early type was Lord Horace Walpole’s villa Strawberry Hill which was built in 1747; another prominent early specimen was Fonthill Abbey designed and built by James Wyatt. Both of these buildings, in the spirit of Walpole’s atmospheric novel Castle of Otranto (Walpole, 2004), were attempts to preserve in stone the Romantic atmosphere of the Middle Ages; both also demonstrated perhaps more clearly than any other buildings of this time the impracticality and lack of structure of much Neo-Gothic building. This first flourishing of Neo-Gothic architecture was extended into the public sphere also: for instance in the new Houses of Parliament designed and built by Sir Charles Barry and A.W. Pugin. In America too, this nascent Neo-Gothic style was reflected in buildings such as Richard Upjohn’s Trinity Church built in New York in 1840 and Renwick’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral also built in New York. The picturesque quality and organization of many of these buildings led to applause for its Romantic splendour, but also much criticism for its lack of substance and for its unfaithful imitation of the original Gothic form.

If the first stage of the Gothic Revival lacked diligent observation and restoration of Gothic architecture or philosophical principles, then serious efforts were made at the turn of the century to ground the movement more securely upon such principles. The ‘late’ period of Neo-Gothic is thus characterized by a stricter adherence to medieval architectural form and to a philosophical interpretation that viewed Gothic architecture as a paragon of moral virtue and excellence. In England two men were of foremost importance in the development of this second stage: A. Pugin and J. Ruskin. (In France, Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Due played an equally important role). By this time, architects were no longer content to merely imitate Gothic forms and designs, but sought to create original works founded upon the principles of the original Gothic architecture and which fitted to the particular circumstances of nineteenth-century society.

Thus at the turn of the nineteenth-century it is possible to observe a clear evolution in the form of the Gothic Revival away from the loose sentimentality and picturesque quality of the early period and towards a style of dominated by precise architectural limitation of Gothic form as made possible by detailed and comprehensive investigations into this style. One such early investigation was John Carter’s The Ancient Architecture of England (Carter, 1795) which was the first work that recorded with extensive detail and exactitude the Gothic style of medieval buildings; Thomas Rickman’s An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture (Rickman, 1817) gave an extensive account of the varieties of Gothic styles, whilst Pugin’s Specimens of Gothic Architecture (Pugin,1821) deepened and extended the range and accuracy of these initial investigations. Nonetheless, despite the great advances that had been made in the scholarship of the Gothic Revival, the actual building of Gothic buildings remained for some time in the earlier ornamental style that characterized the first period of the movement — famous examples being Windsor Castle which was restored in 1824 by Sir Jeffrey Wyatville, and King’s College Cambridge in 1827to 1831. The greatest use of the Neo-Gothic style at this time was however for church buildings — the style being cheaper and easier to construct than neoclassical designs.

For all the diligent and pain-staking work of the Gothic Revival scholars to come to life in actual buildings it took the skill and vision of one particular man. This man was Augustus Charles Pugin: he presented the argument that Neo-Gothic architectural style was the most fitting emblem of the spirit of the Catholic Church and so was also therefore the only permissible architectural form to express the work of Godin his Church. In Contrasts (1836) Pugin argued that architectural form imitates the condition of the society that creates it; since the society of medieval times was a paragon of virtue and moral integrity then it was natural and obvious that Gothic architecture is the most moral form of architecture. Thus in The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841) Pugin was able to set down comprehensive and coherent principles for the justification of the Gothic Revival. In a major step away from the earlier decadence or the style, Pugin argued that all features and designs of a church must be essential for its correct functioning and structural shape; architecture form must be clean and purposeful since these are also the qualities that we expect of our moral condition. Pugin put this architectural philosophy into practice most assiduously in the years 1837 to 1844: in St Mary’s Church in Derby, in St. Wilfred’s Church in Manchester and in St. Oswald’s Church in Liverpool and many other church buildings. Pugin’s work quickly became an inspiration for Anglican Church reformers such as the Tractarians in Oxford who used his architectural church style as an ideal form by which to carry out their own agenda of church building restoration.

It should be noted here that Pugin’s work as well as that of many other architects across Britain and Europe was profoundly influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin and his two seminal works The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones of Venice (Ruskin,1854). Ruskin’s ideas were inspired by the architectural forms that he had seen in Italy and particularly in Venice; Ruskin thus argued that Gothic was the supreme form of architecture due to the ‘sacrifice’ made by stonemasons in detailing every stone of a building. Ruskin thus exalted Doge’s Palace as ‘ the central building in the world‘ (Ruskin, 1854) — arguing that Pugin’s programme of Gothic Revival in churches should be extended to government buildings also. Moreover, Ruskin himself by his teachings extended the Gothic Revival further by promoting a ‘polychromatic’ style of work inspired by Italian Gothic architecture. This work in turn inspired buildings such as Butterfield’s All Saint’s Church, Keble College in Oxford and Rugby School.

In short, by the end of the eighteenth century the Gothic Revival had been transformed from what began as a Romantically inspired fondness for majestic ornamentalism, into a style of architecture grounded upon powerful moral and philosophical principles as well as an intricate and comprehensive awareness of Gothic form.

The Greek Revival, a growth out of the neoclassicism movement, flourished in the years 1750-1830, and was in many ways the antithesis of the Neo-Gothic form of architecture with which it was contemporaneous. As we have seen, whatever its later manifestations, the Gothic Revival had been a product of Romanticism and of the passions and emotions; the Greek Revival, in complete contrast, exalted reason, the intellect and rationality above all else. Neoclassicism sought as its highest aim to realize architectural and intellectual purity and truth — in stark contrast to what it perceived to be the ornamentalism and illusory truth of the Neo-Gothic style. ‘Neo’-classicism was founded upon a corpus of work that had in antiquity achieved canonical status, that is, it was based upon the observation of ‘classic’ art and classic form. In the words of Crook (1995) ‘ Ideally – and neoclassicism is essentially an art of the ideal – an artist, well-schooled and comfortably familiar with the canon, does not repeat in a lifeless reproductions, but synthesizes the tradition anew in each work ‘. In other words, neoclassicism — of which the Greek Revival was to become the most refined example — sought the highest possible levels of artistic achievement; the neo-classicist style existed only to reinterpret for contemporary circumstances the great work and principles that had already been achieved in the past. Thus, in Crook’s words (1995), ‘Neoclassicism exhibits perfect control of an idiom’ (Crook,1995); that is perfection already achieved, the architect’s task is to fit that perfection of antiquity in a modern cast. All of these above points are significant for understanding the opposition of architects of the Greek Revival against the Gothic Revival. For, in the beginning, much of Neo-Gothic architecture consisted of little more than crude and naive imitations of far superior original Gothic works. Thus in such imitation work there was no creativity and no continuation of the development of an existing idiom. Thus Neo-Gothic form was viewed by Greek revivalists as superfluous and as inferior to their own architectural pursuits.

The emergence of the Greek Revival was made possible by an astonishing efflorescence of archaeological exploration into the sites and cultures of classical Rome and Greece around the middle of the eighteenth century. The discoveries of the archaeologists inspired and sustained the Greek revival. In 1719 Bernard de Montfaucon’s released his giant ten-volume opus Antiquity Explained and Represented in Diagrams (Montfaucon, 1719). This book was hugely popular and intrigued the imaginations hundreds and thousands of European tourists who began to flock to the sites of ancient Rome and Greece. Furthermore, the sensational excavations of cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1748 and 1738 further fuelled the imaginations of architects, archaeologists, novelists and many others. Many other works on classical art and architecture such as Giovanni Piranesi’sPrima Parte di Architecttura, Robert Wood’s Ruins of Palmyra (1753) and Robert Adam’s Ruins of the Temple of the Emperor Diocletian (Adam’s, 1764)were soon published and led to still further thousands going on adventures to the Continent.

This general interest in classical antiquity quickly transformed in the eighteenth century into a burst of fascination with Greek antiquities in particular and displayed a conviction as to the superiority of Greek above Roman architecture. The discovery of the sixth-century ruins of Paestrum received much publicity and was recorded by Italian artist Domenico Antonini and French architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot; soon afterwards Pancrazi published his seminal Antichita Siciliane and Dumont released his Ruins de Paestrum. Deeper investigation into the Greek mainland territory led James Stuart and Nicholas Revett to publish The Antiquities of Athens (Stuart & Revett, 1750) which was highly influential upon architects in England. Whilst it took some time for this appreciation of Greek form to be turned into actual imitative buildings nonetheless the superiority of Greek to Roman architecture had been established by the time of Johan Winckelmann’s Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks in 1765.

Thus architects of the Greek Revival sought to infer from these classical forms principles of order and reason that corresponded to those being discovered in their own age of Enlightenment; neoclassical architects argued that if their own buildings came to embody these principles then society at large would be edified by the experience. Nonetheless, the Greek Revival, like Neoclassicism generally, contained an inherent paradox. Its longing backward-stare to the times of antiquity was inspired by as much by an emotional fondness for antiquity (supposedly the characteristic of the Romantic Gothic Revival) as a predilection for principles of pure reason and rationality. Thus some twentieth century arthistorians have come to speak of this aspect of the Greek Revival as ‘Romantic Classicism’ (Stillman, 1998).

After 1800, in England, the internal dynamics of Neoclassicism directed the movement away from Roman architecture and toward that of ancient Greece – as such, a huge number of buildings were built in these years according to the architectural principles of ancient Greece. Sir John Soane, the architect of the Bank of England, developed a highly influential architectural style that involved promoting the linear abstraction of classical Greek forms and, by using extensive archaeological evidence to inform the designs of patterns, he achieved a spectacular dramatization of the interior spaces of his buildings — a style reminiscent of Etienne-Louis Boullee and Claude-Nicholas Ledoux on the continent. A prominent example of this new style in England was Downing College, Cambridge, modelled upon the Erechtheum from the Acropolis in Athens. The Covent Garden Theatre in London, built by Sir Robert Smirke, was the first Doric style building in the capital; the planning of Regent Street as well as Regent Street Park by John Nash reflected the use of classical Greek styles of city planning and organization. So too the British Museum in London built in 1847 is perhaps the most prominent example of ionic Greek imitation in Britain. In Edinburgh — named admiringly the’ Athens of the North’ by locals at the time — the Greek Revival was extremely influential in the eighteenth century, as shown in buildings such as the Royal High School and the Royal Scottish Academy. The dominance of Greek neoclassical architecture would dominate the British landscape until the advent of Modernism in the twentieth century.

In the final analysis, even if it is paradoxical to say so in light of the sustained conflict that existed between them, both the Gothic Revival and Greek Revival had similar goals, and used similar means to attain those goals. The Gothic Revival began life as a celebration of the spirit and forms of a time other than its own: the Middle Ages. So too, the Greek Revival was engendered by a renascent fascination with classical archaeology and the Greek Revival’s preoccupation was with the ideals and forms of ancient Greece – somewhere even more removed than Medieval Europe! The Greek Revival ultimately represented an attempt to renew and reinvigorate the classical Greek belief in the purity and perfection of architectural form and its corresponding revelation of ‘truth’. It was thus no coincidence that the spirit of the neoclassical age was also dominated by the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason. The Greek Revival thus cast the ancient principles of classical Greece in the mould of eighteenth century rationality; the aim here, like with the later Gothic Revival, being to produce a form of architecture that would edify society. The bitter conflict between the Gothic Revival and the Greek Revival can be explained simply by the fact that each were prepossessed by attitudes quite contrary to the other: one exalting reason and order, the other passion and emotion. Both revivals were each consumed in the whirlwind of their own zeitgeist and only with retrospect and the other advantages of history is it possible show the equal validity of their separate truths.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adam, R. (1764). Ruins of the Temple of the Emperor Diocletian. Graham Henry, London.

Atterbury, P. (1996). A.W.N. Pugin: Master of the Gothic Revival. Yale University Press, Yale.

Carter, J. (1795). The Ancient Architecture of England. Sawsbury Press, Sawsbury.

Crook, J.M. (1995). The Greek Revival: Neoclassical Attitudes in British Architecture 1760-1870. John Murray, London.

Eastlake, C.L. (1970). A History of the Gothic Revival. Leicester University Press, Leicester.

Ferguson, F.G. (1973). The Neo-Classical Architecture of James Wyatt. Harvard University Press, Massachusetts .

Hamlin, T. (1946). Greek Revival Architecture in America. Open University Press, London.

Montfaucon, B. (1719). Antiquity Explained and Represented in Diagrams. London.

Pugin, A, P. (1821). Specimens of Gothic Architecture. Nattali Press, London.

Pugin, P,A. (1836). Contrasts. Peter Cough Books, London.

Pugin, P,A. (1844). The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture. Berry Press, Burnside.

Rickman, T. (1817). An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture. Threebells Press, Glasgow.

Ruskin, J. (1849). The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Trent House Press, London.

Ruskin, J. (1854). The Stones of Venice. Trent House Press, London.

Stillman, D. (1998). English Neo-Classical Architecture Vol.1. W Zwemmer, London.

Stuart, J. & Revett, N.(1750). The Antiquities of Athens. Dasterfield Press, Bedford.

Walpole, H. (2004). The Castle of Otranto. David & Charles, Newton Abbott.

Wiebenson, D. (1969). Sources of Greek Revival Architecture. A Zwemmer, London.

Winckelman, J. (1765). Reflections on the Paintings and Sculptures of the Greeks. John Paul, Edinburgh.

Wood, R. (1753). Ruins of Palmyra. Falstaff Press, Dublin.

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What were the distinctive features of the Manchester school of anthropology?

Structural-functionalism, which dominated British social anthropology for much of the twentieth century, interpreted society in terms of its institutions. Institutions provided society with its structure and worked together to keep society, a bounded unit, in a state of equilibrium.

A person’s role or position in the structure determined their behaviour. In the early 1950s, criticisms of the structural-functionalist approach began to emerge from the Manchester school of anthropology, a group of anthropologists involved with the anthropology department at Manchester University. The Manchester school reacted against the obsession with formal institutions and the structure they supposedly produced.

Many felt it was time to move away from the search for ideal types and focus on the much-neglected individual and how he/she coped in a system full of contradictions and inconsistencies. The Manchester school developed a distinctive approach which focused on the role of conflict in society, acknowledged the importance of the wider context (particularly the impact of colonialism), shed light on the issue of multiple identities through their studies of urban and rural communities, and advanced a new analytical model; namely social network analysis. Although the school is distinct in certain ways, its continued reliance on the structural-functionalist paradigm must be realised.

In contrast to structural-functionalists, the Manchester school did not see social equilibrium as “a simple affair, resulting from the neat integration of groups or norms. On the contrary it emerges through the balancing of oppositions in a dialectical process” [Kuper 1973, 139]. In other words, conflict is an inherent part of society but certain mechanisms exist to ease the tensions and maintain an equilibrium. Ritual, according to Max Gluckman, was one such mechanism.

He analysed “rituals of rebellion” in southern African societies and argued that “whatever the ostensible purpose of the ceremonies, a most striking feature of their organization is the way in which they openly express social tensions” [Gluckman 1963, 112]. One such ceremony occurred in Swaziland. The dominant cleavage in the society was between the king and his subjects.

During the ceremony various groups formed cross-cutting ties which undermined and reduced the severity of the dominant cleavage and the king’s subjects were given the opportunity to voice their hatred towards him. “This ceremony is…a stressing of conflict, a statement of rebellion and rivalry against the king, with periodical affirmations of unity with the king” [Gluckman 1963, 125]. One could infer that such a ritual could totally disrupt a society based on the domination of the ruled by the ruler.

Crucially however, the people are rebelling specifically against the king, and not against the institution of kingship; “the rebellious ritual occurs within an established and unchallenged social order” [Gluckman 1963, 126-27]. In sum Gluckman explains,

The acceptance of the established order as right and good, and even sacred, seems to allow unbridled excess, very rituals of rebellion, for the order itself keeps this rebellion within bounds. Hence to act the conflicts, whether directly or by inversion or in other symbolic form, emphasizes the social cohesion within which the conflict exists [Gluckman 1963, 127]

The ritual reaffirms and perpetuates the social order.

Gluckman’s fieldwork in Zululand and Swaziland established conflict as an unavoidable aspect for analysis in the study of society. However, he has been criticized by many for continuing to use a structural-functionalist paradigm. His studies address the issue of conflict but always in terms of how it is contained by mediating mechanisms (such as ritual) which reaffirm the social order. Kuper explains that this

emphasis on the maintenance of equilibrium grew out of his study of white-ruled Zululand, ‘which despite its many unresolved and irresoluble conflicts, “worked”’, obliging him to consider ‘how social systems could contain the deep conflicts which are present in all of them’ [Kuper 1973, 141].

In other words, Gluckman concentrated on repetitive (as opposed to changing) social systems in which “changes occur not by alterations in the order of offices, but by changes in the persons occupying those offices” [Gluckman 1963, 128]. This, Kuper argues, is “the most vulnerable feature of Gluckman’s theory” [Kuper 1973, 140]. Although it may shed light on small-scale, non-centralized communities, it ignores conflicts “in which the contending parties no longer share the basic values upon which the legitimacy of the social system rests” [Swartz 1966, 34].

From the viewpoint of the sociology of knowledge, it is no accident that this alteration of analytical focus from structure to process has developed during a period in which the formerly colonial territories of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific have been undergoing far-reaching political changes that have culminated in independence [Swartz 1966, 3]

In other words, with many countries engaged in the struggle for their independence, anthropologists working in the 1950s and 1960s finally accepted that “the total political situation should be taken into account” [Kuper 1973, 142]. As the Manchester school anthropologists carried out most of their work in British Central Africa they focussed particularly on the impact of colonialism and capitalism in the societies they studied. Gluckman argued for the recognition of “a Central African Society of heterogeneous culture-groups of Europeans and Africans” [Kuper 1973, 141].

The point of articulation between imperial and indigenous cultures was epitomized in the position of the headman or elected elder, an office institutionalised by the British. He was seen as an “inter-calary figure”, caught between the demands of the state and the demands of his people [Kuper 1973, 143]. As Epstein’s classic study of Politics in an Urban African Community shows, when Africans rioted against the British in response to an increase in taxes in 1935, the elected elders were also attacked and forced to take shelter with the colonial masters [Kuper 1973, 146]. Such studies shed light on the flaws of the colonial system and the social problems it had caused, topics almost entirely avoided by previous anthropologists.

The Manchester school also focused their attention towards urban and not just rural localities. Through recognition of the urban as a valid and necessary unit of study, the school brought the issues of multiple identities and situational selection to the fore. The process of urbanization in colonial Africa markedly increased the number of identities people associated with themselves. “Sometimes a man might side with Bemba against non-Bemba; at other times with clerks against underground workers; and then again line up with fellow Africans against the white mine authority or the government” [Kuper 1973, 146-47].

In other words, people responded to this identity dilemma by choosing to use or ally with different identities, depending on the social situation; this technique is known as situational selection. In the Kalela Dance Mitchell argues that the same group of people can have very different relationships depending on whether they are in a tribal or urban setting. Thus, “ethnic identity is both situational and negotiated by actors amongst each other, and any continuity is possible in principle but not guaranteed” [Rogers 1995, 23].

In 1954 Barnes published his study of a Norwegian Parish and introduced the concept of the social network as an analytical tool [Mitchell 1969, 5]. “Basically, network analysis is very simple: it asks questions about who is linked to whom, the nature of that linkage, and how the nature of the linkage affects behaviour” [Boissevain 1979, 393]. Social network analysis studied the relationships of interacting people in actual situations.

The individual, instead of structures or institutions, was the starting point. This allowed anthropologists to “concern (themselves) with individuals using social roles rather than with roles using individuals, and with the crossing and manipulation rather than the acceptance of institutional boundaries” [Rogers 1995, 20]. In contrast to the structural-functionalist approach which viewed a person’s role in the structure as determining their behaviour, social network analysis considered how individuals adopt and modify the rules to further their own interests and “use network linkages in order to achieve desired ends” [Mitchell 1969, 38].

Network analysis was found to be particularly useful for studies of larger scale communities. As Mitchell argues, this is because of the “large number of single-stranded relationships in them, therefore institutional integration is relatively weak” [Mitchell 1969, 48]. In other words, in bigger, more complex communities people have fewer overlapping relations; using an institutional approach is simply not sufficient for such societies. Also, “social network analysis facilitates the tracing of the connections between locality and wider contexts”, an important factor in an approach so concerned with the “total” situation [Rogers 1995, 18].

An interesting aspect of social network analysis is its application of mathematical methods to anthropological study. Mitchell argues that the “use of graph theory and probability mathematics provides an intriguing method of erecting model networks with which empirical networks can be compared” [Mitchell 1969, 34]. This “openness to methodological innovation” was a key feature of the Manchester school but the school also widely accepted that statistical methods should be used as an aid, and not form the basis of anthropological analysis [Kuper 1973, 142].

There are numerous problems with social network analysis. “The study of personal networks requires meticulous and systematic detailed recording of data on social interaction for a fairly large group of people, a feat which few fieldworkers accomplish successfully” [Mitchell 1969, 11]. Social network analysis is simply too time-consuming and detailed for it to be a viable analytical model in many situations.

Also, although the level of abstraction is not as great as it is in the structural-functionalist approach, the anthropologist must still identify the limits or extent of a network, and select the individual or group at the centre of it. The isolation of one part of the network is “based on the fieldworker’s judgement of what links are significant in explaining the behaviour of the people with whom he is concerned” [Mitchell 1969, 13-14]. Just as structural-functionalists “found” structures in society, the Manchester school “found” networks.

However, the important factor to keep in mind with regard to social network analysis is that it was always intended as a complement to structural-functional analysis. As Mitchell outlines, the “notion of social networks is complementary to and not a substitute for conventional frameworks of analysis” [Mitchell 1969, 8].

In conclusion, it is clear that the Manchester school was distinctive for several reasons. Firstly, it was an action-oriented approach which described the social system as it actually was, full of conflicts and contradictions. Cleavages and tensions were dealt with through various redressive mechanisms. Secondly, it rejected the view of society as a bounded unit and acknowledged the influence of a wider context in all situations; the role of colonialism in causing social problems in Africa was highlighted.

In addition, the Manchester school addressed both urban and rural localities and in doing so furthered anthropology’s understanding of multiple identities and the necessary application of situational selection. Finally, the school advanced the use of social network analysis, applying mathematical methods to the study of culture and bringing the individual and his/her interactions with other actors in actual settings to the centre of study.

Despite these advances, the Manchester school continued to function within a structural-functionalist paradigm. This is shown, for example, by the fact that conflict was studied only in relation to equilibrium; the school did not account for social change or transformation. Also, although they emphasised the impact and inequalities of the colonial system, the Manchester anthropologists did not provide a general theoretical approach for the colonial situation.

Finally, its analytical model was designed as a complement to structural-functionalist modes of analysis. The Manchester school is characterised by several distinct features however, overall it “represents more of a shift of emphasis than a complete departure from pre-war structuralism” [Kuper 1973, 148].

Bibliography

Boissevain, J. 1979. Network analysis: a reappraisal, Current Anthropology 20: 392-394.

Gluckman, M. 1963. Order and rebellion in tribal Africa. London: Cohen & West.

Hannerz, U. 1992. The global ecumene as a network of networks, in A. Kuper (ed.) Conceptualising society. London: Routledge.

Kuper, A. 1973. Anthropology and anthropologists: The modern British school. London: Routledge.

Mitchell, J.C. 1969. Social networks in urban situations. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Rogers, A. & S. Vertovec. 1995. The urban context: ethnicity, social networks and situational analysis. Oxford: Berg.

Swartz, M., V. Turner & A. Tuden. 1966. Political anthropology. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.