Strategic Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic Marketing Management - Essay Example Strategic marketing plan is appropriately observed as a continuous process as this assists the particular organization to recognize the objectives that it aims to attain. In this context, it is important to be noted that the objectives of any organization cannot remain the same throughout and needs to be changed according to the alterations in the business environment. In this period of ever changing business environment, only a proper strategic marketing plan can help an organization sustain. Strategic Marketing Planning in the Sports Sector The sport industry has started to acknowledge the worth and the need of a proper plan of strategic marketing. There have been little facts regarding the relationship that is said to exist among the performances and a proper marketing plan in relation to an organization. However, there has been conflict between numerous researchers of sports about the fact that unless enhancements are made in the actions of a strategic marketing plan, it would not be possible for the sports industry to persist to live on in an environment that is so competitive (Shoham & Kahle, 1996). The process for designing a proper strategic marketing plan with regard to the sports industry is proposed below.... In this context, it is important to be noted that the objectives of any organization cannot remain the same throughout and needs to be changed according to the alterations in the business environment. In this period of ever changing business environment, only a proper strategic marketing plan can help an organization sustain. Strategic Marketing Planning in the Sports Sector The sport industry has started to acknowledge the worth and the need of a proper plan of strategic marketing. There have been little facts regarding the relationship that is said to exist among the performances and a proper marketing plan in relation to an organization. However, there has been conflict between numerous researchers of sports about the fact that unless enhancements are made in the actions of a strategic marketing plan, it would not be possible for the sports industry to persist to live on in an environment that is so competitive (Shoham & Kahle, 1996). The process for designing a proper strategic m arketing plan with regard to the sports industry is proposed below. The steps that are included in the proposed structure are based on the studies of Shilbury & Et. Al. (1998), Kotler (1997), McDonald (1999) and Lancaster & Massingham (1996): 1. Ascertaining the mission statement of the organization 2. The corporate objectives associated with the particular organization should be laid down 3. Analyzing the environment of the market To evaluate the external market environment where the organization competes that is the outside forces and the competitive market among others To evaluate the inner environment of the organization that is the financial capabilities of the particular organization, marketing, and manufacturing among others 4. Performing a SWOT

Understand Your Fats and Fiber Essay Example for Free

Understand Your Fats and Fiber Essay Trans fatty acids are seen on ingredient labels as â€Å"partially hydrogenated oils†. Hydrogenated fats are considered as trans fats because these fats have been created in an industrial process. Trans-fatty acids are harmful because they raise the bad or LDL cholesterol levels and lower the HDL or good cholesterol levels in our bodies. They also increase the risk of heart disease and strokes and have also been associated with developing type 2 diabetes. Unsaturated fats are found in fish, nuts, seeds, and oils from plants, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are two unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are good for the body because they help lower blood cholesterol levels. Fiber helps normalize bowel movements, maintain bowel integrity and health, lowers blood cholesterol levels, helps control blood sugar levels, aid in weight loss, and may even reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. Lipids are also known as cholesterol that is a component found in blood fats. Dietary fiber can be found fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Dietary fibers are commonly classified into two categories, insoluble fiber (don’t dissolve in water), and soluble fiber (those that do dissolve in water). A diet high in fiber decreases the chance of constipation by producing a stool that bulky and easy to pass. High fiber in the diet may lower the risk of developing hemorrhoids, and diverticular disease (small pouches in colon). Soluble fiber that can be found in beans, oats, and flaxseed may help lower bad cholesterol levels and can slow the absorption of sugar and this can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Adding more fiber to your diet can also help with weight loss. References Fats 101. (2012).

Impacts of National Healthcare Reform Essay example -- health care, A

Healthcare in the United States has become one of the biggest, most debated issues in today’s society and people express concerns over quality, accessibility, choice, cost and dozens of other factors. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have tried to use healthcare issues to their advantage, Democrats talking about the right that all Americans should have to quality healthcare while Republicans hammer on the tremendous cost and its impact on the government’s deficit and on business. With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on March 23, 2010, the debate has intensified. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the US governmental agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid, found that the legislation would do little to stem the rise in healthcare expenditures which are expected to increase to more than twenty percent of gross domestic product in the next decade. However, at the same time, President Obama stated that †Å"The Health Care Reform Bill we passed last year will slow these rising costs, which is part of the reason that nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit. My Administration projects significant savings from the health care reform.† This paper will not attempt to tackle the issue of whether the overall impact of the bill will be more positive or negative to the US economy. The goal of this paper is to outline why addressing healthcare is so important economically and then to explore some specific aspects of the PPACA legislation, such as the mandate for coverage, the elimination of pre-existing conditions and coverage rescissions, allowing dependent coverage until age 26, and the additio... ...s provisions does not guarantee any degree of understanding of the overall impact this legislation will have. However it is possible to look at various aspects of the legislation and forecast the implications of those changes. Certain protections that the bill provides, like expansion of dependent coverage, elimination of pre-existing conditions and prohibition of rescissions of coverage, will positively impact some people but will generally cause higher health care costs. Other aspects of the bill, like the medical loss ratio requirements and the coverage mandates, will impact businesses differentially. I believe in its totality, smaller employers will get some benefit out of the legislation while larger employers are likely harmed. However, it will be years after this law is enacted, and likely modified, that the true impacts of the legislation are known.

Newborn Exam

The government initiatives to reduce junior doctors’ hours within the NHS Plan (DH 2000) have increased the call for midwives to expand their traditional role and take on some of the tasks that in the past have mainly been carried out by junior doctors (Kings Fund 2011). Having been working within the community setting as a midwife for the past three years I was interested in extending my role in order to provide more holistic care for my caseload of clients and their babies.Holistic care for mothers, babies and their families is highly recommended within the midwifery profession and is known to provide an improved experience for women (Changing Childbirth (DOH 1993a) NMC 2012, NICE 2006). The Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) is one element of the UK National Screening programme and is offered to all parents for their baby within 72 hours of birth and then repeated again at 6 weeks of age, usually by their GP.This role is one of the tasks that has been highlighte d where midwives can expand their role (Marshall & Raynor 2010). The trust where I work has recently introduced community clinics where parents can take their baby in order to have the newborn examination performed, therefore allowing early discharge home from the unit enabling early family bonding. With this in mind I commenced the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination course.Screening has been used within the NHS for many decades and is a process that enables the health professional to highlight healthy members of the population that could potentially have a health related problem (UK National Screening Committee 2008). The NIPE is a head to toe examination that will enable a practitioner to detect in an apparently healthy baby any abnormality that can then be referred onto the appropriate professional for further investigation.This can then improve the newborns future health by providing early intervention and prevention of further complications (DOH 2009). It particularly focu ses on the eye, heart, hips and testes in the male infant. The importance of these particular areas is of great significance to the baby’s future health. An undetected congenital cataract may lead to the child being blind in that eye. A missed heart defect may not be diagnosed until the parents present with a very unwell or even dead infant.If developmental dysplasia of the hip is not treated early enough following birth it could lead to several episodes of major surgery or even disability in the future. Bilateral undescended testes can lead to problems with future fertility. There are many issues surrounding the NIPE that are argued about within the literature Green and Oddie (2008) question whether the NIPE provides the population with and improvement to overall health or if it just gives the parents reassurance that could in the future be proved wrong, due to the NIPE being a screening tool and not a diagnostic test.Within the content of this essay I will be critically ana lysing the NIPE and some issues around this topic focusing particularly on the examination of the hips. Since being a midwife, and a mother, I have always found this part of the examination most difficult to watch someone perform as it appears to be uncomfortable for the baby. Therefore on commencing the course I have been aware of the discomfort it appears to give the newborn and also the distress this could in turn cause for the parents.I will also be looking into the issues regarding which professional is best qualified to be performing the examination and also if there are any benefits or risks as to the place that it is undertaken. When I am performing the examination I will mainly be alone in the community setting either at a children’s centre or within the home environment, so therefore it is imperative that I am aware of any limitations this may present for the baby, parents or me.As previously mentioned there is a growing trend within many obstetric units for midwive s to carry out the NIPE examination. Within the trust that I am based midwifery led clinics are held on the post natal ward and also within the community for the sole purpose of performing the newborn examination. Bloomfield et al (2003) discussed where the examination should take place and found differing opinions. The benefits of being in hospital were noted to be that medical back up was available and it was more convenient for further immediate referral process.Community examinations were thought to be more likely to enable the parents to ask questions and mention concerns due to the relaxed environment. Following the Maternity Matters report (DOH 2007) advocating that women should have a greater choice for place of birth the home birth rate has increased and is continuing to do so. It is therefore ideal for community based NIPE facilities so that women do not have to attend hospital at all following a home birth.On reflection the examinations that I have witnessed and performed unfortunately seem to have been a way to speed up the postnatal discharge procedure therefore freeing up beds within the unit and not due to providing a more continuous midwifery led experience for the parents and baby as Hutcherson (2010) found. The ideal situation would be to perform the examination on the newborn belonging to the mother you have seen through antenatal care and will be caring for post natally therefore providing continuous care for your personal caseload of clients, as discussed by Baston & Durward (2010).The patient satisfaction and overall job satisfaction in this case scenario would be high for all involved but unfortunately I feel in practice will be a rare occurrence. Eventually I believe that in our trust when there are enough trained midwives within each geographical area the possibility of a midwife performing newborn examinations on babies within the teams’ caseload is possible. This far from being the ideal scenario is the closest it will probabl y get to the holistic care sought after by myself and many other midwives.The EMREN (Evaluation of Midwife Role extension in the routine Examination of the Newborn) study carried out by Townsend et al (2004) looked into aspects of the NIPE one of them being whether a midwife was as capable as a senior house officer when carrying out the NIPE and discovered not only that this was the case but that the mothers satisfaction level may be increased if a midwife performed the NIPE and that also money may be saved by the NHS.Having observed SHO’s, appropriately trained midwives and advanced neonatal practitioners (ANP) performing the NIPE I felt that the midwives and ANP’s communicated far more effectively with both the baby and parents therefore better fulfilling the communication aspect of the competency’s indicated by the UK National Screening Committee (2008). They also provided more detailed information on parenting and public health issues during the examinations which should be an integral part of the NIPE (Baston & Durward 2010).There has been much interest recently into whether pulse oximetry should be part of the newborn screening for congenital heart defects. The UK National Screening Committee is at the present time looking into whether this should be included within the NIPE as part of the screening for congenital heart defects in the newborn. It has been recommended in recent studies and has found to increase the detection rate of congenital heart defects (Ewer et al 2011, Chang 2009). Within our trust I have seen this performed on three ewborns following their NIPE, due to nasal flaring, slight cyanosis and a raised respiratory rate, all have proved to be within the normal range. The saturation monitors are present in the units’ clinic rooms where newborn examinations are performed but the community midwives working in children’s centres or at home do not have access to a monitor. Therefore this could be cause for con cern for parents of babies that are being examined in the community. This then presents the ethical dilemma that newborns are being offered a different aspect within the NIPE depending on where it is carried out.Powell et al (2013) found that parents were happy about having the pulse oximetry screening carried out on their newborn but questions need to be asked if they would prefer to not have it done in favour of the NIPE being performed more conveniently within the community. Ewer (2012) discusses the benefits of introducing pulse oximetry monitoring but without any mention of community based NIPE, or newborns that were born in the home environment. Another concern that I have witnessed and am aware of is not having access to all the antenatal notes of the mother within a community setting.On two occasions the mother has been discharged without the appropriate paper work or has not brought it to the clinic appointment. Obviously within the unit the antenatal and labour notes are e asily accessible, within the community if the mother hasn’t the appropriate information then the parents word must be taken. Having all information relating to the antenatal and interpartum periods is an essential part of the midwives role when performing the NIPE. The practitioner must be aware of antenatal and interpartum occurrences to be able to fulfil the competence set by the UK National Screening Committee (2008).When first undertaking the NIPE’s I found the examination of the hips the hardest part of the procedure, mainly because the baby would quite often cry and struggle a little and this would cause the parents to be distressed and concerned. I also, in the past, as a midwife and mother observing this procedure felt uncomfortable. Having now done a larger amount of these examinations and reading and understanding the relevant literature find them easier to perform. Screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip is based n the fact that if not picked up in the newborn could create the need for major surgical procedures in later life also with a poorer future outcome, Dezateux & Rosendahl (2007). Developmental dysplasia of the hip used to be widely known as congenital dislocation of the hip but has been renamed since the 1990’s. The factors behind this change are that it is now recognised that the condition is not always ‘congenital’ and rarely ‘dislocated’ and more likely to be ‘displaced’, Bracken et al (2012).The definition of developmental dysplasia of the hip is very obscure as there are varying degrees and it quite often develops after birth, overall it describes a disorder where the hip joint is unstable and occasionally dislocated. The hip joint consists of the femoral head, the rounded end of the bone which sits within the cartilage of the socket joint known as the acetabulum. There are thought to be different factors as to why the hip joint becomes unstable. At around seven weeks gestation hip formation has already begun, problems can start to occur then.If the femoral head is wrongly positioned from the start it could result in the formation of a too shallow socket. During pregnancy the hip joint can be affected by external and internal forces, for example oligohydramnios, lack of foetal movement due to foetal conditions, breech presentation (Hurley 2009, McDonald & Jenkins 2008). The incidence of developmental dysplasia of the hip varies in the literature, at birth it is thought to be 1-20 in 1000 but the majority of these stabilize without any treatment within the first few weeks of life, bringing the incidence down to 1-2 in 1000 (Campion & Benson 2007).The incidence is higher in female babies, it is believed due to the female newborn being more susceptible to the maternal hormones therefore the joints are more relaxed, Hurley 2009. It is also more prevalent if a sibling or parent has had developmental dysplasia of the hip, McCarthy et al (2005) and McDo nald & Jenkins. Other factors mentioned by McDonald & Jenkins (2008) include first born infants, multiple gestation and occurring in the left hip more frequently than the right.

Homeschooling Your Child Essay

In America today many parents feel that public or private schools are not doing an adequate job of teaching their children. A lot of people feel that our public schools are focusing too heavily on standardized testing and the curriculum is reflecting test taking skills. The homework   load often becomes too much for the student and takes away from family time- in some cases taking four or more hours a night to complete. In many instances the curriculum moves too fast or too slow and the child becomes bored and less attentive or simply gets lost in the coursework. In a classroom with thirty children a single teacher cannot cater to the needs of every single child and this leaves many lost. Some children are very bright and intelligent but they need one on one teaching to learn and reach their full potential. And some choose not to put their children in public schools because it does not offer a religion based curriculum- something that is very important for some families. Lastly children in public schools also come into contact with negative peer pressure such as drugs and violence and in some instances gun violence takes place in schools. By choosing to educate your child at home you can give your child the opportunity for a better education suited to your child’s individual needs. Reasons that drive parents to homeschooling their children include: too much homework, not enough family time, a curriculum based on standardized testing, negative peer pressure including violence and drugs, and the absence of religion in schools. By homeschooling your child you can control the curriculum and you can choose to include religion in the curriculum and the negative peer pressure from fellow students is not there. In order for children to learn they must be put into the correct setting. â€Å"Securing a sage place free of drugs, gun violence, and negative peer pressure were all factors which turned families toward homeschooling.† (Wichers, 2001, p. 145) Homeschooling Your Child In America today many parents feel that public or private schools are not doing an adequate job of teaching their children. A lot of people feel that our public schools are focusing too heavily on standardized testing and the curriculum is reflecting test taking skills. The homework   load often becomes too much for the student and takes away from family time- in some cases taking four or more hours a night to complete. In many instances the curriculum moves too fast or too slow and the child becomes bored and less attentive or simply gets lost in the coursework. In a classroom with thirty children a single teacher cannot cater to the needs of every single child and this leaves many lost. Some children are very bright and intelligent but they need one on one teaching to learn and reach their full potential. And some choose not to put their children in public schools because it does not offer a religion based curriculum- something that is very important for some families. Lastly children in public schools also come into contact with negative peer pressure such as drugs and violence and in some instances gun violence takes place in schools. This topic is important to me because I feel that one day when I have children homeschooling may be an option for them. With the way things are headed now and the things that go on in our public schools I may feel it is best to teach my children myself when I have them. This topic is relevant to many others because of the same reasons and homeschooling is becoming more popular in America with every year. In today’s society there are a lot of people in America that are searching for alternative methods of educating their children and homeschooling can be a great choice. A few reasons that drive parents to homeschooling their children include:   environmental concerns, such as safety, drugs, and negative peer pressure,desire to provide religious or moral instruction, dissatisfaction with academics at other schools, child’s physical and mental health problems, child’s other special needs, and other reasons, including the child’s choice, flexibility, and greater parental control over education. (Abbott, 2006, p. 49) Some families also face too much homework, not enough family time, and a curriculum based on standardized testing when they have children enrolled in the public school system. Children with disabilities and children who demand a more attentive teacher with one on one teaching are great candidates for homeschooling. I also feel disappointed in the fact that our schools no longer involve religion- not even a simple morning prayer. It is to the point where teachers are reprimanded for mentioning religion of any kind. My faith is very important to me and I would like it if faith based instruction was an everyday part of my child’s education. When I think of the future and what my children may encounter on a daily basis at their school I always think of homeschooling if our public school systems get bad enough. When I hear about the violence and drugs that my future children may encounter while at school I consider homeschooling a great option for my future family. Homeschooling can become a good choice for parents who are tired of the test taking based curriculum and the extreme amount of homework that is required of their children. By choosing to home school, the parent and student can decide on a curriculum that best suites the child and that isn’t based on passing one test at the end of that school year. Another plus side to choosing the curriculum is that parents can choose to teach a faith based curriculum and implement religion classes into the coursework. If a child is getting their education at home usually it will involve much less homework and   the child’s spare time can be spent on extra-curricular activities- something that students often feel they don’t have enough time for. Being homeschooled also gives the student and parents more family time because there’s less homework to be done in the evening. Another reason why parents choose homeschooling is because of the violent and drug filled atmosphere in most public middle and secondary schools. Students encounter negative peer pressure while at school and this can lead to drug or alcohol abuse and violent or rebellious behavior. In an atmosphere such as this a child is not given the best opportunity to succeed and sometimes this is enough to convince parents that in home education is best for their child or children. I can’t think of any parents that I know who would want to send their children to a school filled with drugs and violence and that is not a suitable learning environment. Parents know what is best for their child and know how to create the best environment suitable for their child to learn. In homeschooling, parents can give their children more choice and control in their curriculum while teaching them one on one. If a parent decides to home school their child, that child will have the opportunity to advance at their own pace. Children who are homeschooled often learn at a faster pace because they are being taught one on one usually by a parent. By allowing a child to accelerate at a faster pace the child will not become bored with the content taught and will remain focused and interested in the material being taught. Although many Americans are still skeptical of homeschooling there are many advantages to homeschooling your child. Studies have shown that children who are homeschooled tend to score higher on standardized tests such as advanced placement exams, the ACT, and the SAT than do public schooled children. (McReynolds, 2007) It is also shown that children who are homeschooled attend college at higher rates and are in many cases recruited by universities. (Romanowski, 2006, p. 127) Many prestigious schools such as, â€Å"Brown, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, the United States Military Academy at West Point, UC at Berkeley, University of Michigan, Notre Dame, and Yale† are all universities that accept freshman who have been homeschooled and in some cases recruit students who have mostly been homeschooled. (Romanowski, 2006, p. 127) It is just as easy if not easier for homeschooled children to enter into college. It is reported that children who are educated at home usually score about 15% higher on standardized tests than do publicly schooled children. (Wilhelm, 2009) In the year 2005, students who were homeschooled averaged scores of 22.5 while students educated in public schools averaged a 20.9 score. (Abbott, 2006, p. 50) By choosing to educate your child at home you can give your child the opportunity for a better education suited to your child’s individual needs. Reasons that drive parents to homeschooling their children include: too much homework, not enough family time, a curriculum based on standardized testing, negative peer pressure including violence and drugs, and the absence of religion in schools. By homeschooling your child you can control the curriculum and you can choose to include religion in the curriculum and the negative peer pressure from fellow students is not there. In order for children to learn they must be put into the correct setting. â€Å"Securing a sage place free of drugs, gun violence, and negative peer pressure were all factors which turned families toward homeschooling.† (Wichers, 2001, p. 145) References Abbott, M., & Miller, J. (2006). What you need to learn about homeschooling.  Contemporary Pediatrics,  23(11), 48. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the article titled, â€Å"What you Need to Learn About Homeschooling†, Myles Abbott and Jennifer Miller explore many common reasons why parents choose homeschooling their children over traditional public schools. Abbott and Miller also studied the different

ObjectOriented Programming vs Procedural Programming essays

ObjectOriented Programming vs Procedural Programming essays It was way back in the 1970s when Kernighan and Ritchie were working on creating a new programming language they would soon call C. It was called this because a language called B preceded it. C was created with simplicity and flexibility in mind. Its primary use was for writing operating systems, however it became popular for a wide variety of other programs. The one thing that C lacked was support for objects; it was a procedural-oriented program. In a procedural-based programming language, a programmer writes out instructions that are followed by a computer from start to finish. This kind of programming had its advantages, but an object-oriented language makes programming clearer and easier to understand. Object-oriented software is all about using objects. An object actually contains code (member functions) and data (data members). Traditionally, code and data have been kept apart. For example, in the C language, units of code are called functions, while units of data are called structures. Functions and structures are not formally connected in C. A C function can operate on more than one type of structure, and more than one function can operate on the same structure. In object-oriented programming, code and data are merged into a single indivisible thing an object. This has some big advantages. A primary rule of object-oriented programming is this: as the user of an object, you should never need to peek inside the box. The way objects work are that a message is sent in and the object knows how to handle it. Thus the user never needs to see the implementation details. By not knowing what is going on inside an object, the user is unable to change the internal implementation code. Providing access to an object only through its messages, while keeping the details private is called encapsulation. The benefits of objects do not stop with encapsulation. Objects also have the special ability to inherit...

The Problem With Feudalism

The Problem With Feudalism Medieval historians arent generally bothered by words. In fact, the intrepid medievalist is always ready to leap into the rough-and-tumble milieu of Old English word origins, medieval French literature, and Latin Church documents. Icelandic Sagas hold no terror for the medieval scholar! Next to these challenges, the esoteric terminology of medieval studies is mundane, and no threat to the historian of the Middle Ages. But theres one word that has become the bane of medievalists everywhere. Use it in discussing medieval life and society, and the average medieval historian will screw up his face in revulsion. There might be some sighs, some head shaking, and perhaps even some hands thrown in the air. What is this word that has the power to annoy, disgust, and even upset the ordinarily cool and collected medievalist? Feudalism. Every student of the Middle Ages is at least somewhat familiar with feudalism. The term is usually defined as follows: Feudalism was the dominant form of political organization in medieval Europe. It was a hierarchical system of social relationships wherein a noble lord granted land known as a fief to a free man, who in turn swore fealty to the lord as his vassal and agreed to provide military and other services. A vassal could also be a lord, granting portions of the land he held to other free vassals; this was known as subinfeudation, and often led all the way up to the king. The land granted to each vassal was inhabited by serfs who worked the land for him, providing him with income to support his military endeavors; in turn, the vassal would protect the serfs from attack and invasion. Of course, this is an extremely simplified definition, and there are many exceptions and caveats that go along with this model of medieval society, but the same could be said of any model applied to a historical period. Generally, it is fair to say that this is the explanation for feudalism youll find in most history textbooks of the 20th century, and it is very close to every dictionary definition available. The problem? Virtually none of it is accurate. Feudalism  was  not the dominant form of political organization in medieval Europe. There was no hierarchical system of lords and vassals engaged in a structured agreement to provide military defense. There was no subinfeudation leading up to the king. The arrangement whereby serfs worked the land for a lord in return for protection, known as manorialism or seignorialism, was not part of a feudal system. Monarchies of the early Middle Ages may have had their challenges and their weaknesses, but kings did not use feudalism to exert control over their subjects, and the feudal relationship was not the glue that held medieval society together. In short, feudalism as described above never existed in Medieval Europe. We know what youre thinking. For decades, even centuries, feudalism has characterized our view of medieval society. If it never existed, then why did so many historians say it did for so long? Werent there entire books written on the subject? Who has the authority to say that all those historians were wrong? And if the current consensus among the experts in medieval history is to reject feudalism, why is it still presented as reality in nearly every medieval history textbook? The best way to answer these questions is to engage in a little historiography. Lets begin with a look at the origin and evolution of the term feudalism. A Post-Medieval What, Now? The first thing to understand about the word feudalism is that it was never used during the Middle Ages. The term was invented by 16th- and 17th-century scholars to describe a political system of several hundred years earlier. This makes feudalism a post-medieval construct. Theres nothing inherently wrong with constructs. They help us understand alien ideas in terms more familiar to our modern thought processes. The phrases Middle Ages and medieval are constructs, themselves. (After all, medieval people didnt think of themselves as living in a middle age they thought they were living in the now, just like we do.) Medievalists may not like the way the term medieval is used as an insult, or how absurd myths of past customs and behavior are commonly attributed to the Middle Ages, but most are confident that the use of middle ages and medieval to describe the era as in between the ancient and early modern eras is satisfactory, however fluid the definition of all three time frames may be. But medieval has a fairly clear meaning based on a specific, easily-defined viewpoint. Feudalism cannot be said to have the same. In 16th  century France,  Humanist  scholars grappled with the history of Roman law and its authority in their own land. They examined, in depth, a substantial collection of Roman law books. Among these books was something called the  Libri Feudorum- the Book of Fiefs. The  Libri Feudorum  was a compilation of legal texts concerning the proper disposition of fiefs, which were defined in these documents as lands held by people referred to as vassals. The work had been put together in Lombardy, northern Italy, in the 1100s, and over the course of the intervening centuries, many lawyers and other scholars had commented on it and added definitions and interpretations, or  glosses.  The  Libri Feudorum  is an extraordinarily significant work that, to this day, has been barely studied since the 16th-century French lawyers gave it a good look. In the course of their evaluation of the Book of Fiefs, the scholars made some fairly reasonable assumptions: That the fiefs under discussion in the texts were pretty much the same as the fiefs of 16th-century France- that is, lands belonging to nobles.That the  Libri Feudorum  was addressing actual legal practices of the 11th century and not simply expounding on an academic concept.That the explanation of the origins of fiefs contained in the  Libri Feudorum- that is, that grants were initially made for as long as the  lord  chose, but were later extended to the grantees lifetime and  afterward  made hereditary- was a reliable history and not mere conjecture. The assumptions may have been reasonable- but were they correct? The French scholars had every reason to believe they were, and no real reason to dig any deeper. After all, they werent so much interested in the historical  facts of the time period as they were in the legal questions addressed in the  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Libri Feudorum.  Their foremost consideration was whether or not the laws even had any authority in France- and, ultimately, the French lawyers rejected the authority of the Lombard Book of Fiefs. However, during the course of their investigations, and based in part on the assumptions outlined above, the scholars who studied the  Libri Feudorum  formulated a view of the Middle Ages. This general picture included the idea that feudal relationships, wherein noblemen granted fiefs to free vassals in return for services, were important in medieval society because they provided social and military security at a time when  the central  government was weak or nonexistent. The idea was discussed in editions of the  Libri Feudorum  made by the legal scholars Jacques Cujas and Franà §ois Hotman, both of whom used the term  feudum  to indicate an arrangement involving a  fief. It didnt take long for other scholars to see some value in the works of Cujas and Hotman and apply the ideas to their own studies. Before the 16th century was over, two Scottish lawyers- Thomas Craig and Thomas Smith- were using feudum in their classifications of Scottish  lands and their tenure. It was apparently Craig who first expressed the idea of feudal arrangements as a hierarchical  system;  moreover, it was  a  system that was imposed on nobles and their subordinates by their monarch as a matter of policy.  In the 17th century,  Henry Spelman, a noted English antiquarian, adopted this viewpoint for English legal history, as well. Although Spelman never used the word feudalism, either, his work went a long way toward creating an -ism from the handful of ideas over which Cujas and Hotman had theorized. Not only did Spelman maintain, as Craig had done, that feudal arrangements were part of a system, but he related the English feudal heritage with that of Europe, indicating that feudal arrangements were characteristic of medieval society as a whole. Spelman wrote with authority, and his hypothesis was happily accepted as fact by scholars who saw it as a sensible explanation of medieval social and property relations. Over the next several decades, scholars explored and debated feudal ideas. They expanded the meaning of the term from legal matters and adapted it to other aspects of medieval society. They argued over the origins of feudal arrangements and expounded on the various levels of  subinfeudation. They incorporated manorialism and applied it to the agricultural economy. They envisioned a complete system of feudal agreements that ran throughout all of Britain and Europe. What they did  not  do was challenge Craigs or Spelmans interpretation of the works of Cujas and Hotman, nor did they question the conclusions that Cujas and Hotman had drawn from the  Libri Feudorum. From the vantage point of the 21st century, its easy to ask why the facts were overlooked in favor of the theory. Present-day historians  engage in  a rigorous  examination of the evidence and clearly identify a theory as a theory (at least, the good ones do). Why didnt 16th- and 17th-century scholars do the same? The simple answer is that history as a scholarly field has evolved over time; and in the 17th century, the academic discipline of  historical  evaluation was in its infancy. Historians did not yet have the tools- both physical and figurative- we take for granted today, nor did they have the example of scientific methods from other fields to look to and incorporate into their own learning processes. Besides, having a straightforward model by which to view the Middle Ages gave scholars the sense that they understood the time period. Medieval society becomes so much easier to evaluate and comprehend if it can be labeled and fit into a simple organizational structure. By the end of the 18th century, the term feudal system was in use among historians, and by the middle of the 19th century, feudalism had become a fairly well-fleshed out model, or construct, of medieval government and society. The idea spread beyond the cloistered halls of academia. Feudalism became a buzzword for any oppressive, backward, hidebound system of government. In the  French Revolution, the feudal regime was abolished by the  National Assembly, and in Karl Marxs  Communist Manifesto,  feudalism was the oppressive, agrarian-based economic system that preceded the inequitable, industrialized, capitalist economy. With such far-ranging appearances in both academic and mainstream usage, it would be an extraordinary challenge to break free of what was, essentially, a wrong impression. In the late 19th century, the field of medieval studies began to evolve into a serious discipline. No longer did the average historian accept as fact everything that had been written by his predecessors and repeat it as a matter of course. Scholars of the medieval era began to question interpretations of the evidence, and they began to question the evidence, as well. This was by no means a swift process. The medieval era was still the bastard child of historical study; a dark age of ignorance, superstition, and  brutality; a thousand years without a bath.  Medieval historians had a great deal of prejudice, fanciful inventions and misinformation to overcome, and there was no concerted effort to shake things up and reexamine every theory ever floated in the study of the Middle Ages. And feudalism had become so entrenched in our view of the time period, it wasnt an obvious choice of target to overturn. Even once historians began to recognize the system as a post-medieval construct, the validity of the construct wasnt questioned. As early as 1887,  F. W. Maitland  observed in a lecture on English constitutional history that we do not hear of a feudal system until feudalism ceased to exist.  He examined in detail what feudalism supposedly was and discussed how it could be applied to English medieval law, but never did he question its very existence. Maitland was a well-respected scholar, and much of his work is still enlightening and useful today. If such an esteemed historian treated feudalism as a legitimate system of law and government, why should anyone think to question him? For a long time, nobody did. Most medievalists continued in Maitlands vein, acknowledging that the word was a construct, and an imperfect one at that, yet going forward with articles, lectures, treatises and entire books on what exactly feudalism had been; or, at the very least, incorporating it into related topics as an accepted fact of the medieval era. Each historian presented his own interpretation of the model- even those claiming to adhere to a previous interpretation deviated from it in some significant way. The result was an unfortunate number of varying and even conflicting definitions of feudalism. As the 20th century progressed, the discipline of history grew more rigorous. Scholars uncovered new evidence, examined it closely, and used it to modify or explain their view of feudalism. Their methods were sound, as far as they went, but their premise was problematic: they were trying to  adapt  a deeply flawed theory to such a wide variety of facts. Although several historians  expressed concerns over the indefinite nature of the well-worn model and the terms many imprecise meanings, it wasnt until 1974 that anyone thought to stand up and point out the most basic, fundamental problems with feudalism. In a ground-breaking article entitled The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe,  Elizabeth A. R. Brown  leveled an unwavering finger at the academic community and roundly denounced the term feudalism and its continued use. Clearly,  feudalism was a construct that was developed  after  the Middle Ages, Brown maintained, and the system it described bore little resemblance to actual medieval society. Its many differing, even contradictory definitions had so muddied the waters that it had lost any useful meaning. The construct was actually interfering with the proper examination of evidence concerning medieval law and society; scholars viewed land agreements and social relationships through the warped lens of the feudalism construct, and either disregarded or dismissed anything that didnt fit into their chosen version of the model. Brown asserted  that  considering how difficult it is to unlearn what one has learned, to continue to include feudalism in introductory texts would do readers of those texts a grave injustice. Browns article was very well-received in academic circles. Virtually no American or British medievalists objected to any part of it, and almost everyone who read it agreed: Feudalism was not a useful term, and really should go. Yet, feudalism stuck around. There were improvements. Some new publications in medieval studies avoided using the term altogether; others used it only  sparingly,  and focused on actual laws, land tenures, and legal agreements instead of on the model. Some books on medieval society refrained from characterizing that society as feudal. Others, while acknowledging that the term was in dispute, continued to use it as a useful shorthand for lack of a better term, but only as far as it was necessary. But there were still authors that included descriptions of feudalism as a valid model of medieval society with little or no caveat. Why? For one thing, not  every  medievalist had read Browns  article,  or had a chance to consider its implications or discuss it with his colleagues. For another, revising work that had been conducted on the premise that feudalism was a valid construct would require the kind of reassessment that few historians were prepared to engage in, especially when deadlines were drawing near. Perhaps most significantly, no one had presented a reasonable model or explanation to use in place of feudalism. Some historians and authors felt they had to provide their readers with a handle by which to grasp the general ideas of medieval government and society. If not feudalism, then what? Yes, the emperor had no clothes; but for now, he would just have to run around naked.