Power and Privilege in Conflict Resolution Essay

Power and Privilege in Conflict Resolution - Essay Example In his article â€Å"Power and Conflicts†, Coleman clearly outlines how power is related to conflict resolution. According to him, there are different ways of defining power which could be power over, power with and dependence and powerless. He says that in conflict resolution, when one of the conflicting parties feels that the solution that is reached gives the other party power over them, the resolution is not satisfactory. This means that the same kind of conflict is likely to arise in future. In order to reach a lasting resolution, competition should not be created in resolving conflicts, and the parties involved should not feel like they are in a win-lose position. There should be more emphasis on promoting cooperation, independent power and shared power. It is also evident that the people who possess power have a tendency to justify having this power and using it in the manner that they feel fit. They are also not willing to share this power with those they perceive to b e powerless. The parties with low power on the other hand are likely to show discontentment with their situation and are shortsighted. They in most cases roll their discontentment to people who have less power than them (Coleman 12). This ruins their chances of being empowered and makes it even harder for the conflicts to be resolved. It is only through coalition building and cooperation where power is neutralized that conflicts can be resolved completely. Privileges also play a vital role in conflict resolution since they give power to the privileged and take power from the underprivileged. In dealing with conflicts that come with one party having power over the others because of one being privileged, there are certain things that need to be considered. For instance, gender equality has been a source of conflict for many years. Women complain of not being equally treated in education, work and other situation. Dealing with this kind of situation would require that the men acknowled ge the fact that they are privileged and accept to lose some of the privileges in order to resolve the conflict (McIntosh 3). This is because in most cases, although it may be universally acknowledged that women are under-privileged, men would not agree to the fact that they are privileged. This could be the reason why we are still very far away from dealing with the issue of gender equality. The question of truth and morality is an intricate one and it is crucial to understand this relationship in conflict resolution. This is especially based on the fact that a person may have wrong motives but his actions lead to good results while another one may have good intention but the ends become terrible. Truth is thus the harsh reality that people have to live with while morality is judged in terms of good intentions (Kriesberg, 3). Truth and morality are related to conflict resolution in the sense that morality and truth seeks to social justice and reconciliation and conflict resolutions are part of this quest. Take the example of the situation where single mothers who do not

Person centred approaches Essay Example for Free

Person centred approaches Essay Implement person centred approaches in health and social care 1.1 Define person-centred values. 1.2 Explain why it is important to work in away that embeds person centred values. The underlying purpose of â€Å"Person-centred values† is to ensure that the individual needing care is placed at the very centre of the decision making process about their life, the services and support they want and need. Therefore, under this strict system, the person is always placed at the very centre of the planning of the care programme required, in that he or she will always be consulted and that his or her views will always come first. Therefore the plan is tailor-made to that particular person, and it should include all aspects of care, from the Social and Health Services, from that individual’s family and from the voluntary sector. This is the current policy and it applies to those people with learning disabilities, mental health problems, and physical disabilities, to older people who need support, and to young people making their transition to adulthood. To place the person at the centre certain values must be upheld: Individuality (everyones differences must be recognised and respected), Choice (for individuals to be able to make own choices and be in control of own life), Privacy (information and activities must be kept confidential), Independence (empowering individuals to do activities for themselves) and dignity (be treated in a respectful way). It is vital for the social care worker to work using these precise methods to establish the needs and wishes of the individual. This will also mean that individuals will feel empowered and in control of their lives, be more confident about making decisions, will feel valued and respected. 1.3 Explain why risk taking can be part of a person centred approach. The person centred approach to risk includes making an assessment with the people involved in the plan such as the individual, their relatives and other professionals. Risk taking is part of a person-centred approach as this empowers individuals to have choices about what they want to do in their lives as well as to be part of their community. Not allowing individuals to take risks can have a negative impact on an individual’s life to not live it as they wish. 1.4 Explain how using an individuals care plan contributes to working in a person centred way. To be person-centred the person must always be at the centre of their care plan. This means that individuals must always to be consulted and their views must always come first. Therefore, no two care plans are alike because each individual is different from another. Each individual should be involved at every stage of their care plan; from deciding who to involve, how to meet the individual’s needs, the support required and how to feedback on how the care plan is working. 3.1 Explain the importance of establishing consent when providing care and support. 3.3 Explain what steps to take if consent cannot be readily established. It is always very important to establish the consent of the individual when providing any care or support programme or procedure. This is essential so as to include that individual with any decision-making, in order to ensure that they do not feel left out, ignored; in this way they can understand and agree to that element of their care or support. I would discuss the problem, that consent cannot be established, with the supervisor or manager of the home, and, if necessary, the individual’s doctor and advocate. I would also make a record of this, which I would sign and date. 4.1 Describe how active participation benefits an individual. 4.2 Identify possible barriers to active participation. Active participation benefits the individual because that person is always made to feel that he or she is continually important, and that things are done for their benefit, with their consent. This ensures a positive approach for the individual that makes them an active part of how they choose to live and puts them first as the focus. Barriers can take several forms – the emotions, the disabilities, and the attitudes of the individual concerned, any or all of which can deter active participation by that individual in any activity or action. Similarly barriers exist if social care workers’ attitudes and approaches do not value active participation, strict routines and lack of training on using the active participation approach can also be barriers. 5.3 Explain why a workers personal views should not influence an individuals choices. The care worker’s personal views may well simply rule things out for the individual being cared for, because the worker might take a subjective position rather than looking to find creative solutions for that individual. Such a stance could prevent the individual from making informed choices about their care. Therefore, personal views should never influence the choices of any individual as this also goes against their rights and can make an individual feel pressurised to agree. 5.4 Describe how to support an individual to question or challenge decisions concerning them that are made by others. When others make decisions for the individual, the care worker should talk to the individual to ask that person whether he or she understands what has been decided for them. Once the individual understands those decisions, he or she should be encouraged to state whether they agree with them. If not, then that individual should be enabled to question and challenge them either  themselves, through the social care worker or an advocate. 6.1 Explain how individual identity and self esteem are linked with well being. 6.2 Describe attitudes and approaches that are likely too promote an individuals well being. Maintaining an individual’s identity is done by always recognising that person as a human being, not a number – identity is who the person is. Ensuring that the individual IS important and that their views and concerns are always dealt with in a positive and caring manner will always ensure that person is valued and has a high self-esteem. All this will contribute to their sense of well being. By always ensuring that the individual is treated in a professional, kind, caring and courteous way, their sense of well-being is always assured. Care workers can also make sure that they use a number of different approaches empowering approaches that enable the individual to take control, a positive approach that encourages the individual to feel good, working in a trusting and professional way enables a good relationship to build between the care worker and individual and promoting a sense of well being.

Managing Time And People Commerce Essay

Managing Time And People Commerce Essay Planning is essential in creating a new venture. This task remains principally on the entrepreneur starting the business. A good entrepreneur needs to have a variety of skills in order to be successful. SimVenture which is a business simulation game, is a good way of practising these skills. Indeed, teaching entrepreneurial and business skills is one of the main purposes of SimVenture, by allowing the users to create and run their own virtual company. SimVenture also gives the opportunity to learn how to make efficient decisions in all the different sectors of a business including marketing, human resources, operations, finance, and more. As a business administration student and perhaps future entrepreneur, it is fundamental to understand how to successfully operate a company and to practice and deal with diverse skills. I have learned many lessons by using that simulation and many of these will definitely be useful in my future life and enhance my knowledge and personal development. Three of the main that I have learned are how to manage time and people, how to develop a business model, and how to research and analyse the market. Managing time and people Firstly, managing time and people has been a crucial lesson that I have learned using SimVenture. An entrepreneurs most important and most difficult job is to manage these two components. The first component of the business that has to be well managed is people. Starting a business is not only a one person deal, in the contrary, well developed and directed teams are behind most of the most successful business start-up. Indeed, developing strong entrepreneurial teams are key to a well functioning venture. It is the entrepreneurs task to find individuals that can offer knowledge, experience, skills, and, thus, add up a to the social capital of their company. Furthermore, once the good ones are chosen, employees have to be motivated, leaded, inspired, and encouraged in order to be efficient and to increase their commitment to the company. With SimVenture, I have learned that this process is crucial for a business, because choosing inefficient or unsuitable employees can increase remarkably its costs. Also, the simulation taught me that not only choosing the best candidate is important, but especially giving them the job position in concordance with what they are the best in. The second component of the venture that has to be greatly managed is time. Effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency, are aspects that can be excessively increased if time is managed correctly. Especially during the business start-up process, at every step of it, time should be spent on elements that are really relevant for the creation of the company. SimVenture clearly showed that time can really be an issue in a company as time management was one on the main problems that my team and I had while using the simulation. Sometimes employees were spending time idle, and some other times, they were not able to finish their task due to lack of time. In the future, I will know that time is the component of a business that is probably the most essential to be well managed in order to be successful. Developing a business model Secondly, creating a business model has been an essential lesson that I have learned with SimVenture. Building a business model can be a very long and difficult process, because it is a complex, precise, and specific task. However, it is indispensable for a new venture to develop an effective one because it is the heart of a company. Management writer Joan Magretta defined a business model as the story that explains how an enterprise works (Casadesus-Masanell and RicartÂÂ  , 2011). Being part of a business strategy, a business model is used to represent core aspects of a venture. A business model can be separated in five main features. The first section is understanding the customers and their purchase decision. A customer in a purchase decision process will pass through some stages before buying a product or service. He will research information, seek value, evaluate alternative, and assess value before making any decision. Using the simulation, I learned that understanding the customers that are in the target market can greatly benefit the company in making products in concordance with their needs. Also, through SimVenture, I realized that customers are the wheels of the business and that it is primordial to make decisions in relation to them. The second feature of a business model is the value proposition, or the benefits that customers gain. It is very important for a company to understand and be aware of what their customers gain and benefit from their products or services. Developing a value proposition relies on analysing qualitative and quantitative aspects and finding a way to be different from competitors by knowing who they are and what they do. The value proposition is used to attract customers and ensure the companys financial healthiness. The third part of a business model is the architecture of the business. That feature describes the structure and the organisation of the company. It also defines how the venture creates and distributes its products and services. The business architecture discusses whether there is a market or not for what the company is selling, by analysing the external environment such as geography. All these different components are put together to create value for the customers. Using SimVenture, it was a challenge to make efficient decisions because all the features of the business and the target market were to be taken in account. The fourth section is the revenue model of the business. Its goal is for the company to find a profitable way to deliver great value to their customers and satisfying their needs. In other words, by doing better than its competitors, the venture has to manage its costs and expenses in order to increase its return on investments. Pricing is also an important aspect of that stage, indeed the price should be fixed so that it is high enough to make profit but not too high for the sales to decrease. Furthermore, the company has to decide which revenue mechanism will be adopted and how the benefits will be delivered to their customers. SimVenture taught me that it is essential to have a great knowledge of our costs and expenses in order to fix the price of the product at a profitable level. The fifth feature of the business model is the strategic direction. The strategic direction is how the organization strategy will be achieve and which actions will be in place to do so. It demonstrate the position that the venture is planning to take over its competitors in a long term view. It is also a projection of where the business wants to be in a certain amount of years. Using SimVenture, I have learned that the strategic plan of the business is always to be kept in mind if you want the long term objectives to be achieved. In the simulation, I would have made different decisions than my team. In my opinion, we were thinking too much about the present month and not enough of the future of the venture. Researching and analysing the market Thirdly, researching and analysing the market has been a crucial lesson that I have learned with SimVenture. The market analysis is essential to be done at the starting point of every new venture. It allows the entrepreneur to know more about the global environment of its business. The market analysis is extremely important because it helps define the nature of the business and the remainder of the plan. [] Similarly, the more a start-up understands the needs of its target market, the more it can match its product attributes to those needs (Barringer, 2009). Indeed, the venture will have to segment the market and select a target market. The market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into distinct subsets (or segments) that behave in the same way or have similar needs (Barringer, 2009). As the market segmentation was already done in SimVenture, nothing was learned from that section. Before selecting a target market, the company should research and study the size and the trends of the different market segments. This is critical because a good selection will allow the business to be successful in terms of profit and sales growth. With SimVenture, I have learned that selecting the best market segment is one of the most important things, because if you dont make a good selection, keeping a financially healthy company can be problematic in the future. I had difficulty selecting the appropriate target market for the business. Therefore, what I have learned from that for the future is that a deeper research and analysis of the market and of the segments should be done in order to make the best decision possible. Conclusion To conclude, through SimVenture, I have learned many important lessons including managing time and people, creating a business model, and researching and analysing the market. The simulation made me aware that a business can face many difficulties and that the entrepreneur needs the knowledge and the ability to make the best decision according to any situations that can occur. Running my own business for a few weeks has definitely helped me in my personal development, because I would now feel more confident and experienced if, in the future, I would decide to start my own company.

Internal And External Economies Of Scale :: Economics

Internal And External Economies Of Scale When a company reduces costs and increases production, internal economies of scale have been achieved. External economies of scale occur outside of a firm, within an industry. Thus, when an industry's scope of operations expand due to for example the creation of a better transportation network, resulting in a subsequent decrease in cost for a company working within that industry, external economies of scale are said to have been achieved. With external ES, all firms within the industry will benefit. Economies Of Scale In addition to specialization and the division of labor, within any company there are various inputs that may result in the production of a good and/or service: * Lower input costs: when a company buys inputs in bulk, say for example potatoes used to make French fries at a fast food chain; it can take advantage of volume discounts. (In turn, the farmer from which sold the potatoes could also be achieving ES if the farm has lowered its average input costs through, for example, buying fertilizer in bulk at a volume discount). * Costly inputs: some inputs, such as research and development, advertising, managerial expertise and skilled labor are expensive, but because of the possibility of increased efficiency with such inputs, can lead to a decrease in the average cost of production and selling. If a company is able to spread the cost of such inputs over an increase in its production units, ES can be realized. Thus, if the fast food chain chooses to spend more money on technology to eventually increase efficiency by lowering the average cost of hamburger assembly, it would also have to increase the number of hamburgers it produces a year in order to cover the increased technology expenditure. * Specialized inputs: as the scale of production of a company increases, a company can employ the use of specialized labor and machinery resulting in greater efficiency. This is because workers would be better qualified for a specific job, for example someone who only makes French fries, and would no longer be spending extra time learning to do work not within their specialization (making hamburgers or taking a customer's order). Machinery, such as a dedicated French fry maker, would also have a longer life as it would not have to be over and/or improperly used. * Techniques and Organizational inputs: with a larger scale of production, a company may also apply better organizational skills to its resources, such as a clear-cut chain of command, while improving its techniques for production and distribution. Thus, behind the counter employees at the fast food chain may be organized according to those taking in-house orders and those Internal And External Economies Of Scale :: Economics Internal And External Economies Of Scale When a company reduces costs and increases production, internal economies of scale have been achieved. External economies of scale occur outside of a firm, within an industry. Thus, when an industry's scope of operations expand due to for example the creation of a better transportation network, resulting in a subsequent decrease in cost for a company working within that industry, external economies of scale are said to have been achieved. With external ES, all firms within the industry will benefit. Economies Of Scale In addition to specialization and the division of labor, within any company there are various inputs that may result in the production of a good and/or service: * Lower input costs: when a company buys inputs in bulk, say for example potatoes used to make French fries at a fast food chain; it can take advantage of volume discounts. (In turn, the farmer from which sold the potatoes could also be achieving ES if the farm has lowered its average input costs through, for example, buying fertilizer in bulk at a volume discount). * Costly inputs: some inputs, such as research and development, advertising, managerial expertise and skilled labor are expensive, but because of the possibility of increased efficiency with such inputs, can lead to a decrease in the average cost of production and selling. If a company is able to spread the cost of such inputs over an increase in its production units, ES can be realized. Thus, if the fast food chain chooses to spend more money on technology to eventually increase efficiency by lowering the average cost of hamburger assembly, it would also have to increase the number of hamburgers it produces a year in order to cover the increased technology expenditure. * Specialized inputs: as the scale of production of a company increases, a company can employ the use of specialized labor and machinery resulting in greater efficiency. This is because workers would be better qualified for a specific job, for example someone who only makes French fries, and would no longer be spending extra time learning to do work not within their specialization (making hamburgers or taking a customer's order). Machinery, such as a dedicated French fry maker, would also have a longer life as it would not have to be over and/or improperly used. * Techniques and Organizational inputs: with a larger scale of production, a company may also apply better organizational skills to its resources, such as a clear-cut chain of command, while improving its techniques for production and distribution. Thus, behind the counter employees at the fast food chain may be organized according to those taking in-house orders and those

The Life of John Lennon

The Beatles was one of the greatest rock and roll bands that have infiltrated the music industry by storm. Their music have been a legacy throughout the history of music and the four members namely: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison have all achieved the superstar celebrity status. In 1965, the accomplishments of the Beatles exceeded the expectations of Lennon because during this time they were able to conquer the US, UK and the whole world (Henke 4). Then, later on 1968, The Beatles launched their own record company, Apple. They called it â€Å"Western Communism,† an effort to free themselves from the heavy hand of corporate domination, to gain autonomy for themselves as artist. They also hoped to bring promising artists into Apple and to make experimental music. At the beginning it seemed as if the Beatles might succeed. It also seemed as if Apple could easily deteriorate into the biggest institution of hip capitalism, in which the Beatles gained nothing except the profits from the sale of their records, profits that Capitol have previously held. Wiener 73) Among the four Beatles, Lennon’s life and achievements have been the most controversial. His beliefs, philosophies, music and experiences were able to mould him in becoming one of the most influential people in the world during his times. As a celebrity, he advocated many causes and disclosed many sentiments about politics. He said that the government does not represent the people, instead they control them (Coleman). Moreover, in an interview, Lennon disclosed that he is the â€Å"laziest person in England†¦ I don’t mind writing†¦ or speaking bust sex is the only physical thing that I can be bother with any more† (Cleave). However, Lennon’s life was cut short when he was assassinated by a fan on December 8, 1980. His killer, Mark David Chapman, was convicted of murder nd was given a sentence 20 years in prison. Chapman applied several times for parole but he was always declined by the New York State Board of Parole (CBS Interactive).

Nature and Nurture on the human development Essay

Nature and Nurture on the human development Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the history of human beings, there have existed a lot of theories discussing how nurture or nature influences the development of humans. Not only did this debate happen in the past, but also even today many individuals and nations are debating on this issue to decide which factor impacts more to the humans. To put it in the layman’s language, nature is the natural processes which are mostly inherited and hence cannot be changed. Nurture is the processes that are caused by the environment and these characteristics could be changed by the outer surrounding. So in this paper I will present the argument on the nurture impact on human behaviors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The factors that affect the people’s perception and change their behaviors include: their own perception, the people’s perception about them, the societal or cultural believes and even what they view the surrounding. For instance the cloths have been seen to influence behaviors of people. For instance, a person wearing a doctor’s white coat has been proofed to be more attentive than when wearing a painter’s coat. According to the experimental social psychology journal, there is a finding that shows that people think not only with their brain but also their bodies. According to Dr. Galinsky, our thinking processes are based on the physical experiences that are seen to set off the associated abstract concepts and these experiences also include the cloths that people’s wear. It has been known for long now that people are perceived by others by the way that they dress. A person dressing in some manners can be perceived to be what a direct opposite of what they exactly are is. Many experiments that have been previously carried shows that ladies who dress in masculine cloths at the time of interview are more likely to be absorbed and also a person who wears the official cloths are mostly seen as more intelligent in a teaching assistant job and they are most likely to be hired than a person who dresses casually.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also the way people perceive themselves is another nurture factor that affects mostly the people’s behavior. According to an article on â€Å"why men don’t last: self destruction as a way of life†, it is revealed that men commit more suicide than women. This could be explained by the way men have trained themselves and the way they feel that they are capable of handling their own problems without seeking any help from outside. This is owing to the fact that people who are more open to discuss their problems are mostly likely able to evade the suicide trap. It has  been proofed that women are more open in discussing their problems and hence their suicidal cases are very minimal. Men always conceal their problems and this leads to them committing suicide. In the face of changing circumstances, men feel helpless and trapped but a woman takes risk of discussing the circumstance and hence they are novelty seekers and grea t risk takers. This is a behavior that is passed to all generations and hence changes the people’s perception.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the article, â€Å"HERS; Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls†, by Pollitt Nkatha, it is evident that for many years boys have been seen to incline on the trucks and guns but on the other hand girls mostly incline on wearing party dresses and holding Dolls. This could be explained through inborn hormonal influences along with the genetic configuration and the brain chemistry. Even though these factors hold, the surroundings shape the perception of these children to act in this trend for a long period of time. The behaviors which are perceived to be girlish are passed from generation to generation and this becomes a habit that is artificially inherited through nurture.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To conclude, nurture and nature both have great impact on the development of humans. The nature will decide the depositions of human being which can be changed by nurture. Nature will give the in born abilities but nurture will help to develop them. Nature gives the inborn attributes but nurture changes these innate attributes accordingly and this result to people having different lives hence nurture is the one that highly impacts on the behaviors of human beings and their development. References KATHA POLLITT. â€Å"HERS;Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls†, October 8, 1995 â€Å"Why Men Don’t Last: Self-Destruction as a Way of Life†, February 17, 1999 SANDRA BLAKESLEE. â€Å"Mind Games: Sometimes a White Coat Isn’t Just a White Coat†, April 2, 2012 Source document

The Texas Revolution Essays

The Texas Revolution Essays The Texas Revolution Paper The Texas Revolution Paper The Texas Revolution By Jessica Bouillon Texas History The Texas Revolution was a key point in our nation’s history and in the history of the state of Texas. For, if Texas had not revolted the way that they did, it would probably not have become a state. There are many causes that are speculated on why Texas revolted whether they are political disputes against the Centralist party in Mexico that had primary control at the time of the Revolution. These and more will be explored. Also, there are key battles in the Texas Revolution that decided the final fate of Texas, none more famous than the famous Battle of San Jacinto and The Alamo. The most popular, speculated cause of the Texas Revolution is that Texas was following in the footsteps of America. Most people think that Texas was fighting out of extreme displeasure with an intolerable, tyrannical, and undemocratic government like the Americans fought against the autocratic British. Most people think that Texas fought against Mexico because of the abolishment of the Constitution of 1824. â€Å"The Constitution of 1824, the first of the newly independent Republic of Mexico, was the document under which DeWitt Colonists were invited to emigrate to the Republic, was the one under which they assumed they were protected and the one they swore to defend. It evolved out of the acta constitucional authored by northeastern Mexican statesman, Jose Miguel Ramos Arispe† ( amu. edu/ccbn/dewitt). With the abolishment of the Constitution of 1824 by the Centralist PARTY IN Mexico, tensions between Mexico and Texas quickly rose. Of course, there are always â€Å"conspiracy theories†, one of which holds the belief that the slaveholders wanted control of Texas which would have turned a great profit. The slave trade going on throughout the world at the time of the Revolution was a very successful, and profitable business to be involved in. f the slaveholders had gotte n a hold of Texas, Texas would [probably have become on e of the major slave-trade posts in the entire country. During the time before the revolution the world slave-trade was still very big and slaves were still very important â€Å"items† in the typical household being as the revolution was some 25 years or so before the United States started their Civil War and President Lincoln abolished slavery. Still another speculated cause for the revolution in Texas was economics. There were many land speculators that were also U. S. migrants to Texas that were intent on making money from selling land. They had speculators in Texas, and Coahuila and financial centers in New York and Philadelphia. The speculators would speculate how much a piece of land was worth then sell it and turn the profits over to a financial center and make a tremendous profit from it. Yet another reason why Texans might have revolted was that they were trying to preserve and maintain the political values and economic gain while under the Constitution of 1824. It gave Texas a steady population flow of American migrants moving onto Texas soil. It also gave them political liberty, freedom to own slaves and a steady economic progression. But Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, president of Mexico, wished to impose a stricter rule which could also explain why Texas felt the need to separate from Mexico. Another speculated cause was that the Anglo-Americans that lived there refused to conform to the Mexican rules and laws. Most were protestant and therefore refused to convert to Catholicism. They also refused to pay their duties to the government and did not support troop increases for the Mexican army but had their own militias. They also viewed the Mexican form of government as politically and culturally inferior. There was also ethnocentrism or racism as a key factor and guiding force as most of the people who lived in Texas viewed the people of Mexico and racially inferior in politics, culture, and color. Things like this would definitely cause a lot of tension between Mexico and the Anglo-Americans of Texas. The revolution officially begun on October ninth of 1835 with the Battle of Goliad. This was the first offensive of the war for Texas’ independence. At first the Mexican army overwhelmed Texas. But, Goliad is where a local colonel and militia captured the fort and town of Goliad. Then on December twentieth of 1835 the town of Goliad signed the first declaration of Texas independence. It was on this day that the first official flag of Texas was hoisted. Although Texas was overwhelmed by Mexico in the beginning they were able to capture the Crossroads at San Antonio de Bexar and seize the garrison known as the Alamo by December of 1835. The Alamo is the most well-known and famous battle in the Texas revolution. There are a few major names associated with the defense of the Alamo. David Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barrett Travis were among those who fought and died for Texas independence. After Texas captured the Alamo Mexico fought and recaptured it and wound up killing every man defending it. After the massacre at the Alamo Texans were reported to have yelled â€Å"Remember the Alamo† at every battle ensuing including the final Battle of San Jacinto which took place on April twenty-first of 1836. It was between Sam Houston and 910 pioneers versus the Mexican army. The battle itself only lasted around twenty minutes. After the battle was over the Texans went on a search for Santa Anna and once found him captured him forcing Mexico to surrender. Upon his capture they forced Santa Anna to sign an order to evacuate Mexican troops from Texas territory. They also forced Mexico to sign many treaties declaring Texas an independent republic free of Mexico. In conclusion, the war for Texas independence was very short lasting a less than a year. But the tension leading up to it had been brewing since the abolishment of the Constitution of 1824. Although there is still speculation as to the true cause of the Texas Revolution most that are listed here can be considered somewhat valid. lone-star. net/mall/texasinfo/txrevolution. htm tamu. edu/ccbn/dewitt/batsanjacinto. htm