Culture and History of Spain Essay

The golden age of Spain does not refer exactly to the economic and military hegemony of Spain, as Spain was on the verge of political, economic, and military collapse during this time. Spain engaged in expansionist policy abroad that had necessitated the government to impose an increased taxation, which leads to the revolts in 1640 first in Catalonia, then in Portugal. From then on, Spain was weakened economically, politically and culturally. Rather, the golden age refer to the flourishing in arts and literature in Spain. The main topics during this period were literature and the arts rather than economic or military victories abroad. The period of the Spanish golden age according to John A. Crow and Patricia Craig as featured by AOL Hometown in their article â€Å"Spain’s Cultural life: Literature and the Fine Arts† was between 1530 and 1680. During this time, theatre works, poetry and novels were very popular, and the most well known was the work of Cervantes entitled Don Quixote published in 1605. (AOL Hometown) Among the most popular names were dramatists like Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderon, which had premiered fine works of Spanish theatre. Spanish Famous artist during this time includes Velasquez, El Greco, Zubaran, Rebera and Morales which were held to be the greatest of their times. The reason behind Spain’s golden age was perhaps the existence of these fine artists whose works captivated even the highest nobility. The golden age of Spain according to history (an article entitled â€Å"Spain†) began with the ascension of Philip II to the Spanish throne. It was during his time that the popularity of arts and literature reached to highest level. However, the consequence of the golden age was the political and economic as well as military decline of Spain both in the home front and in overseas. An article entitled Spain in History (iExplore) pointed out that because of the prominence of art, the Hapsburg monarchy became increasingly less able to deal the empire’s somber problems particularly during the 17th century causing the empire’s gradual economic collapse. Most historians attributed this economic failure to the inability of the monarch to rule the empire because their interest was in the arts rather than in improving the economy. Another consequence of the golden age is the ‘feminization of Spain. Feminization refers to the gender emphasis that proliferated in the Spanish societies during the golden age. Men during this time adopted the customs of women such as mode of dressing and cosmetics. In the summary of Sidney Donnell’s book Feminizing the Enemy featured in the website article LAFAYETE the article pointed out that the gender anxieties during the golden age was related to the emphasis on arts and culture that was prevailing during this period of Spanish history. The Role of Religion in the Rules of the Hapsburg (or Habsburg) Kings During the period of 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty, which was the dominant power in the Central Europe with capital in Vienna, Austria. Spain then was ruled by many kings that brought Spain both success and fall; and that, the â€Å"church enlarged its already dominant position in Spanish life† (High Beam Encyclopedia, par. 27). The Obvious topic during this time was Catholic Faith and Church membership as the reigning Monarchs were committed to impose Catholicism through the empire. The role of religion in the rules of Hapsburg kings according to Victor Perez Diaz (1998) was that the Hapsburg viewed society in the context of teleocratic state, which put society in a secondary position. It means that in view of the Hapsburg Kings, society can be a sphere in which they can generate resources to be use by the ruler to accomplish its mission. The implication of this was that the Hapsburg Kings uses religion or the so- called politics of faith to fulfill their mission. In other words, religion has become a powerful apparatus with which they achieved their aims. According to Diaz, although the Hapsburg kings respected the socioeconomic order, yet they were also devoted to some shared goals that necessitate systematic interventions in the social fabric to reinforce the sovereign’s authority. Thus the Hapsburg, Diaz pointed out, marshaled resources for protecting Catholic faith and shaped the moral character of its subjects, making membership in the church the means to recognition in the political community (Diaz). The reason for this was, the Roman Catholicism became the official state religion in Spain in 1492 after Ferdinand V of Aragon, and Isabella I of Castile married which linked the kingdoms. Because both monarchs were devout Catholics they wanted to impose the purity of the Catholic faith as well as to enhance the royal power. Because of the close relations of the Hapsburg to the Holy Roman Empire they were so dedicated to the Catholic Church prompting them to establish the Inquisitor in order to prosecute, and confiscate property owned by the Moors (Spain Life and Culture). Ferdinand and Isabella imposed religious uniformity through out Spain by aggressive campaign to convert the Moors and the Jews or they face expulsion (Spain Life and Culture). However, the consequence of their emphasis in the purity of Catholic faith, leads to the persecutions of Protestants, which resulted to war with protestant England. This prompted Philip to send a great Spanish Armada against England in 1558 unfortunately, it was defeated, and it marked Spain’s decline of power (Spain). Thus the consequence of the Hapsburg use of religion to enhance their power and to strengthen their rule was costly and it cost the gradual collapse of the Spanish hegemony not only in the home front but also abroad. The Bourbon kings in Spain (efforts to improve Spain) The Spanish Bourbon was one of the most vital royal families in Europe that held thrones in Spain during the 17th century. Philip V of Spain became the first Bourbon ruler of Spain after the death of Charles II (1665-1700). The bourbons ascended to the Spanish thrones during the end of Spain’s hegemonic power with the death of Charles II. In the view of J. Clayborn Laforce, with distressing vulnerability Spain slipped into an embarrassing sequence of decline, which continued until all of Spain’s greatness was gone. However, with the ascension of Philip V, Spain crossed a new threshold marked by the extraordinary progressive participation by government in Spanish economic dealings. The main topic during the Bourbon’s rule was economic recovery, in which the Bourbon monarch had implemented series of economic measures designed to improve the economic condition of Spain. Obviously a learned man, Philip’s knowledge in French mercantilism had helped him in improving the economic condition of Spain. Philip launched a series reform policy and programs for commercial and industrial revival and promotes the production of merchandise of high value that previously had been purchased abroad. The next Bourbon king to inherit the Spanish throne was Charles VII (1759-88) Like Philip; Charles was one of the most enlightened Spanish Monarch, which had contributed to Spain’s short-lived cultural and economic revival. The reason behind all these efforts was that through production of these commodities, the government would minimize its dependency on imported commodities. The third Bourbon Monarch to rule Spain was Ferdinand VII (1784-1833) which perhaps marked the end of the short economic revival started by Philip V and continued by Charles VII. It was during the brief reign of Charles IV, an incompetent Bourbon monarch that the flame of economic revival dies down. The reason for the short live economic revival was the squabble in the royal family that prompted Napoleon of France to invade Spain, and gave the Spanish throne to his brother Joseph Bonaparte. Spain after this was engaged in wars that halted its economic hope of revival. The consequences of disunity in the royal family had not only weakened the economic reforms put in place by Philip V but it also invited napoleon to invade Spain and claimed the Spanish throne for himself. It also led to war against England that further pushed Spain to humiliation and defeat. Indeed the misery of Spain cannot be attributed to the Bourbon rule as they merely inherited a declining kingdom. Had the momentum of economic growth that was laid out by the first two-bourbon monarch, Spain could have recovered from its drooping. Spain’s history was indeed very intriguing and full of difficulties, which are a good source of both learning and inspirations for the student of Spanish history. It features the rise and fall of the empire that had conquered much of the known world through sword and religion, but it had collapsed also because of religion and sword when it wage against protestant England in the name of religion. Work Cited Diaz, V. P. (1998) State and Public sphere in Spain during the ancient Regime Vol. 137 La Force, J. C Royal Textile factories in Spain, 1700-1800 The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 24 No. 3(Sep. , 1964), pp. 337-363 Http://links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0022-0507(196409)24%3A3%3C337%3ARTFIS1%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-N http://www. questia. com/googleScholar. qst;jsessionid=HRpGVQQzlhZJSZhM6QdwhnXtr7jp8dDwrBlY2dyNPJ6GGnyjVrvH! 1976250333? docId=5001368566 Spain http://www. geocities. com/CapitolHill/8823/aboutes. html Spain’s Cultural Life http://www. hometown. aol. com/antmagictg/culture. html Spain History I Explore http://www. iexplore. com/dmap/Spain/History Spain. http://www. geocities. com/CapitolHill/8823/aboutes. html Spain. High Beam Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2008. http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-Spain. html Sidney Donnell will Talk about â€Å"Drag Performance and Hapsburg Spain† today. Lafayete http://www. lafayette. edu/news. php/view/5137/

Counseling Religious Clients

Different populations require different approaches in counseling. Counseling is a mean of attending to a person’s situation or condition using techniques, systems and approaches that differ among the groups of individuals. For instance, a raped teenager should be counsel in a different way as a homeless teenager. Conversely, African-American clients should be treated in a unique way as the Asian clients (cited in Miller, Leukefeld & Jefferson, 1994; Cook 1993). Nevertheless, just like the other populations, religious clients have unique characteristics and experiences that need a unique counseling approach.Likewise, religious clients have also unique needs for their mental health care. However, unlike the common people being counseled, religious people have sets of belief systems and values that, for a number of conditions, may interfere to the counseling program being implemented to them (Carpenter, 2003). In order to practice professionalism and ethics, counselors behave leg ally, morally and ethically. They are aware that they can only win the client’s trust and secure client’s protection by practicing high level of professional conduct (APA Ethics Code, 1992, 18).Principle D, Respect for People’s Right and Dignity, as stated in the Ethical principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct highlights: Psychologists are aware of cultural, individual, and role differences, including those due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status. Psychologists try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone unfair discriminatory practices (1992).Counselors take into consideration the client’s personal and cultural background before deciding on the assessment instrument that he will be using in the counseling process (APA Ethics Code, 1992, 11). One of the characteristic-factors that should be checked is religion. There are no religion restrictions in the counseling activity. Nonetheless, from among the mentioned factors or clients’ considerable backgrounds, religion—the foundation of people’s moral and faith—is the most controversial.The Code of Ethics of 2005 by the Governing Council of the American Counseling Association gives light to the five overlapping ethical principles that guide the counseling practices with religious clients. The principles that can be applied focus on the counseling relationship, freedom of choice, confidentiality and privacy in counseling process, professional responsibility, and evaluation, assessment and interpretation. Counseling Relationship In counseling, clients may have diverse cultural backgrounds.In order for the counselor to practice good counseling, he must need first to understand the cultural identity that each of his clients possesses. Section A. 2. c of the Code of ethics states that à ¢â‚¬Å"counselors communicate information in ways that are both developmentally and culturally appropriate. † Counselors must deal with clients in the most culturally appropriate way. The counselor’s approach to a religious client depends highly on the knowledge he or she has about the culture and religion of the client.People restrict their thinking on the concepts of races and ethnic groups when dealing with culture—yet this broad concept also includes the religious groups. As cited by Gardner, in the 1992 edition of Counselor Education and Supervision authored by Pate and Bondi, â€Å"the term culture includes religious beliefs and practices and that religion is understood to be intimately tied to ethnic identity† (1996). From this, in understanding the values of the religious clients, the counselor takes into consideration an approach that is culturally motivated.Freedom of Choice In the macro-perspective of culture, one reason for the disagreement, dif ference or dissonance between the counselor and the religious client, is the values and belief systems of the client which for the counselor, are inappropriate. There are set of beliefs that the religious clients have, that may intervene in the counseling process. â€Å"Clients have the freedom to choose whether to enter into or remain in a counseling relationship and need adequate information about the counseling process and the counselor† (Section A.2. a, 2005). Part of this principle is the right of the client to know the counselor’s values and beliefs, especially if these values may result to the restriction of the counselor’s range and ability to conduct the counseling process due to the conflicting views and beliefs between the religious client and the counselor. If this is so, clients should be given freedom to look and choose another counselor that has similar or directly related values with that of his (client). Confidentiality and Privacy in Counseling ProcessGetting the clients’ trust is one of the goals of the counselors. To achieve this, establishing and upholding boundaries, and maintaining confidentiality are given high considerations. Section B. 1. a states that â€Å"counselors maintain awareness and sensitivity regarding cultural meanings of confidentiality and privacy; counselors respect differing views toward disclosure of information† (2005). It is very crucial for the counselors to give respect and show sensitivity to the culture of the religious persons they counsel.Inquiry is important before the counselor acts on whether or not to disclose the information derived from counseling the religious client. Professional Responsibility â€Å"Counselors practice only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, state and national professional credentials, and appropriate professional experience† (Section C. 2. a, 2005). Understanding religious cli ent means having an adequate learning and understanding of their cultural beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral patterns.If the counselor can achieve this, then, it will be easier for him to understand the condition of his client. Moreover, for the success of the counseling process, the counselors should gain appropriate knowledge, awareness, sense of sensitivity, and skills relevant to the activity of working with the population of diverse backgrounds. Without good milieu and specialized training, the counselors who treat religious clients may neglect their condition and situation.With better understanding of the set of beliefs of the client, the counselor will be sensitive and intelligent enough to know what approach is to give the religious client. Evaluation, Assessment and Interpretation As summarized in Section E. 3. a of the Code, for the achievement of the goals, the counselors consider the client’s background in terms of his personal and/or cultural identity, his abilit y to understand the results based on his beliefs, and his possible reaction or the impact of the results to him.Moreover, â€Å"counselors recognize the effects of age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, spirituality, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status on test administration and interpretation, and place test results in proper perspective with other relevant factors† (Section E. 8, 2005). This is a process—first; the counselor needs to consider what counseling program is applicable to the client given sets of standards. Second, the counselor weighs all contributing factors to the possible outcome before considering results.Third, the results will be interpreted depending on the accuracy of the outcomes. Furthermore, Section A. 5. a says that â€Å"counselors avoid actions that seek to meet their personal needs at the expense of clients. † This concept, when applied to religious clients, means that the counselor must be aware of hi s or her personal opinion about the religious issues that may lead to certain reactions and overreactions—causing emotional harm to the client. Working with Religious Clients On his article, Gardner enumerated some ethical guidelines on how to work with religious clients.First, therapy in the context of evangelistic activities that promotes particular political and spiritual ideology and worldview must be avoided. Second, in the attempt to change some of the beliefs of the client that have direct effect on his or her disorder, the counselor must try to narrow down the approach and inform the client on the program he wants to implement. Third, a help from other professionals is better if dealing with the religious issue of the client is quite difficult to comprehend and accept.Fourth, counselors must try to include and integrate the religious beliefs of the client with the treatment she or he is undertaking. References American Counseling Association. (2005). ACA Code of Ethic s. Retrieved June 19, 2008, from http://www. counseling. org Carpenter, D. (2002). Ethical Considerations in Working with Religious Clients. Retrieved June 19, 2008, from Gestatalt-Global Corporation website: http://www. g-gej. org/1-2/religious_clients. html Gardner, J. N. (1996). Ethical Issues in Counseling Religious Clients. Retrieved June 19, 2008, from http://www. g-gej. org/1-2/religious_clients. html

No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

No topic - Essay Example Thereafter, the local municipal council issued Mrs. Watkin with a notice requiring that the extension be demolished and be replaced to make it comply with the by-laws. Mrs. Watkin filed a case in court for damages and the judge ruled in her favor by declaring that extension was constructed without a building permit, non-compliance with the municipal by-laws and the extension was not in a fit and habitable condition. The plaintiff’s counsel anchored the claim based two cases anchored on the fact that the susceptibility of a building to a local authority requisition constituted a defect in title. (2) The lawsuit for damages was filed in court by Mrs. Watkin as the plaintiff, while the defendant is Mr. Black, and the judge in this case is Judge Henry. (3) The cause of action is not one based on a contract of sale, but on a breach of the duty of care imposed by the common law on a builder in favor of a subsequent owner, to make good title to the estate or property he has contracte d to sell. The issue in this case is whether or not the plaintiff is entitled to claim damages for the breach of the implied term and duty on the part of the defendant that good title would pass on settlement. (4) The case was decided on the basis of common law rule which puts a vendor under a duty to make good title to the estate or property he has contracted to sell. (5) The relevant question of law refers whether or not there was a defect in the title for failure of Mr. Black to comply with the building permit and non-compliance with municipal laws before constructing the extension. (6) Plaintiff’s counsel quoted Australian cases in order support of his argument and justify the claim of damages. One of the sources of the Court in resolving disputes is by using judicially developed principles laid down in previously decided cases based on the Doctrine of Precedent. (7) The four cases were distinguished namely: Vukelic v Sadil1 and Maxwell v Pinheiro2, by relating the mere d efect in quality, as is usually the position in respect of a town planning restriction as discussed in the case of Dell v. Beasley3 and a building line restriction enunciated in the case of Harris v. Weaver4, where the ownership of the land could be vested in the purchaser although its use was restricted. The case of Moss v PTA Company Ltd5 was also quoted at arriving with a decision where it was ruled that a frontage set-back requirement was held to be a defect in title because the vendor was obliged to dedicate a strip of land in question. According to the ruling, the susceptibility of part of the building to a demolition order was not something known to the plaintiff nor was there anything that required her to make enquiry of the local authority and ascertain the existence of the defect. Thus, there has been a breach of the implied term that good title would pass on settlement. The case of Moss v PTA Company Ltd6 was followed by the court in deciding the case. (8) The ‘rati o decidendi’ of this case laid the legal principle that an owner/builder has a duty of care to a subsequent purchase by making sure that good title will pass on settlement, otherwise, failure to comply with the duty makes the owner/builder liable for negligence. The court held in favor of the plaintiff, Mrs. Watkin by finding that there was a breach of duty on the part of Mr. Black. This cause of action is not one based on a

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Opening a restaurant Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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