title: Haken (band)

text: On 26 April 2022, the band released their single "Nightingale". On 30 August 2022, the band announced 'The Island in Limbo Tour', a co-headlining European tour with Between the Buried and Me, scheduled to start in February 2023.


title: Haken (band)

text: On 24 November 2022, the band launched a game whose prize was an exceprt from a piece called 'The Alphabet of Me' on their upcoming album Fauna and its cover art.


title: Haken (band)

text: Haken is known to occasionally release short videos of rehearsals and writing sessions on the members respective public social media accounts. The following was asked to the members during a Reddit "Ask Us Anything" in May 2014:


title: Haken (band)

text: Haken has been featured on the Classic Rock Magazine subsidiary "Classic Rock Presents Prog" a few times. At first, the magazine presented a song from the first Haken demo on their free CD. They have opened for a few notable progressive outfits, such as King's X and Bigelf. The band's debut album has received positive reviews from Allmusic and Classic Rock Magazine. Additionally, the band hosted an "ask me anything" on Reddit in 2014.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: Joshua Eric Sawyer (born October 18, 1975), known commonly as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: Sawyer grew up in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, and is the son of Linda Sawyer and sculptor Gerald P. Sawyer. He is of German ancestry. He earned a BA degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In addition to being a history major, Sawyer participated in the theater (including mounting a production of "Assassins"). After Lawrence, Sawyer moved to California.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: Starting as a web designer at Black Isle Studios in 1999, Sawyer quickly worked his way up the ladder to an associate designer position and then lead designer on "Icewind Dale II". While at Black Isle he was known for coming up with the "Ex-Presidents" project naming system.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: In November 2003 Sawyer announced his departure from Black Isle, where he had been serving as lead designer of "Fallout 3", to pursue other projects. Interplay went on to close Black Isle two weeks after Sawyer's departure.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: On July 19, 2005, GameSpot reported that he had left Midway's "", and was accepting a position at Obsidian Entertainment, a studio founded and staffed by many veterans of Black Isle. His first role was as the lead designer for "Neverwinter Nights 2".


title: Josh Sawyer

text: He later acted as the project director and lead designer of "". In December 2011 Sawyer publicly released a "New Vegas" mod designed for his own personal use adding a large variety of small tweaks to the game ranging from rebalancing the karma of certain characters to slowing down the level up speed. As of November 2012, this mod has been updated to version 5.1.


title: Josh Sawyer

text: He also served as the project director and lead designer on the "Aliens RPG". Sega, the game's publisher, subsequently canceled the project, resulting in layoffs at Obsidian. According to Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart, the game - titled "Aliens: Crucible" - "looked and felt like it was ready to ship".


title: Josh Sawyer

text: In 2012, with Obsidian on the brink of financial disaster after the cancellation of another project by a publisher, Sawyer proposed the company return to its design roots by making an isometric RPG in the style of those created at Black Isle. Arguing there was a market for this type of game among fans, Sawyer suggested turning to the platform Kickstarter to secure funding for development without a publisher. He succeeded in persuading company leadership, and the resulting game, "Pillars of Eternity", met its Kickstarter funding goal of 1.1 million dollars in 27 hours. It ultimately raised nearly four million dollars, setting a Kickstarter record at the time. Sawyer later served as director and narrative designer on its sequel, "", which was also crowdfunded and released in 2018.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: Youssef Kerkour is a Moroccan-British actor. He is best known for portraying Syrian refugee Sami in the comedy-drama series "Home", a role for which he was nominated at the 2020 British Academy Television Awards.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: Kerkour grew up in Rabat, Morocco. His father was a Moroccan mathematics professor and his mother an English school teacher; they had met in France in the 1960s and moved together to Morocco. As a child, Kerkour loved to sing and dance, and idolised Bruce Lee after his father took him to a screening of the film "Enter the Dragon". In his early teens, Kerkour took a school trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the home town of William Shakespeare, and attended a production of "Henry V"; he credits this experience with inspiring his love of acting. Kerkour moved to the United States to study psychology at Bard College, but spent much of his time taking dance and acting classes instead. He began pursuing an acting career at the encouragement of a university professor.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: In 2001, Kerkour played The Visitor in a production of the Steve Martin play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile." Unable to obtain a visa to remain in the United States, Kerkour moved to England and continue his acting career. He spent two years at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: Kerkour starred in the comedy-drama series "Home", which debuted in March 2019 and lasted two series. In the series, he played Sami Ibrahim, a Syrian asylum seeker who moves in with a middle-class English family. The role was based on the experiences of real-ife Syrian refugee Hassan Akkad. Kerkour had not expected to be cast as Sami, since it was such a departure from the typecast violent characters he would usually play. In 2020, he said:"I spent my life playing terrorists. That’s my USP, that's why I grew my beard. I'm a very big guy. I speak Arabic, so a big bearded Arabic man, there’s really one kind of part, traditionally. [Playing] Sami is the first time somebody has taken the chance and given me something more."For his role as Sami, Kerkour was nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance at the 2020 British Academy Television Awards, losing the award to Jamie Demetriou (for "Stath Lets Flats)." Kerkour is slated to appear in a film adaptation of "The Alchemist", alongside Sebastian de Souza and Tom Hollander.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: In 2021, Kerkour starred in Ridley Scott film "House of Gucci", playing the role of Iraqi Turkmen financier Nemir Kirdar. He is also set to appear in Scott's upcoming Napoleon Bonaparte drama "Kitbag," alongside Joaquin Phoenix.


title: Youssef Kerkour

text: As of 2021, Kerkour is married and has a two-year-old daughter. He has lived in London for two decades, and describes himself as a "notorious coffee drinker" in the cafes of Soho.


title: The Overcoat

text: "The Overcoat" (, translit. Shinyél’; sometimes translated as "The Cloak") is a short story by Russian author Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, discussing Russian realist writers, said: "We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat" (a quote often misattributed to Dostoevsky). Writing in 1941, Vladimir Nabokov described "The Overcoat" as "The greatest Russian short story ever written".


title: The Overcoat

text: The story narrates the life and death of titular councillor Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin (Russian: Акакий Акакиевич Башмачкин), an impoverished government clerk and copyist in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. Although Akaky is dedicated to his job, he is little recognized in his department for his hard work. Instead, the younger clerks tease him and attempt to distract him whenever they can. His threadbare overcoat is often the butt of their jokes. Akaky decides it is necessary to have the coat repaired, so he takes it to his tailor, Petrovich, who declares the coat irreparable, telling Akaky he must buy a new overcoat.


title: The Overcoat

text: The cost of a new overcoat is beyond Akaky's meager salary, so he forces himself to live within a strict budget to save sufficient money to buy the new overcoat. Meanwhile, he and Petrovich frequently meet to discuss the style of the new coat. During that time, Akaky's zeal for copying is replaced with excitement about his new overcoat, to the point that he thinks of little else. Finally, with the addition of an unexpectedly large holiday salary bonus, Akaky has saved enough money to buy a new overcoat.


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky and Petrovich go to the shops in St. Petersburg and pick the finest materials they can afford (marten fur was too expensive, so they use cat fur for the collar). The new coat is of impressively good quality and appearance and is the talk of Akaky's office on the day he arrives wearing it. His superior decides to host a party honoring the new overcoat, at which the habitually solitary Akaky is out of place; after the party, Akaky goes home, far later than he normally would. En route home, two ruffians confront him, take his coat, kick him down, and leave him in the snow.


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky finds no help from the authorities in recovering his lost overcoat. Finally, on the advice of another clerk in his department, he asks for help from an "important personage" (Russian: значительное лицо), a general recently promoted to his position who belittles and shouts at his subordinates to solidify his self-importance. After keeping Akaky waiting, the general demands of him exactly why he has brought so trivial a matter to him, personally, and not presented it to his secretary. Socially inept Akaky makes an unflattering remark concerning departmental secretaries, provoking so powerful a scolding from the general that he nearly faints and must be led from the general's office. Soon afterward, Akaky falls deathly ill with fever. In his last hours, he is delirious, imagining himself again sitting before the general; at first, Akaky pleads forgiveness, but as his death nears, he curses the general.


title: The Overcoat

text: Soon, a corpse, identified as Akaky's ghost, haunts areas of St. Petersburg, taking overcoats from people; the police are finding it difficult to capture him. Finally, Akaky's ghost catches up with the general—who, since Akaky's death, had begun to feel guilt over having mistreated him—and takes his overcoat, frightening him terribly; satisfied, Akaky is not seen again. The narrator ends his narration with the account of another ghost seen in another part of the city. This other ghost meets the description of one of the ruffians.


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin: Bureaucrat in one of the departments of the Russian government in St. Petersburg, the nation's capital city. Bashmachkin, about fifty, is a quiet, self-effacing man with red hair and a receding hairline. His job is to copy documents such as letters. Although he enjoys his work and never makes a mistake, he has no desire to take on more challenging work, realizing that he has limited capabilities. Because he is meek and dresses shabbily, most of his coworkers regard him as a nobody and frequently pick on him. When his cloak becomes so frayed that it can no longer protect him against the bitter cold, he dedicates himself to saving enough money to purchase a new cloak.


title: The Overcoat

text: Petrovich: One-eyed, heavy-drinking, decent tailor whom Bashmachkin hires to make his new cloak. Petrovitch was once a serf.


title: The Overcoat

text: Wife of Petrovich: Woman of plain looks whom the narrator says Petrovitch calls "a low female and a German" when they argue.


title: The Overcoat

text: Landlady of Bashmachkin: Elderly woman who advises Akaky to report the theft of his cloak to the district police chief.


title: The Overcoat

text: District Police Chief: Official who hears Akaky's report about his stolen cloak. The policeman asks Akaky embarrassing questions, as if he were a criminal. The policeman is of no help.


title: The Overcoat

text: Employee With Advice: Coworker of Akaky who advises him to see a certain prominent personage in a government office who will help Akaky track down his stolen cloak.


title: The Overcoat

text: Prominent Personage: Bureaucrat mainly concerned with demonstrating the power he wields as a supervisor. He excoriates Akaky for not going through the proper government channels to get an interview. He is of no help.


title: The Overcoat

text: Physician: Doctor called after Akaky develops a throat infection. He tells Akaky's landlady to order a coffin.


title: The Overcoat

text: Gogol makes much of Akaky's name in the opening passages, saying, "Perhaps it may strike the reader as a rather strange and farfetched name, but I can assure him that it was not farfetched at all, that the circumstances were such that it was quite out of the question to give him any other name..." The name Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin in Russian means "Akaky Bashmachkin, the son of Akaky", similarly to "John Johnson", and has similar comedic value; it also communicates Akaky's role as an everyman. In addition, the literal meaning of the name Akaky, derived from the Greek, is "harmless" or "lacking evil", showing the humiliation it must have taken to drive his ghost to violence. His surname Bashmachkin, meanwhile, comes from the word 'bashmak', a type of . It is used in an expression "быть под башмаком" which means to be "under someone's thumb" or to "be henpecked".


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky progresses from an introverted and hopeless but functioning non-entity with no expectations of social or material success to one whose self-esteem and thereby expectations are raised by the overcoat. Akaky is not merely introverted, but described as humorously fit for his position as a non-entity. He is not oppressed by the nature of bureaucratic work because he enjoys performing bureaucratic tasks. Akaky "labored with love" and longed for nothing but copying. He found it "a varied and agreeable employment. Enjoyment was written on his face." A good contrast would be Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener. Bartleby is quite adept at his job as a copyist, but arrives "incurably forlorn" when he is first employed. Bartleby begins rejecting his work saying "I would prefer not to," gradually rejecting more and more, until he finally dies staring at a wall having rejected life itself. Bartleby's antisocial, otherworldly and melancholy features make him uncanny and he has been interpreted as a provocateur of existential crisis. Akaky, on the other hand, is presented in a humorous way initially. This is partly because he represents a "type" presented in anecdotal form by Gogol. He enjoys copying because he lacks an inner life. Gogol makes light of his fitness for mundane bureaucratic activities by joking that Akaky was always "to be seen in the same place, the same attitude, the same occupation; so that it was afterwards affirmed that he had been born in undress uniform with a bald head." When Akaky is asked to make a minor change in a document instead of merely copying it, he cannot do it.


title: The Overcoat

text: Critics have noted the famous "humane passage" which demonstrates a sudden shift in the narration's style from comic to tragic. Though Akaky is not oppressed by his task, he is by his coworkers who treat him "in a coolly despotic way" and "laughed at and made fun of him" to which Akaky usually "answered not a word" until finally he is provoked to exclaim "Leave me alone! Why do you insult me?" in a way "which moved to pity" so that a new worker suddenly "stopped short" as if he had "undergone a transformation". This young man never forgot Akaky and his "heart-rending words" which carried the unspoken message "I am thy brother." Remembering Akaky he "shuddered at how much inhumanity there is in man." Indeed, the coworker's comments underscore one possible interpretation of the story:"How little humane feeling after all was to be found in men's hearts; how much coarseness and cruelty was to be found even in the educated and those who were everywhere regarded as good and honorable men."The narrator's portrayal of Akaky jars the reader, like the young man himself, from carefree mockery to graven sympathy. Gogol is noted for his instability of style, tone, genre among other literary devices, as Boris Eichenbaum notes. Eichenbaum also notes that Gogol wrote "The Overcoat" in a skaz—a difficult-to-translate colloquial language in Russian deriving from or associated with an oral storytelling tradition.


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky's overcoat allows him to become human instead of a merely bureaucratic tool. A Marxist reading of the text would interpret Akaky's material desire as granting him humanity. The story does not condemn private acquisition and materialism, but asserts that human beings can have fulfillment from attention to material goods. Material goods, in particular clothing, do not merely mask real human character, but can modify a person's identity in a positive and liberating way. Akaky's social alienation and belittlement give way to community inclusion and genuine respect. People are brought together by material goods.


title: The Overcoat

text: It is also possible to read the text from a psychoanalytic perspective. Akaky's libido is repressed and sublimated into the task of copying. After he acquires the coat, he expresses sexual interest. Akaky "even started to run, without knowing why, after some lady." He also "halted out of curiosity before a shop window to look at a picture representing a handsome woman...baring her whole foot in a very pretty way." He laughs and doesn't know why because he experiences previously unknown feelings. Akaky also treats the coat with the tenderness and obsession of a lover. When the construction of the coat is first commissioned Akaky feels that his existence became "fuller, as if he were married."


title: The Overcoat

text: Akaky's low position in the bureaucratic hierarchy is evident, and the extent to which he looks up the hierarchical ladder is well documented; sometimes forgotten, according to Harold McFarlin, is that he is not the lowest-ranked in the hierarchy and thus in society. He has mastered the bureaucratic language and has internalized it to the extent that he describes and treats the non-civil servants ("only two 'civilians,' the landlady and tailor, play more than incidental roles") as if they are part of the same world—the tailor is described as sitting "like a Turkish Pasha", that is, a government official, and Akaky "treats the self-effacing old landlady just like his bosses treat him at the office ('somehow coldly and despotically')".


title: The Overcoat

text: Vladimir Nabokov, writing in his "Lectures on Russian Literature", gave the following appraisal of Gogol and his most famous story: "Steady Pushkin, matter-of-fact Tolstoy, restrained Chekhov have all had their moments of irrational insight which simultaneously blurred the sentence and disclosed a secret meaning worth the sudden focal shift. But with Gogol this shifting is the very basis of his art, so that whenever he tried to write in the round hand of literary tradition and to treat rational ideas in a logical way, he lost all trace of talent. When, as in the immortal "The Overcoat", he really let himself go and pottered on the brink of his private abyss, he became the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced."


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Canada is the Canadian subsidiary of Walmart which is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. It was founded on March 17, 1994, with the purchase of the Woolco Canada chain from the F. W. Woolworth Company.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Originally consisting of discount stores, many of Walmart Canada's contemporaries and competitors include Giant Tiger, Home Hardware, Canadian Tire, Mark's, Sport Chek, GameStop, Dollarama, Winners, HomeSense, Rossy, Staples Canada, Michaels, Pet Valu, the Great Canadian Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, and Hart Stores. Based on the success of the US format, Walmart Canada has focused on expanding Supercentres from new or converted locations, offering groceries which puts them in the same market as supermarket chains such as Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Atlantic Superstore, Your Independent Grocer, No Frills, Metro, Sobeys, Foodland, Thrifty Foods, Safeway, Save-On-Foods, Country Grocer, Fairway Markets, Quality Foods, Co-op and others. Walmart is the second largest retailer in Canada by revenue.


title: Walmart Canada

text: As of October 31, 2022, Walmart Canada has 402 stores operating, including 343 supercentres and 59 discount stores in almost every province and territory except for Nunavut. Walmart Canada's principal developer and landlord is SmartCentres; other significant landlords include Riocan and First Capital Realty.


title: Walmart Canada

text: It is a participant in the voluntary Scanner Price Accuracy Code managed by the Retail Council of Canada.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Canada was established on January 14, 1994 through the acquisition by Walmart of 122 Canadian leases of Woolco, a troubled subsidiary of Woolworth Canada. The same year, these Woolco stores were renovated and converted into the Walmart banner. Wal-Mart did not acquire 22 other Woolco stores that were either unionized or had downtown locations. Some former Woolco stores were sold and re-opened as Zellers stores.


title: Walmart Canada

text: All 16,000 former employees of the Woolco stores that Walmart acquired were retained, retrained, and given a five percent raise. Mario Pilozzi, a senior vice-president at Woolco when the deal was signed, eventually became CEO of Walmart Canada. Pilozzi, who retired in 2008, has proclaimed that he and "his management team took a limping chain and turned it into the Walmart powerhouse that became a game-changer on the Canadian business scene. Retailers changed, Canadian manufactures faced demands and volumes they had not seen before, real estate transitioned from enclosed malls to big-box plazas". Reflecting on the 1994 deal in 2013, a Walmart Canada spokesman was quoted as saying "Even though Woolco had seen better days and was struggling, there was still an enormous amount of talent in that company. I think that is one of the reasons Walmart has succeeded in Canada, is because we started with a fantastic team that we re-motivated".


title: Walmart Canada

text: Since 1994, many of the shopping centres in which Walmart is located have been developed by SmartCentres (originally known as First Pro), a real estate company founded by Mitchell Goldhar. At present, Smartcentres is the landlord for approximately 100 Walmarts in Canada.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Beginning in the fall of 2006, Walmart opened new Supercentres in Canadian cities. Walmart Canada also operated Sam's Club stores in Ontario from 2003 to 2009. On February 26, 2009, they announced that it would close all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards Supercenter stores, but some industry observers suggested that the operation was struggling to compete with Costco and the non-membership Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec). Sam's Club also rebranded two unopened locations as new Walmart Supercentres.


title: Walmart Canada

text: From originally taking over much of the Woolco chain, Walmart Canada has expanded and opened new stores. It grew to 260 stores by 2005, making it Canada's second-largest retail chain.


title: Walmart Canada

text: In 2011, Walmart Canada acquired the leases of 39 Zellers stores from Target, originally one of the 189 leaseholds purchased from Hudson's Bay Company and slated for conversion to Target Canada stores. Walmart Canada managed to convert and reopen some of the former Zellers stores before Target Canada's launch. Unlike Walmart's 1994 move into Canada, Walmart Canada this time did not guarantee the jobs of the employees whose stores it was acquiring.


title: Walmart Canada

text: On May 8, 2015, following the bankruptcy of Target Canada, Walmart Canada announced its intent to acquire 13 former Target locations, along with its distribution centre in Cornwall, Ontario subject to court approval. These locations included an unopened location at the Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa.


title: Walmart Canada

text: In September 2018, Walmart Canada began offering same-day delivery at some of its locations through a partnership with Instacart.


title: Walmart Canada

text: On March 15, 2021, Walmart Canada announced that it would close six stores and spend over $500 million to renovate over 60 percent of its stores over the next five years.


title: Walmart Canada

text: With the success of both Walmart in Canada and Walmart Supercenters in the United States, it was announced in late 2005 that the Supercentre concept would be arriving in Canada. On November 8, 2006, Canada's first three Supercentres opened in Ancaster, London, and Stouffville, all in Ontario. Alberta became the second province with Supercentres in September 2007. The first Supercentre in Vancouver, British Columbia opened in January 2009 in a former Costco/Price Club location, which moved to a new larger site nearby in Burnaby.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Supercentres range from . Walmart Supercentres stock everything a Walmart Discount Store does, but also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Walmart Supercenters also feature a garden centre, pet shop, Axess Law office, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical centre, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a clinic and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores (including Redbox rental kiosks), local bank branches, and fast food outlets, Walmart Canada Bank launched its application for banking licence in 2008 to compete with similar stores in Canada such as Loblaw.


title: Walmart Canada

text: On July 24, 2009, Walmart Canada Bank was incorporated under the "Bank Act" in Canada. On May 17, 2018, Wal-Mart Canada announced it had reached a definitive agreement to sell Wal-Mart Canada Bank to First National co-founder Stephen Smith and private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, L.P., on undisclosed financial terms. On the purely coincidental date of April 1, 2019, Centerbridge Partners, L.P. and Stephen Smith jointly announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Wal-Mart Canada Bank and that it was to be renamed Duo Bank of Canada, to be styled simply as Duo Bank. Though exact ownership percentages were never revealed in either company announcement, it has also since been revealed that Duo Bank was reclassified as a Schedule 1 (domestic, deposit-taking) federally chartered bank of the "Bank Act" in Canada from the Schedule 2 (foreign-owned or -controlled, deposit-taking) that it had been, which indicates that Stephen Smith, as a noted Canadian businessman, is in a controlling position.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Discount Stores are discount department stores varying in size from , with the average store covering about . They carry general merchandise and a selection of dried goods. Many of these stores also have a garden centre, pharmacy, medical clinic, Tire & Lube Express, optical centre, one-hour photo processing lab, cell phone store and fast food outlet, the usual restaurant being McDonald's. Walmart Discount Stores carry limited grocery items, which are limited mostly to dried goods.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Canada operated Sam's Club warehouse clubs in Ontario from 2006 to 2009. On February 26, 2009, they announced that it would close all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. Sam's Club also rebranded two unopened locations as new Walmart Supercentres. This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards supercenter stores. Some industry observers suggested that the Canadian Sam's Club never enjoyed the success of its American counterpart due to competition with Costco and the non-membership the Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec), as both chains that had a well-established history in Canada while Sam's Club was a late entrant. That same year, Walmart Canada confirmed that it was in discussions with home improvement chain Lowe's to take over five of the six Sam's Club locations.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Canada has been criticized for using low prices to drive out rivals and local businesses. Within ten years of Walmart's entry into Canada, well-established retailer chains such as Zellers, The Bay, and Sears Canada have struggled, with Kmart Canada being sold to Zellers while Eaton's (whom Walmart Canada overtook to become Canada's largest retailer) filed for bankruptcy. The continued difficulties of competing against Walmart Canada eventually led to HBC selling the leases of most Zellers stores to Target Canada, who also went out of business.


title: Walmart Canada

text: In June 2005, Vancouver City Council voted 8–3 to reject Wal-Mart's proposal to build its first store in the city, a store on Southeast Marine Drive. All eight Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) councillors against the project, while Mayor Larry Campbell and Non-Partisan Association (NPA) councillors, Sam Sullivan and Peter Ladner, were in favour. Wal-Mart's proposed store was designed by local architect Peter Busby for sustainable development, with windmills generating power and underground wells heating and cooling the building which would consume 1/3 the energy of a normal store, and it was endorsed by city planners and staffers. Councillor Anne Roberts stated that her opposition was due to potential traffic and congestion that the store would bring to south Vancouver, although she later remarked "I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart, and I've always been concerned about their labour practices, about getting goods from sweatshops".


title: Walmart Canada

text: Like its American parent, Walmart Canada has been the subject of criticism that it has engaged in practices that discourage associates from exercising their right to join a union and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart Canada has been accused of undermining internet rights and freedom of speech, as a result of its June 2009 decision to seek an injunction against the Walmart Workers Canada campaign and its longstanding Walmart Workers Canada website in particular, a labour rights website sponsored by United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada (UFCW Canada).


title: Walmart Canada

text: In Saskatchewan, Walmart fought unionization drivers at stores in Weyburn and North Battleford. The company's tactics eventually resulted in the Labour Relations Board imposing a fine and ordering them to hand over relevant documents, including the anti-union handbook for managers.


title: Walmart Canada

text: A Walmart store in Windsor, was unionized in 1997, but workers dissolved the union three years later after it failed to sign contract with management.


title: Walmart Canada

text: The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), which had long been unsuccessful in unionizing Walmarts in the United States and much of Canada, was able to take advantage of Quebec's union-friendly laws to make some progress. These laws permit card check organizing, which gives unions more power than secret ballot organizing used in the rest of Canada, and mandates arbitration if the two sides fail to reach a contract. The UFCW argued that union card-signing was more democratic than secret votes because "when there is a vote Walmart uses intimidation tactics". In addition, Quebec's labour relations board had ordered Walmart Canada to stop "intimidating and harassing" cashiers at a store in Sainte-Foy, near Quebec City in the midst of an organizing drive. Walmart has responded, mostly by shutting down unionized stores or stalling labour contract negotiations. For instance they closed their Saguenay, Quebec store, in April 2005 after workers unionized and just days before contract settlement by binding arbitration, putting 190 employees out of work. Walmart argued that the store was not profitable and the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed 6–3 on November 27, 2009, that the company had the legal right to close the store. Walmart also closed its automotive centre in Gatineau, Quebec, after employees unionized and an arbitrator imposed a 33% wage increase.


title: Walmart Canada

text: There was the successful unionization by the UFCW of a Walmart store in Jonquière, Quebec in August 2004, as told in the documentary "". The initial card check organizing efforts fell one vote short, and in April 2004 a secret ballot to join the union was defeated 53% to 47%. However, when a group of managers gathered just outside the front door to celebrate for the TV cameras and taunt union supporters as they left the store, this spectacle offended many of the workers that originally voted against the union and caused them to switch sides, leading to a second and successful card check that unionized the store in August 2004. However, nine days of negotiation between the UFCW and Wal-Mart were fruitless, with the union accusing the company of not negotiating in good faith while Walmart argued that the union wanted the store to hire an additional 30 workers. Walmart closed the store five months later because the company did not approve of the new "business plan" a union would require, and this move was permitted by Quebec law as long as the closure was permanent.


title: Walmart Canada

text: This labour dispute between Walmart and the UFCW made headlines worldwide; three of the other forty-six Walmarts in the province of Quebec were temporarily closed by bomb threats, while a TV broadcaster likened Wal-Mart to Nazi Germany, and Saguenay mayor Jean Tremblay denounced the company as a "freebooting scofflaw". Walmart CEO H. Lee Scott Jr. argued that the Jonquière store was struggling, while polls in Canada showed that 9 of 10 Canadians believed that the store closure was mainly due to the unionization. A local newspaper columnist accused the UFCW leaders in Washington, D.C., of using the Jonquière store workers (in a city with chronically high unemployment, and whose stores had been wiped out by the opening of the Place du Royaume shopping mall in Chicoutimi) as "cannon fodder" to provoke a fight in order to incite public opinion against the Walmart, knowing that Walmart headquarters would not tolerate a unionized store. In September 2005, the Quebec Labour Board ruled that the closing of a Walmart store amounted to a reprisal against unionized workers and has ordered additional hearings on possible compensation for the employees, though it offered no details. Union organizers suggested that Walmart was making an example of the Jonquière store to pressure workers at other locations not to unionize.


title: Walmart Canada

text: At the Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec Walmart, the 200 employees had organized successfully in January 2005 but contract negotiations stalled and an arbitrator was called in, finally reaching a two-year deal on April 9, 2009. However the Saint-Hyacinthe contract was seen largely as a Pyrrhic victory for the UFCW, as the arbitrator portrayed "Walmart as at least as good an employer-even a superior employer- compared with other retailers", noting that Walmart workers were paid more than their counterparts at Zellers. The union's calls for wage and benefit increases were all rejected, particularly their demand for an automatic-progression annual wage scales, as that would have conflicted with the company-wide annual performance evaluation, a key component of Walmart's business model. The arbitrator awarded existing workers (but not new hires) a small wage gain of 30¢ an hour to prevent them from being "impoverished" by dues paid to a union that failed to justify wages increases to the arbitrator. In 2011, the Saint-Hyacinthe Walmart employees voted (147 out of 250) to decertify United Food and Commercial Workers as their representative union; it has been suggested that employees were disappointed in their union whose 2009 contract was tilted strongly in favour of their employer.


title: Walmart Canada

text: Walmart employees in Gatineau, Quebec joined the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) in 2008. This was followed by two years of stalled negotiations before an arbitrator imposed a collective agreement. In November 2011, after one year with their first collective agreement, the 150 Wal-Mart employees voted to decertify.


title: Walmart Canada

text: On August 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada cleared the way for Walmart employees in Weyburn, Saskatchewan who voted 51–5 to decertify United Food and Commercial Workers as their representative union. This left no unionized Wal-Mart stores in the whole of Canada.


title: Walmart Canada

text: On July 14, 2015 Walmart Canada disabled their online photo site, blaming a third party vendor, believed to be PNI Digital Media. Walmart's shutdown was followed shortly after by other companies suspending their photo site whilst an investigation took place. In common with other potential victims there was no confirmation or denial about whether hackers had stolen customer photographs as well as data and payment information.


title: Hentaigana

text: Today, with few exceptions, there is only one hiragana for each of the forty-five moras that are written without diacritics or digraphs. However, traditionally there were generally several more-or-less interchangeable hiragana for each. A 1900 script reform ordained that only one selected character be used for each mora, with the rest deemed "hentaigana". Today, although not normally used in publication, "hentaigana" are still used in shop signs and brand names to create a traditional or antiquated air.


title: Hentaigana

text: Hiragana originate in "man'yōgana," a system where kanji were used to write sounds without regard to their meaning. There was more than one kanji that could be used equivalently for each syllable (at the time, a syllable was a mora). Over time the "man'yōgana" was reduced to a cursive form, the hiragana. Many "hentaigana" derive from different kanji from the ones for the now-standard hiragana, but some are the result of different styles of cursive writing. As "hentaigana" have derived from "man'yōgana", there are hundreds of different "hentaigana" used to represent only 90 moras of the Japanese language.


title: Hentaigana

text: Katakana have variant forms, too. For example, (ネ) and (ヰ). However, katakana's variant forms are fewer than hiragana's ones. Katakana's choices of "man'yōgana" segments had stabilized early on and established – with few exceptions – an unambiguous phonemic orthography (one symbol per sound) long before the 1900 script regularization.


title: Hentaigana

text: Prior to the proposal which led to the inclusion of "hentaigana" in Unicode 10.0, they were already standardized into a list by Mojikiban, part of the Japanese Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA).


title: Hentaigana

text: "Hentaigana" are adapted from the reduced and cursive forms of the following "man’yōgana" (kanji) characters. Source characters for the kana are not repeated below for hentaigana even when there are alternative glyphs; some uncertain.


title: Hentaigana

text: 286 "hentaigana" characters are included in the Unicode Standard in the Kana Supplement and Kana Extended-A blocks. One character was added to Unicode version 6.0 in 2010, 𛀁 (U+1B001 HIRAGANA LETTER ARCHAIC YE which has the formal alias HENTAIGANA LETTER E-1), and the remaining 285 "hentaigana" characters were added in Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017.


title: Hentaigana

text: The hiragana syllabic "n" () derives from a cursive form of the character 无, and originally signified , the same as む. The spelling reform of 1900 separated the two uses, declaring that could only be used for and could only be used for syllable-final Previously, in the absence of a character for the syllable-final , the sound was spelled (but not pronounced) identically to , and readers had to rely on context to determine what was intended. This ambiguity has led to some modern expressions based on what are, in effect, spelling pronunciations.


title: Hentaigana

text: "Hentaigana" are considered obsolete, but a few marginal uses remain. For example, "otemoto" (chopsticks), is written in hentaigana on some wrappers and many soba shops use "hentaigana" to spell "kisoba" on their signs. (See also: "Ye Olde" for "the old" on English signs.)


title: Hentaigana

text: "Hentaigana" are used in some formal handwritten documents, particularly in certificates issued by classical Japanese cultural groups (e.g., martial art schools, etiquette schools, religious study groups, etc.). Also, they are occasionally used in reproductions of classic Japanese texts, akin to the use of blackletter in English and other Germanic languages to give an archaic flair. Modern poems may be composed and printed in "hentaigana" for visual effect.


title: Hentaigana

text: However, most Japanese people are unable to read "hentaigana" nowadays, only recognizing a few from their common use in shop signs, or figuring them out from context.


title: Hentaigana

text: Some of the following "hentaigana" are cursive forms of the same kanji as their standard hiragana counterparts, but simplified differently. Others descend from unrelated kanji that represent the same sound.


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: Kate Miner (born September 7, 1984), also known as Kate Lang Johnson, is an American actress. Notable film credits include "Fifty Shades of Black", "The Campaign", "Fired Up", "", and "A Leading Man".


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: Miner is a main cast member in seasons 9-11 of the U.S. series "Shameless " as Phillip Gallagher’s love interest. She was a lead actor on the NBC miniseries "Persons Unknown" and on season three of the series "Necessary Roughness". She also had leading roles in the ABC Family pilot "Phys. Ed" and the NBC pilot "Holding Patterns." though neither show was picked up to series.


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: Miner is known for her roles on Showtime's "Shameless" (seasons 9-11), USA Network's "Necessary Roughness" and NBC's "Persons Unknown" in addition to playing Will Ferrell's mistress in the 2012 comedy film "The Campaign" and Marlon Wayans assistant in the 2016 comedy spoof "Fifty Shades of Black".


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: She has guest starred or recurred on "Grey's Anatomy", "Disjointed", "Two and a Half Men", "Scandal", "", "The Deep End", "Boston Public", "Malcolm in the Middle", "Drake & Josh", "", "Quintuplets", "Summerland", "Ugly Betty", "ER", "Life", "Hellcats", and "Secret Girlfriend". Additional film credits include "Fired Up", "A Leading Man", "Street" and the indie horror flick "".


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: In 2012, she married her college sweetheart, musician Justin Miner. Kate sings and plays keys, mandolin, and harmonica in their band, Miner.


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: Their band performed on season 3 of "Hart of Dixie". She and her husband have composed songs featured on "Elementary (TV series)", "House of Lies", and "Hart of Dixie" as well as the feature film "Project Almanac".


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: In 2018, Kate released an EP with her new project, Winslow with bandmate Briana Lane. The duo are signed with Kobalt under AWAL Records. Their song 'Origami Tiger' was featured on the soundtrack for the film "Luce" starring Octavia Spencer and Naomi Watts.


title: Kate Miner (actress)

text: Miner has appeared in national campaigns for Gap Fit, Victoria's Secret, Skechers, Levi's, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Zinc, Fabrizio Gianni, and DKNY.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Brandon Nakashima (born August 3, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved on 17 October 2022. On the same day, he also reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 316.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: After graduating from High Bluff Academy in Rancho Santa Fe, he enrolled at the University of Virginia to play collegiate tennis, but chose to forgo his remaining years of eligibility after his first year. He has won one ATP singles title, as well as the 2022 Next Generation ATP Finals.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: As a junior, Nakashima was ranked as high as No. 3 in the world. In 2018, he won two titles on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior circuit and went on to win that year's ITF Junior Masters, the year-end tournament for the top-ranked junior singles players


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima graduated from high school, High Bluff Academy in San Diego, a semester early, before enrolling at the University of Virginia in January 2019 at the age of 17. During his time at UVA, he finished the season with a 17–5 record in singles and 20–3 record in doubles. At the end of the season he received the ACC-Freshman of the Year and All-ACC First Team awards and was also a part of the All-ACC Academic Team. After one semester he decided to forgo his remaining years of eligibility and turn professional.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: In February 2020, Nakashima received a wildcard into the Delray Beach Open (his first ATP main draw event), where he reached the quarterfinals, defeating Jiří Veselý and Cameron Norrie before falling to Yoshihito Nishioka.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Later in the year at the US Open (his Grand Slam main draw debut as a wildcard), Nakashima defeated Paolo Lorenzi before being beaten by 5th seed and eventual runner-up, Alexander Zverev.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima qualified into a Grand Slam main draw for the first time at Wimbledon. He lost in the first round to compatriot and 31st seed, Taylor Fritz.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima reached his first final in Los Cabos, where after beating J. J. Wolf, 4th seed Sam Querrey, 5th seed Jordan Thompson (after saving 3 match points), and 2nd seed John Isner, he lost to 1st seed Cameron Norrie in the final. From this run, the 19-year-old Nakashima became the youngest American to reach an ATP final since a then 18-year-old Taylor Fritz got to the final of the Memphis Open in 2016.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: A week later in Atlanta, Nakashima reached his second final in as many weeks but lost to 6th seed John Isner in the championship match. As a result of this good run, Nakashima cracked the top 100 for the first time, coming in at world No. 89 on August 2, 2021, a day before his 20th birthday.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: As a qualifier at the 2021 European Open, he reached the quarterfinals where he lost to Diego Schwartzman. As a result, he reached a new career-high ranking of No. 70 on October 25, 2021.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima qualified for the 2021 Next Generation ATP Finals as the fourth seed in recognition of his breakout success in the year among players aged 21 and under. In his group, he notched wins against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo and Holger Rune, taking him to the semifinals, before he lost to eventual finalist Sebastian Korda in five sets. He ended the year at a career-high of No. 62 and was nominated ATP Newcomer of the Year.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: At the 2022 French Open, Nakashima reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he lost to 3rd seed Alexander Zverev.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: At the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, he reached the fourth round of a Major for the first time in his career defeating Daniel Elahi Galán. He lost a tight five-set contest to eventual runner-up Nick Kyrgios. He reached the top 50 on 11 July 2022 at world No. 49.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Seeded fifth at his home tournament, the 2022 San Diego Open, he reached his third ATP final after defeating Christopher O'Connell. In the final, he defeated Marcos Giron to win his first career title. He qualified for the 2022 Next Generation ATP Finals and won the title undefeated after beating Jack Draper in the semifinal and Jiří Lehečka in the final.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima excelled in singles play for the Smash and also paired up with Rajeev Ram throughout the season in men's doubles to help Chicago earn a No. 2 seed in WTT Playoffs. The Smash defeated the Orlando Storm to earn a spot in the final, but ultimately fell to the New York Empire in a Supertiebreaker.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima's father is a Japanese American born in California, while his mother was born in Vietnam and moved to California at age 5.


title: Brandon Nakashima

text: Nakashima's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw matches are considered:


title: Ineya

text: Shruti Sawant better known by her stage name Ineya, is an Indian actress and model from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She won the Best Actress Award for her role in the Tamil film "Vaagai Sooda Vaa" (2011) at TN state awards .


title: Ineya

text: Ineya, whose real name is Shruti Sawant was born to Salahuddin. S and Savithri at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She has an elder sister, Swathi, who is also a Malayalam television actress and a younger brother, Sravan. Ineya had her primary education at Thiruvananthapuram from Amritha Vidyalaya, Fort Girls Mission High School and Manakkad Karthika Thirunnal High School. She did her B.B.A course by correspondence.


title: Ineya

text: Ineya acted in several Malayalam television series, short films and telefilms as a child artist. While studying in class four, she acted in the telefilm "Koottilekku", which was followed by appearances in tele-serials "Orma" and "Sree Guruvayoorappan" by Vayalar Madhavan Kutty. Ineya won the Miss Trivandrum title in 2005, following which she did modeling and appeared in several television advertisements as well as a number of Malayalam award-winning art films, including "Saira" (2006), directed Dr. Biju, "Dalamarmarangal" (2009) and "Umma" (2011), both directed by Vijayakrishnan. She also played a pivotal role in Rajesh Touchriver's short feature "The Sacred Face", which focusses on child abuse.


title: Ineya

text: In 2010, she starred in a Tamil film "Padagasalai" and signed up four more Tamil films, all of which were cancelled or remain unreleased. She next played a supporting role as the sister to Cheran's character in Mysskin's mystery thriller "Yuddham Sei". Director A. Sarkunam signed her for the female lead character in his period piece "Vaagai Sooda Vaa" (2011), for which she changed her screen name to Ineya. Her portrayal of a tea stall owner was lauded by critics. Pavithra Srinivasan of "Rediff" wrote that she was a "welcome find", describing her as "natural, appealing, and very expressive". She played as a medical student and love interest of the hero in the film "Mouna Guru" co-starring Arulnidhi. Bharathiraja signed her for his film "Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum", being impressed with her performance in "Vaagai Sooda Vaa", but after the script was changed, her role was removed from the film.


title: Ineya

text: She was part of a number of offbeat films in Malayalam like "Ayaal", "Bhoopadathil Illatha Oridam" and "Radio". In 2014, she was first seen as herself in Vikraman's "Ninaithathu Yaaro" then in "Pulivaal", the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film "Chaappa Kurishu" and "Naan Sigappu Manithan". In her only Malayalam release of 2014, Madhu Kaithapram's "Vellivelichathil" ("In the Limelight"), she played the role of a dancer.


title: Darin Olien

text: Darin Olien is an American author and podcast host. With a B.A. in exercise physiology and an unaccredited M.A. in psychology, he labels himself a "wellness expert", promotes "superfoods" and co-starred as well as produced the Netflix docuseries "Down to Earth with Zac Efron" in 2020. In 2017, he published "SuperLife: The 5 Simple Fixes That Will Make You Healthy, Fit and Eternally Awesome", which claims to determine if a person is healthy enough to fight sicknesses. Olien has introduced a number of diet fads and dietary supplements including "healthiest nuts in the world" known as Barukas and Shakeology, a meal replacement.


title: Darin Olien

text: In December 2014, actress Eliza Coupe and Olien were married in New Zealand. The couple divorced in 2018. He claims to have become interested in alternative medicine after a football injury in college.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Qarib Qarib Singlle () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Tanuja Chandra and produced by Zee Studios, JAR Pictures and Sutapa Sikdar. The film stars Irrfan Khan and debuting Malayalam actress Parvathy Thiruvothu in the lead roles and had a worldwide release on 10 November 2017.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: The story revolves around Jaya Shashidharan, a widow, who lives alone and works at an insurance policy company. One day, she meets Yogi, on an online dating website called abtaksinglle.com. They both journey around the country to meet Yogi's three ex-girlfriends, during which they fall for each other.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Jaya Shashidharan is a 35-year-old widow leading a loveless, monotonous life, still grieving the loss of her husband Manav. She works in an insurance firm. On being needled constantly by her friends and family, she enrolls herself on a dating website, "AbTakSinglle.com". Although she initially receives weird messages, she eventually fixes a date with a decent profile holder Yogi.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: She meets Yogendra "Yogi" Kumar Devendra Nath Prajapati, a lesser known poet and a happy-go-lucky, open-hearted and talkative person who is actually quite wary of the internet. His published book of poems hasn't sold that well. Yogi helps Jaya get rid of the weird message senders on the dating site. Although initially Jaya wanted to avoid Yogi, she now agrees to meet him again. During their conversation he tells her about his past 3 girlfriends who still yearn for him. Jaya challenges him to meet them to find out whether that is in fact the truth. Yogi asks Jaya if she will accompany him on this quest. She reluctantly accepts, ready to pose as his ‘cousin’ if someone asks. Jaya informs everyone that she is going out of town for work purposes. She tells her brother Ashish, who is studying at Princeton University that she has enrolled for a meditation camp where the people have to take a vow of silence for the duration of their stay and hence will be offline for the period.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: They head to Dehradun first. Yogi misses the flight, frightening Jaya. He meets her eventually at the airport and they commence their journey. On the way he asks for some water but she refuses saying she doesn't share her bottle.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Jaya has booked their stay in an Ashram highly recommended on a travel website. They later attend a spectacular Ganga Aarti. At night they have a telephonic conversation from their adjoining rooms and Yogi falls asleep instantly to a restless Jaya's chagrin. Next day they meet Radha, his first girlfriend who is now happily married. Jaya introduces herself as his cousin, and is surprised when Yogi is addressed as a maternal uncle to Radha's kids. The guests are taken on a River Rafting expedition by Radha's husband who owns an adventure company. Later in the evening they gather around the bonfire and Yogi serenades them with a beautiful melody.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Jaya and Yogi return to their rooms and again speak on the phone. When Yogi starts snoring Jaya enters his room through the common door and puts the receiver back in place. Emotionally drained, she forgets to latch the door behind her.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: In the morning she is belting out Yogi's song from the previous evening, in her room. Yogi tries to give tune to the song and leans on the door gives away as he inadvertently staggers into her room. Jaya screams at him to get out as he has seen her naked.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: After the awkward encounter they board the Fairy Queen train and head to Jaipur. Yogi, the food connoisseur in search of pakoras, misses the train, again scaring Jaya. Her laptop bag is left with Yogi who boards another train by mistake. He opens the video calling page on her buzzing laptop. Jaya's brother Ashish finds him staring at the screen and calls him a "laptop thief." A flustered Yogi shuts the screen. Here Jaya is furious with Yogi who constantly keeps calling her. She doesn't answer his calls. Jaya checks into the resort and enjoys her evening on a Safari with a foreign tourist. Yogi having turned mountains to reach the resort feels jealous on finding Jaya with the said tourist.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Initially Jaya decides to abort her trip due to Yogi's whimsical ways. But he explains to her that their way of looking at and leading life is different is all. Jaya relents and on their way to meet Anjali, Yogi's second girlfriend, buys "sleeping pills" from a medical store. She gobbles down 3–4 pills to shut the inquisitive Yogi. She soon goes under influence of the sedatives and begins to act funny.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Anjali having changed her traditional avatar has emerged as a glamorous woman. It is revealed that she abandoned her anniversary party to make it to the meeting. Jaya again having introduced herself as Yogi's aunt's daughter, compliments Anjali and continues to act out under influence of the pills. Yogi walks Anjali back to her home, where a star gazing party is underway. She hugs and gives him a peck. An inebriated Jaya sees this and rants at Yogi calling him a cheat, hints of her developing feelings for him starting to show. Finally exhausted, she crashes on him and falls asleep under the starry sky.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Next morning a surprised Jaya finds herself in Yogi's room. A tender moment is disturbed when Anjali calls Yogi multiple times. Jaya listening to her flirtatious talk gets upset and leaves the room. Anjali reminds Yogi how she herself was introduced as his cousin when they were together in the past. She tells Yogi that Jaya is a keeper.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Next morning the duo head to Gangtok, to meet his third girlfriend. A still seething Jaya reveals that she has accompanied Yogi only so that she could meet her ex-boyfriend from college, now a very famous person in the city. This revelation upsets Yogi but he goes along with the plan. They travel on a helicopter loaned by Jaya's ex-boyfriend. Jaya has a retching incident on the ride. Once on the ground she goes to the restroom to freshen up. There she meets a few elderly ladies from the beauty parlour she frequents, among them Mrs. Saluja. When they start mocking Jaya for her loveless life, she retorts saying she has been traveling with a date and since it didn't work out she now is going to meet up with an ex. This shuts them up.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: At the hotel Jaya puts on a beautiful saree and waits for her ex-boyfriend at a café, while Yogi books his return ticket and prepares to leave. They accidentally meet and Jaya chides Yogi stating that he is a selfish man stuck on his past and they should now part ways. Yogi replies that she is the same and as he departs asking if her ex-boyfriend is nearly as single as they both are. Jaya feels the sting of his remarks and proceeds to call everybody who till now took her for granted and asks them to call her back only if they want a friend and not a sitter. She removes her password which was "Manav135" from all her electronic devices.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Jaya meets her ex—boyfriend and they spend some lovely time together at his home. Yogi goes to see his third girlfriend who is a dance teacher. From the window he watches her dance lessons in progress. He leaves a note at her doorstep, which salutes her for her victories and then silently goes away. Back at the hotel he packs his bags and goes to Jaya's room when he finds her Laptop. She has created a webpage of Yogi's poems. He is touched by the gesture. Her brother turns up on the chat and asks if Yogi is her boyfriend? Realizing his feelings for Jaya, Yogi runs out. He gets into a ropeway car while searching for Jaya. Their paths cross and Jaya calls to him from an opposite car. An excited Yogi finally doesn't miss and makes the jump into the cable Car. The couple look at each other, smiling in a knowing way.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: "Qarib Qarib Singlle" is based on a story which was originally written many years ago as a radio play by director Tanuja Chandra's mother Kamna Chandra. In August 2016, it was reported that Irrfan Khan would be the lead actor in Tanuja Chandra's next film which would be a romantic comedy about an odd couple falling in love on a road trip. The production team approached Richa Chadha, Kalki Koechlin and Pooja Hegde for the film but talks didn't materialize with any of them. While scouting for the lead actress of the film, Gazal Dhaliwal, who is the co-writer of the film, suggested the name of Parvathy Thiruvothu, an actress who was supposed to work in a Vidhu Vinod Chopra film written by Gazal Dhaliwal but could not as the film got shelved. In February 2017, it was confirmed by Parvathy Thiruvothu herself that she would be making her debut in Hindi cinema with Tanuja Chandra's film opposite Irrfan Khan.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: The principal photography of the film began in February 2017 in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The film was shot across multiple locations of Dehradun, Delhi, Alwar, Bikaner, Rishikesh, Roorkee and Gangtok.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: The music of the film is composed by Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli and Vishal Mishra while the lyrics have been penned by Raj Shekhar, Hussain Haidry and Varun Grover. The first song of the film titled, "Khatam Kahani" sung by Nooran Sisters, was released on 13 October 2017. The second song of the film, "Tu Chale Toh" which is sung by Papon, was released on 19 October 2017. The third single to be released was "Jaane De" which is sung by Atif Aslam was released on 25 October 2017. The soundtrack was released by Zee Music Company on 10 November 2017.


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: The film received mainly positive reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Qarib Qarib Singlle" has an approval score of 86% based on 7 reviews with an average rating of 7.2 out of 10. Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Yogi and Jaya won my heart, and I wouldn't have minded spending more time in their company." Neil Soans of The Times of India praised the performances of the leading actors of the film, Irrfan Khan and Parvathy and gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5. The critic concluded his review by saying that, "As long as you don't expect fireworks, enjoy this sweet film that will leave you smiling." Sweta Kausal of Hindustan Times was impressed with the performances of Irrfan Khan and Parvathy and said that "Qarib Qarib Singlle" is "A heartfelt film where Parvathy outshines a superb Irrfan". The critic gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5. Namrata Joshi of The Hindu applauded the movie as well as the acting performances of Irrfan Khan and Parvathy saying that, "QQS is a happy confluence of many things besides an absolutely entrancing, candid and un-self-conscious Khan who makes acting seem utterly easy and effortless."


title: Qarib Qarib Singlle

text: Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Qarib Qarib Singlle might put off average film goers but if you see value in a film that breaks away from norm and derives strength from understatement rather than flashy storytelling methods, your search ends here." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express complimented the performance of leading actress Parvathy saying that, "Qarib Qarib Singlle's beating heart is Parvathy (the lead actor of the terrific Malayalam film Take Off). She is such a breath of fresh air, such a break from the dressed up dolls of Bollywood." About the movie the critic said that, "This Irrfan Khan starrer is a well-crafted, winsome rom-com" and gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Murtaza Ali Khan (film critic) of Huffington Post said that, "Qarib Qarib Singlle is a beautiful slice-of-life film about solitude and companionship that takes time to cast a spell on the viewers but once they are hooked there is no escape from its irresistible charm." and gave the film a rating of B+. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 and said that "Qarib Qarib Singlle" is "A light but spectacularly adroit romantic comedy." Stutee Ghosh of The Quint gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and said that, "The screenplay by Tanuja Chandra and Gazal Dhaliwal is a mature and sensitive meditation on life and love, but the unhurried pace at which the story unfolds might disappoint some."


title: Social exchange theory

text: Social exchange theory is a sociological and psychological theory that studies the social behavior in the interaction of two parties that implement a cost-benefit analysis to determine risks and benefits. The theory also involves economic relationships—the cost-benefit analysis occurs when each party has goods that the other parties value. Social exchange theory suggests that these calculations occur in romantic relationships, friendships, professional relationships, and ephemeral relationships as simple as exchanging words with a customer at the cash register. Social exchange theory says that if the costs of the relationship are higher than the rewards, such as if a lot of effort or money were put into a relationship and not reciprocated, then the relationship may be terminated or abandoned.


title: Social exchange theory

text: The most comprehensive social exchange theories are those of the American social psychologists John W. Thibaut (1917–1986) and Harold H. Kelley (1921–2003), the American sociologists George C. Homans (1910–1989), Peter M. Blau (1918–2002), Richard Marc Emerson (d. 1982), and Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009). Homans defined social exchange as the exchange of activity, tangible or intangible, and more or less rewarding or costing between at least two persons. After Homans founded the theory, other theorists continued to write about it, particularly Peter M. Blau and Richard M. Emerson, who in addition to Homans are generally thought of as the major developers of the exchange perspective within sociology. Homans' work emphasized the individual behavior of actors in interaction with one another. Although there are various modes of exchange, Homans centered his studies on dyadic exchange. John Thibaut and Harold Kelley are recognized for focusing their studies within the theory on the psychological concepts, the dyad and small group. Lévi-Strauss is recognized for contributing to the emergence of this theoretical perspective from his work on anthropology focused on systems of generalized exchange, such as kinship systems and gift exchange.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Thibaut and Kelley based their theory on small groups related with dyadic relationships. They used the reward-cost matrices from Game Theory and discovered some clues of individuals’ interdependence such as the power of a party over each other, also known as the “correspondence” versus “noncorrespondence” of outcomes. Additionally, they suggest that an individual can unilaterally affect her or his own outcomes in a relationship through chosen behaviors. They could predict the possible course of a social interaction through the analysis of aspects of power in an encounter. They also experimented on how the outcomes received in a relationship could define a person's attractions to relationships.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Homans based his theory on concepts of equilibration, expectancy and distributive justice in dyadic exchange. With this, he tries to explain the social interaction in small groups and the rewards received proportional to their costs and investments. Homans summarizes the system in three propositions: success, stimulus, and deprivation–satiation proposition, described below.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Blau's theory is very similar to Homans’. However, he uses more economics terms and it is based principally on emergent social structure in social exchange patterns in small groups. His theory analyzes the development of exchange theory in economics without emphasizing on the psychological assumptions. He contributed to the idea of distinguishing between social and economic exchanges and exchange and power. The goal of his theory was to identify complex and simple processes without ignoring emergent properties. Blau's utilitarian focus encouraged the theorist to look forward, as in what they anticipated the reward would be in regards to their next social interaction. Blau felt that if individuals focused too much on the psychological concepts within the theory, they would refrain from learning the developing aspects of social exchange. Blau emphasized technical economic analysis whereas Homans concentrated more on the psychology of instrumental behavior.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Emerson was inspired by Homans and Blau's ideas. He focused on the interaction and relationship between individuals and parties. His view of social exchange theory emphasizes the resource availability, power, and dependence as primary dynamics.  He thought that relations were organized in different manners, and they could differ depending on the type and amount of the resources exchanged. He poses the idea that power and dependence are the main aspects that define a relationship. According to Emerson, Exchange is not a theory, but a framework from which other theories can converge and be compared to structural functionalism. Emerson's perspective was similar to Blau's since they both focused on the relationship power had with the exchange process. Emerson says that social exchange theory is an approach in sociology that is described for simplicity as an economic analysis of noneconomic social situations. Exchange theory brings a quasi-economic form of analysis into those situations.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Strauss was a social exchange theorist in the context of anthropology. He is recognized for contributing to the emergence of this theoretical perspective from his work on anthropology focused on systems of generalized exchange, such as kinship systems and gift exchange. He based his kinship systems on Mauss's investigation. As it works in the form of indirect reciprocities, Levi-Strauss suggested the concept of generalized exchange.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Self-interest and interdependence are central properties of social exchange. These are the basic forms of interaction when two or more actors have something of value to each other, and they have to decide whether to exchange and in what amounts. Homans uses the concepts of individualism to explain exchange processes. To him, the meaning of individual self-interest is a combination of economic and psychological needs. Fulfilling self-interest is often common within the economic realm of the social exchange theory where competition and greed can be common. In social exchange, self-interest is not a negative thing; rather, when self-interest is recognized, it will act as the guiding force of interpersonal relationships for the advancement of both parties' self-interest"—Michael Roloff (1981)


title: Social exchange theory

text: Thibaut and Kelley see the mutual interdependence of persons as the central problem for the study of social behavior. They developed a theoretical framework based on the interdependence of actors. They also highlighted social implications of different forms of interdependence such as reciprocal control. According to their interdependence definition, outcomes are based on a combination of parties' efforts and mutual and complementary arrangements.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Social exchange theory views exchange as a social behavior that may result both in economic and social outcomes. Social exchange theory has been generally analyzed by comparing human interactions with the marketplace. The study of the theory from the microeconomics perspective is attributed to Blau. Under his perspective every individual is trying to maximize his wins. Blau stated that once this concept is understood, it is possible to observe social exchanges everywhere, not only in market relations, but also in other social relations like friendship. Social exchange process brings satisfaction when people receive fair returns for their expenditures. The major difference between social and economic exchange is the nature of the exchange between parties. Neoclassic economic theory views the actor as dealing not with another actor but with a market and environmental parameters, such as market price. Unlike economic exchange, the elements of social exchange are quite varied and cannot be reduced to a single quantitative exchange rate. According to Stafford, social exchanges involve a connection with another person; involve trust and not legal obligations; are more flexible; and rarely involve explicit bargaining.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Simple social exchange models assume that rewards and costs drive relationship decisions. Both parties in a social exchange take responsibility for one another and depend on each other. The elements of relational life include:


title: Social exchange theory

text: Costs are the elements of relational life that have negative value to a person, such as the effort put into a relationship and the negatives of a partner. (Costs can be time, money, effort etc.)


title: Social exchange theory

text: Rewards are the elements of a relationship that have positive value. (Rewards can be sense of acceptance, support, and companionship etc.)


title: Social exchange theory

text: As with everything dealing with the social exchange theory, it has as its outcome satisfaction and dependence of relationships. The social-exchange perspective argues that people calculate the overall worth of a particular relationship by subtracting its costs from the rewards it provides.


title: Social exchange theory

text: If worth is a positive number, it is a positive relationship. On the contrary, a negative number indicates a negative relationship. The worth of a relationship influences its outcome, or whether people will continue with a relationship or terminate it. Positive relationships are expected to endure, whereas negative relationships will probably terminate. In a mutually beneficial exchange, each party supplies the wants of the other party at lower cost to self than the value of the resources the other party provides. In such a model, mutual relationship satisfaction ensures relationship stability.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Homans based his theory on behaviorism to conclude that people pursue rewards to minimize costs. The "satisfactory-ness" of the rewards that a party gains from an exchange relationship is judged relative to some standard, which may vary from party to party.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Summarized by Gouldner, the reciprocity norm states that a benefit should be returned and the one who gives the benefit should not be harmed. This is used to stabilize relationships and to identify egoism. This norm suggests independence in relationships and invite the individual to consider more than one's self-interest.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Altman and D. Taylor introduced social penetration theory, which studies the nature and quality of social exchange and close bonds. It suggests that once the individuals start to give more of their resources to one another, relationships evolve progressively from exchanging superficial goods to other, more meaningful exchanges. It progresses to the point called “self-disclosure”, where the individuals share innermost thoughts and feelings with one another.


title: Social exchange theory

text: In this process, the individuals will compare their rewards with others’ in relation to their costs. Equity can be defined as the balance between a person's inputs and outcomes on the job. Some examples of inputs can be qualifications, promotions, interest on the job and how hard one works. Some outcomes can be pay, fringe benefits, and power status. The individual will mainly expect an equitable input-outcome ratio. Inequity happens when the individual perceives an unbalanced ratio of their outcomes and other's outcomes. This can occur in a direct exchange of the two parties, or there can be a third party involved. An individual's point of view of equity or inequity can differ depending on the individual.


title: Social exchange theory

text: The basis of social exchange theory is to explain social change and stability as a process of negotiating exchanges between parties. These changes can occur over a person's life course through the various relationships, opportunities, and means of support. An example of this is the convoy model of support, this model uses concentric circles to describe relationships around an individual with the strongest relationships in the closet circle. As a person ages, these relationships form a convoy that moves along with the person and exchanges in support and assistance through different circumstances that occur. It also changes through the directionality of support given to and by the individual with the people within their support network. Within this model, there are different types of support (Social support) a person can receive, those being intangible, tangible, instrumental, and informational. Intangible support can either be social or emotional and can be love, friendship and appreciation that comes with valuable relationships. Tangible support are physical gifts given to someone such as land, gifts, money, transportation, food, and completing chores. Instrumental support are services given to someone in a relationship. Finally, informational support is the delivering of information that is helpful to an individual.


title: Social exchange theory

text: In his article published in 1978, Nye originally proposed seven propositions that were common in all types of relationship. A few years later he would expand the propositions to a total of twelve. The first five propositions listed are classified as general propositions and are substance free-meaning, the propositions themselves can stand alone within the theory. Proposition number six has been identified by scholars as a notion that there is a general assumption of a need for social approval as a reward and can therefore act as a drive force behind actions. Proposition seven will only work if the individual has the freedom to be excluded from outside factors while in a social exchange relationship. The twelfth and final proposition is directed towards the way our society has a heightened value placed on monetary funds.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Even though Homans took an individualistic approach, a major goal of his work was to explicate the micro-foundations of social structures and social exchange. By studying such forms of behavior he hoped to illuminate the informal sub-institutional bases of more complex social behavior, typically more formal and often institutionalized. According to Homans, social structures emerge from elementary forms of behavior. His vision of the underpinnings of social structure and institutional forms is linked to the actions of individuals, for example to their responses to rewarding and punishment circumstances.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Homans developed five key propositions that assist in structuring individuals' behaviors based on rewards and costs. This set of theoretical ideas represents the core of Homans's version of social exchange theory.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Based on economics, Frazer's theory about social exchange emphasizes the importance of power and status differentiations in social exchange. Frazer's theory had a particular interest in the cross-cousin marriage.


title: Social exchange theory

text: With his Kula exchange, Malinowski drew a sharp differentiation between economic exchange and social exchange. Using his Kula exchange, Malinowski states that the motives of exchange can be mainly social and psychological.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Mauss's theory tries to identify the role played by morality and religion in the social exchange. Mauss argues the exchange found in the society is influenced by social behaviors, while morality and religion influence all aspects of life.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Bohannan focuses his theory on economic problems such as multicentrism, and modes of exchange. He contributed to the social exchange theory finding the role and function of markets in tribal subsistence economies, makes a distinction of economic redistribution and market exchange from social relationships.


title: Social exchange theory

text: He proposes three principles to create a new idea for socioeconomic change, transforming traditional economies, and political economic development. These principles are: reciprocity, redistribution and marketing.


title: Social exchange theory

text: He presents the idea that the economy is a category of behavior instead of just a simple category of culture.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Social exchange theory is not one theory but a frame of reference within which many theories can speak to another, whether in argument or mutual support. All these theories are built upon several assumptions about human nature and the nature of relationships. Thibaut and Kelley have based their theory on two conceptualizations: one that focuses on the nature of individuals and one that describes the relationships between two people. Thus, the assumptions they make also fall into these categories.


title: Social exchange theory

text: The assumptions social exchange theory makes about the nature of relationships include the following:


title: Social exchange theory

text: The prisoner's dilemma is a widely used example in game theory that attempts to illustrate why or how two individuals may not cooperate with each other, even if it is in their best interest to do so. It demonstrates that while cooperation would give the best outcome, people might nevertheless act selfishly.


title: Social exchange theory

text: All relationships involve exchanges although the balance of this exchange is not always equal. We cannot achieve our goals alone so as humans sometimes we have to become actors. In the world today we see actors as unemotional people but that is not the case once we reach our goals in the end.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Social exchange includes "both a notion of a relationship, and some notion of a shared obligation in which both parties perceive responsibilities to each other". John Thibaut and Harold Kelley proposed two comparison standards to differentiate between relationship satisfaction and relationship stability. This evaluation rests on two types of comparisons: Comparison Level and Comparison Level for Alternative. According to Thibaut and Kelley, the Comparison Level (CL) is a standard representing what people feel they should receive in the way of rewards and costs from a particular relationship. An individual's comparison level can be considered the standard by which an outcome seems to satisfy the individual. The Comparison Level for Alternative (CLalt) refers to "the lowest level of relational rewards a person is willing to accept given available rewards from alternative relationships or being alone". In other words, when using this evaluation tool, an individual will consider other alternative payoffs or rewards outside of the current relationship or exchange. CLalt provides a measure of stability rather than satisfaction. If people see no alternative and fear being alone more than being in the relationship, social exchange theory predicts they will stay.


title: Social exchange theory

text: According to Kelley and Thibaut, people engage in Behavioral Sequence, or a series of actions designed to achieve their goal. This is congruent with their assumption that human beings are rational. When people engage in these behavioral sequences, they are dependent to some extent on their relational partner. In order for behavioral sequences to lead to social exchange, two conditions must be achieved: "It must be oriented towards ends that can only be achieved through interaction with other persons, and it must seek to adapt means to further the achievement of these ends". The concept of reciprocity also derives from this pattern. The reciprocity principle refers to the mutual reinforcement by two parties of each other's actions. The process begins when at least one participant makes a "move", and if the other reciprocates, new rounds of exchange initiate. Once the process is in motion, each consequence can create a self-reinforcing cycle. Even though the norm of reciprocity may be a universally accepted principle, the degree to which people and cultures apply this concept varies.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Several definitions of power have been offered by exchange theorists. For instance, some theorists view power as distinct from exchanges, some view it as a kind of exchange and others believe power is a medium of exchange. However, the most useful definition of power is that proposed by Emerson, who developed a theory of power-dependence relations. According to this theory, the dependence a person has on another brings up the concept of power. Power differentiation affects social structures by causing inequalities between members of different groups, such as an individual having superiority over another. Power within the theory is governed by two variables : the structure of power in exchange networks and strategic use. Experimental data show that the position an actor occupies in a social exchange network determines relative dependence and therefore power.


title: Social exchange theory

text: According to Thibaut and Kelley, there are two types of power: fate control and behavior control. Fate control is the ability to affect a partner's outcomes. Behavior control is the power to cause another's behavior to change by changing one's own behavior.


title: Social exchange theory

text: People develop patterns of exchange to cope with power differentials and to deal with the costs associated with exercising power. These patterns describe behavioral rules or norms that indicate how people trade resources in an attempt to maximize rewards and minimize costs. Three different matrices have been described by Thibaut and Kelley to illustrate the patterns people develop. These are given matrix, the effective matrix and the dispositional matrix.


title: Social exchange theory

text: There are three forms within these matrices: Reciprocity, Generalized Exchange, and Productive Exchange. In a direct exchange, reciprocation is confined to the two actors. One social actor provides value to another one and the other reciprocates. There are three different types of reciprocity:


title: Social exchange theory

text: A generalized exchange involves indirect reciprocity between three or more individuals. For example, one person gives to another and the recipient responds by giving to another person other than the first person. Productive exchange means that both actors have to contribute for either one of them to benefit. Both people incur benefits and costs simultaneously.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Another common form of exchange is negotiated exchange which focuses on the negotiation of rules in order for both parties to reach a beneficial agreement. Reciprocal exchanges and negotiated exchanges are often analyzed and compared to discover their essential differences. One major difference between the two exchanges is the level of risks associated with the exchange and the uncertainty these risks create (ref). Negotiated exchange can consist of binding and non-binding negotiations. When comparing the levels of risk within these exchanges, reciprocal exchange has the highest level of risk which in result produces the most uncertainty. An example of a risk that could occur during the reciprocal exchange is the factor that the second party could end up not returning the favor and completing the reciprocal exchange. Binding negotiated exchanges involve the least amount of risks which will result the individuals feeling low levels of uncertainty. Whereas non-binding negotiated exchanges and their level of risks and uncertainty fall in between the amount of risks associated with reciprocal and binding negotiated exchanges. Since there is not a binding agreement involved, one party involved in the exchange could decide to not cooperate with the agreement.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Katherine Miller outlines several major objections to or problems with the social exchange theory as developed from early seminal works


title: Social exchange theory

text: Russell Cropanzano and Marie S. Mitchell discuss how one of the major issues within the social exchange theory is the lack of information within studies on the various exchange rules. Reciprocity is a major exchange rule discussed but, Cropanzano and Mitchell write that the theory would be better understood if more research programs discussed a variety of exchange rules such as altruism, group gain, status consistency and competition. Meeker points out that within the exchange process, each unit takes into account at least the following elements: reciprocity, rationality, altruism (social responsibility), group gain, status, consistency, and competition (rivalry).


title: Social exchange theory

text: Rosenfeld (2005) has noted significant limitations to Social Exchange Theory and its application in the selection of mates/partners. Specifically, Rosenfeld looked at the limitations of interracial couples and the application of social exchange theory. His analysis suggest that in modern society, there is less of a gap between interracial partners education level, socioeconomic status, and social class level which in turn, makes the previously understood application of social exchange moot.


title: Social exchange theory

text: The most extensive application of social exchange has been in the area of interpersonal relationships. However, social exchange theory materializes in many different situations with the same idea of the exchange of resources. Self-Interest can encourage individuals to make decisions that will benefit themselves overall. Homans once summarized the theory by stating:


title: Social exchange theory

text: Other applications that developed the idea of exchange include field of anthropology as evidenced in an article by Harumi Befu, which discusses cultural ideas and norms. Lévi-Strauss is considered as one of the major contributors to the anthropology of exchange. Within this field, self-interest, human sentiment and motivational process are not considered. Lévi–Strauss uses a collectivist approach to explain exchanges. To Lévi-Strauss, a social exchange is defined as a regulated form of behavior in the context of societal rules and norms. This contrasts with psychological studies of exchange in which behaviors are studied ignoring the culture. Social exchanges from the anthropological perspective have been analyzed using the gift-giving phenomena. The concept of reciprocity under this perspective states that individuals can directly reward his benefactor or another person in the social exchange process. Lévi-Strauss developed the theory of cousin marriage based on the pervasiveness of gift-giving in primitive societies. The basis of this theory is the distinction between restricted exchanges, which is only capable of connecting pairs of social groups, and generalize exchange, which integrates indefinite numbers of groups.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Throughout the theory, one can also end up losing relationships that were already established because the feeling of no longer being beneficial. One feels as if there is not longer a need for a relationship or communication due to lack of rewards. Once this happens, the process of looking for new partners and resources occurs. This allows a continuation of networking. One may go through this process quite frequently. A study applied this theory to new media (online dating). The study discovers the different factors involved when an individual decides to establish an online relationship. Overall the study followed the social exchange theory's idea, "people are attracted to those who grant them rewards".


title: Social exchange theory

text: Another example is Berg's study about development of friendship between roommates. The research found how social exchange processes changed during the year by measuring self disclosure. According to the study, the amount one person rewards another and the comparison levels for alternatives become the most important factors in determining liking and satisfaction. Auld, C. and Alan C. conducted a study to discover what processes occur and what is experienced during social leisure relationships. They use the concept of reciprocity to understand their findings. The study concluded that meeting new people is often given as a major reason for participation in leisure activities, and meeting new people may be conceptualized as an exercise of reciprocity. In this case, reciprocity is perceived as a starting mechanism for new social relationships because people are willing to be helped by others, expecting that the help will eventually be returned. A study conducted by Paul, G., called Exchange and access in field work tries to understand the relationships between the researchers and subjects. This study concludes that Bargaining helps to satisfy the more specific needs of the parties because greater risks are taken to obtain more information. This study also introduces the concept of trust (social sciences) to determine the duration of relationships.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Patterns of interracial marriage have been explained using social exchange theory. Kalmijn suggests that ethnic status is offset against educational or financial resources. This process has been used to explain why there are more marriages between black men and white women than between white men and black women. This asymmetry in marriage patterns has been used to support the idea of a racial hierarchy. Lewis, however, explains that the same patterns of marriage can be accounted for in terms of simple facial attractiveness patterns of the different gender by race groupings. Recent changes have seen an increase in black women marrying white men and a decrease in raw prevalence of interracial marriages when it comes to black women. There has also been a shift in the concentration of interracial marriage from mostly being between those with low education levels to those with higher levels of education.


title: Social exchange theory

text: Social exchange theory has served as a theoretical foundation to explain different situations in business practices. It has contributed to the study of organization-stakeholder relationships and relationship marketing. The investment model proposed by Caryl Rusbult is a useful version of social exchange theory. According to this model, investments serve to stabilize relationships. The greater the nontransferable investments a person has in a given relationship, the more stable the relationship is likely to be. The same investment concept is applied in relationship marketing. Databases are the major instrument to build differentiated relationships between organizations and customers. Through the information process, companies identify the customer's own individual needs. From this perspective, a client becomes an investment. If a customer decides to choose another competitor, the investment will be lost. When people find they have invested too much to quit a relationship or enterprise, they pour additional resources into the relationship to salvage their initial investment. Exchange has been a central research thrust in business-to-business relational exchange. According to the study conducted by Lambe, C. Jay, C. Michael Wittmann, and Robert E. Spekman firms evaluate economic and social outcomes from each transaction and compare them to what they feel they deserve. Firms also look for additional benefits provided by other potential exchange partners. The initial transaction between companies is crucial to determine if their relationship will expand, remain the same or will dissolve.


title: Social exchange theory

text: A study conducted by A. Saks serves as an example to explain engagement of employees in organizations. This study uses one of the tenets of social exchange theory to explain that obligations are generated through a series of interactions between parties who are in a state of reciprocal interdependence. The research identified that when individuals receive economic and socioemotional resources from their organization, they feel obliged to respond in kind and repay the organization. This is a description of engagement as a two-way relationship between the employer and employee. One way for individuals to repay their organization is through their level of engagement. The more engaged the employee are to their work, the greater amounts of cognitive, emotional, and physical resources they will devote to perform their job duties. When the organization fails to provide economic or emotional resources, the employees are more likely to withdraw and disengage themselves from their roles.