3.8: Threats and Opportunities in the Global Marketplace
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7. What threats and opportunities exist in the global marketplace?
To be successful in a foreign market, companies must fully understand the foreign environment in which they plan to operate. Politics, cultural differences, and the economic environment can represent both opportunities and pitfalls in the global marketplace.
Political Considerations
We have already discussed how tariffs, exchange controls, and other governmental actions threaten foreign producers. The political structure of a country may also jeopardize a foreign producer’s success in international trade.
Intense nationalism, for example, can lead to difficulties. Nationalism is the sense of national consciousness that boosts the culture and interests of one country over those of all other countries. Strongly nationalistic countries, such as Iran and New Guinea, often discourage investment by foreign companies. In other, less radical forms of nationalism, the government may take actions to hinder foreign operations. France, for example, requires pop music stations to play at least 40 percent of their songs in French. This law was enacted because the French love American rock and roll. Without airtime, American music sales suffer. In another example of nationalism, U.S.-based PPG made an unsolicited bid to acquire Netherlands-based AzkoNobel NV. There was a chorus of opposition from Dutch politicians to the idea of a foreign takeover of AzkoNobel, the Dutch paint manufacturer. The government warned that it would move to defend AzkoNobel from a hostile takeover attempt. AzkoNobel played up the sentiment, tweeting about its rejection of the hostile takeover with the hashtag #DutchPride. 37
In a hostile climate, a government may expropriate a foreign company’s assets, taking ownership and compensating the former owners. Even worse is confiscation, when the owner receives no compensation. This happened during rebellions in several African nations during the 1990s and 2000s.
Cultural Differences
Central to any society is the common set of values shared by its citizens that determine what is socially acceptable. Culture underlies the family, educational system, religion, and social class system. The network of social organizations generates overlapping roles and status positions. These values and roles have a tremendous effect on people’s preferences and thus on marketers’ options. For example, in China Walmart holds live fishing contests on the premises, and in South Korea the company hosts a food competition with variations on a popular Korean dish, kimchee.
Language is another important aspect of culture. Marketers must take care in selecting product names and translating slogans and promotional messages so as not to convey the wrong meaning. For example, Mitsubishi Motors had to rename its Pajero model in Spanish-speaking countries because the term refers to a sexual activity. Toyota Motor’s MR2 model dropped the 2 in France because the combination sounds like a French swear word. The literal translation of Coca-Cola in Chinese characters means “bite the wax tadpole.”
Each country has its own customs and traditions that determine business practices and influence negotiations with foreign customers. For example, attempting to do business in Western Europe during the first two weeks in August is virtually impossible. Businesses close, and everyone goes on vacation at the same time. In many countries, personal relationships are more important than financial considerations. For instance, skipping social engagements in Mexico may lead to lost sales. Negotiations in Japan often include long evenings of dining, drinking, and entertaining; only after a close personal relationship has been formed do business negotiations begin. Table 3.1 presents some cultural dos and don’ts.
| DO: | DON’T: |
|---|---|
|
|
Economic Environment
The level of economic development varies considerably, ranging from countries where everyday survival is a struggle, such as Sudan and Eritrea, to countries that are highly developed, such as Switzerland and Japan. In general, complex, sophisticated industries are found in developed countries, and more basic industries are found in less developed nations. Average family incomes are higher in the more developed countries than in the least-developed markets. Larger incomes mean greater purchasing power and demand, not only for consumer goods and services but also for the machinery and workers required to produce consumer goods. Table 3.2 provides a glimpse of global wealth.
Business opportunities are usually better in countries that have an economic infrastructure in place. Infrastructure is the basic institutions and public facilities upon which an economy’s development depends. When we think about how our own economy works, we tend to take our infrastructure for granted. It includes the money and banking system that provide the major investment loans to our nation’s businesses; the educational system that turns out the incredible varieties of skills and basic research that actually run our nation’s production lines; the extensive transportation and communications systems—interstate highways, railroads, airports, canals, telephones, internet sites, postal systems, and television stations—that link almost every piece of our geography into one market; the energy system that powers our factories; and, of course, the market system itself, which brings our nation’s goods and services into our homes and businesses.
| The Top 20 | Gross National Income Per Capita* US$ |
|---|---|
| * Gross National Income is the value of the final goods and services produced by a country (Gross Domestic Product) together with its income received from other countries (such as interest and dividends) less similar payments made to other countries. | |
| Final goods are the goods ultimately consumed rather than used in the production of another good. For example, a car sold to a consumer is a final good; the components, such as tires sold to the car manufacturer, are not. They are intermediate goods used to make the final good. The same tires, if sold to a consumer, would be a final good. | |
| Sources: Some data refers to IMF staff estimates and some are actual figures for the year 2017, made on April 12, 2017. Adapted from the World Economic Outlook Database—April 2017, International Monetary Fund, accessed on April 18, 2017. | |
| Luxembourg | 103,199 |
| Switzerland | 79,243 |
| Norway | 70,392 |
| Ireland | 62,562 |
| Qatar | 60,787 |
| Iceland | 59,629 |
| United States | 57,436 |
| Denmark | 53,744 |
| Singapore | 52,961 |
| Australia | 51,850 |
| Sweden | 51,165 |
| San Marino | 46,447 |
| Netherlands | 45,283 |
| Austria | 44,498 |
| Finland | 43,169 |
| Canada | 42,210 |
| Germany | 41,902 |
| Belgium | 41,283 |
| United Kingdom | 40,096 |
| Japan | 38,912 |
| The Bottom Five | |
| Madagascar | 391 |
| Central African Republic | 364 |
| Burundi | 325 |
| Malawi | 295 |
| South Sudan | 233 |
CONCEPT CHECK
- Explain how political factors can affect international trade.
- Describe several cultural factors that a company involved in international trade should consider.
- How can economic conditions affect trade op


8.12: Who Goes to Prison?
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The types of people that end up in prison are quite different than individuals that go to jail. Almost all people that go to prisons in the United States are people that have been convicted of felony-level crimes and will be serving more than a year (or they could have multiple years on their jail sentence). To give you a more detailed depiction of this, see the image below.
Focusing in on the left side of the graphic, there are roughly 1,316,000 State Prisoners. Here we can see the types of crimes that they are convicted of.  Drug crimes and property crimes make up the next big sections for the state prisoners. When you add in the federal prisoners (about 180,000) and the private sector prisoners (another 150,000+), territorial prisoners (11,000), Indian Country prisoners (2,500), we start to see how that number changes to about 1,700,000 prisoners.
One of the more notable items here, and what is different from the jails, roughly 93% of the prisoners are male. In jail, that number is roughly 85% male. While the total volume of prisoners has dropped slightly in the last few years (since 2015), this following graphic shows that we have increased our number substantially over the last 45 years.
This growth of the prison population will be discussed in greater detail in the final section on corrections, Special Issues. However, in the next section, we will discuss where the largest volume of individuals under correctional control resides, probation and community corrections.


7.9: Polymers and Plastics
Make sure you thoroughly understand the following essential ideas which have been presented above. It is especially important that you know the precise meanings of all the bold terms in the context of this topic.
- Aside from their high molar masses, how do synthetic polymers differ from ordinary molecular solids?
- Polymers can be classified according to their chemical composition, their physical properties, and their general application. For each of these three categories, name two examples that that might be considered when adapting a polymer to a particular end-use.
- and a thermoset , and comment on the molecular basis for their different properties, including crystallinity.
- Describe the two general methods of polymer synthesis.
- Name two kinds each of commercially-important synthetic thermoplastics and thermosets, and specify some of their principal uses.
- Name two kinds of commercially-important natural polymers.
- Describe some of the concerns and sources of small-molecule release from polymers.
- What are some of the problems connected with recycling or re-use of polymeric materials?
Plastics and natural materials such as rubber or cellulose are composed of very large molecules called polymers. Polymers are constructed from relatively small molecular fragments known as monomers that are joined together. Wool, cotton, silk, wood and leather are examples of natural polymers that have been known and used since ancient times. This group includes biopolymers such as proteins and carbohydrates that are constituents of all living organisms.
Synthetic polymers, which includes the large group known as plastics, came into prominence in the early twentieth century. Chemists' ability to engineer them to yield a desired set of properties (strength, stiffness, density, heat resistance, electrical conductivity) has greatly expanded the many roles they play in the modern industrial economy. This Module deals mostly with synthetic polymers, but will include a synopsis of some of the more important natural polymers. It will close with a summary of some of the very significant environmental problems created by the wide use of plastics.
Polymers and "pure substances"
Let's begin by looking at an artificial polymer that is known to everyone in the form of flexible, transparent plastic bags : polyethylene . It is also the simplest polymer, consisting of random-length (but generally very long) chains made up of two-carbon units.
You will notice some "fuzziness" in the way that the polyethylene structures are represented above. The squiggly lines at the ends of the long structure indicate that the same pattern extends indefinitely. The more compact notation on the right shows the minimal repeating unit enclosed in brackets overprinted with a dash; this means the same thing and is the preferred way of depicting polymer structures.
In most areas of chemistry, a "pure substance" has a definite structure, molar mass, and properties. It turns out, however, that few polymeric substances are uniform in this way. This is especially the case with synthetic polymers, whose molecular weights cover a range of values, as may the sequence, orientation, and connectivity of the individual monomers. So most synthetic polymers are really mixtures rather than pure substances in the ordinary chemical sense of the term. Their molecular weights are typically distributed over a wide range.
Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Polymers
Don't be misled by chemical formulas that depict polymers such as polyethylene as reasonably straight chains of substituted carbon atoms. Free rotation around C—C bonds allows long polymer molecules to curl up and and tangle very much like spaghetti (Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Thus polymers generally form amorphous solids. There are, however, ways in which certain polymers can be partially oriented.
Classification of polymers
Polymers can be classified in ways that reflect their chemical makeup, or perhaps more importantly, their properties and applications. Many of these factors are strongly interdependent, and most are discussed in much more detail in subsequent sections of this page.
Chemistry
- Nature of the monomeric units
- Average chain length and molecular weight
- Homopolymers (one kind of monomeric unit) or copolymers ;
- Chain topology: how the monomeric units are connected
- Presence or absence of cross-branching
- Method of polymerization
Properties
- Density
- Thermal properties — can they soften or melt when heated?
- Degree of crystallinity
- Physical properties such as hardness, strength, machineability.
- Solubility, permeability to gases
Applications
- molded and formed objects ("plastics")
- sheets and films
- elastomers (i.e., elastic polymers such as rubber)
- adhesives
- coatings, paints, inks
- fibers and yarns
Physical properties of polymers
The physical properties of a polymer such as its strength and flexibility depend on:
- chain length - in general, the longer the chains the stronger the polymer;
- side groups - polar side groups (including those that lead to hydrogen bonding) give stronger attraction between polymer chains, making the polymer stronger;
- branching - straight, unbranched chains can pack together more closely than highly branched chains, giving polymers that have higher density, are more crystalline and therefore stronger;
- cross-linking - if polymer chains are linked together extensively by covalent bonds, the polymer is harder and more difficult to melt.
Amorphous and crystalline polymers
The spaghetti-like entanglements of polymer molecules tend to produce amorphous solids, but it often happens that some parts can become sufficiently aligned to produce a region exhibiting crystal-like order, so it is not uncommon for some polymeric solids to consist of a random mixture of amorphous and crystalline regions. As might be expected, shorter and less-branched polymer chains can more easily organize themselves into ordered layers than have can long chains. Hydrogen-bonding between adjacent chains also helps, and is very important in fiber-forming polymers both synthetic (Nylon 6.6) and natural (cotton cellulose).
Pure crystalline solids have definite melting points, but polymers, if they melt at all, exhibit a more complex behavior. At low temperatures, the tangled polymer chains tend to behave as rigid glasses. For example, the natural polymer that we call rubber becomes hard and brittle when cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature. Many synthetic polymers remain in this state to well above room temperature.
The melting of a crystalline compound corresponds to a sudden loss of long-range order; this is the fundamental reason that such solids exhibit definite melting points, and it is why there is no intermediate form between the liquid and the solid states. In amorphous solids there is no long-range order, so there is no melting point in the usual sense. Such solids simply become less and less viscous as the temperature is raised.
In some polymers (known as thermoplastics ) there is a fairly definite softening point that is observed when the thermal kinetic energy becomes high enough to allow internal rotation to occur within the bonds and to allow the individual molecules to slide independently of their neighbors, thus rendering them more flexible and deformable. This defines the glass transition temperature t g .
Depending on the degree of crystallinity, there will be a higher temperature, the melting point t m , at which the crystalline regions come apart and the material becomes a viscous liquid. Such liquids can easily be injected into molds to manufacture objects of various shapes, or extruded into sheets or fibers. Other polymers (generally those that are highly cross-linked) do not melt at all; these are known as thermosets . If they are to be made into molded objects, the polymerization reaction must take place within the molds — a far more complicated process. About 20% of the commercially-produced polymers are thermosets; the remainder are thermoplastics.
2 Thermoplastic polymer structures
Homopolymers and heteropolymers
Copolymerization is an invaluable tool for "tuning" polymers so that they have the right combination of properties for an application. For example, homopolymeric polystyrene is a rigid and very brittle transparent thermoplastic with a glass transition temperature of 97°C. Copolymerizing it with acrylonitrile yields an alternating "SAN" copolymer in which t g is raised to 107°, making it useable for transparent drink containers.
A polymer that is composed of identical monomeric units (as is polyethylene) is called a homopolymer . Heteropolymers are built up from more than one type of monomer. Artificial heteropolymers are more commonly known as copolymers.
Chain topology
Polymers may also be classified as straight-chained or branched, leading to forms such as these:
The monomers can be joined end-to-end, and they can also be cross-linked to provide a harder material:
If the cross-links are fairly long and flexible, adjacent chains can move with respect to each other, producing an elastic polymer or elastomer
Chain configuration and tacticity
In a linear polymer such as polyethylene, rotations around carbon-carbon single bonds can allow the chains to bend or curl up in various ways, resulting in the spaghetti-like mixture of these different conformations we alluded to above. But if one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by some other entity such as a methyl group, the relative orientations of the individual monomer units that make up a linear section of any carbon chain becomes an important characteristic of the polymer.
Cis-trans isomerism occurs because rotation around carbon-carbon double bonds is not possible — unlike the case for single bonds. Any pair of unlike substituents attached to the two carbons is permanently locked into being on the same side ( cis ) or opposite sides ( trans ) of the double bond.
If the carbon chain contains double bonds, then cis-trans isomerism becomes possible, giving rise to two different possible configurations (known as diastereomers) at each unit of the chain. This seemingly small variable can profoundly affect the nature of the polymer. For example, the latex in natural rubber is made mostly of cis -polyisoprene, whereas the trans isomer (known as gutta percha latex) has very different (and generally inferior) properties.
Chirality
The tetrahedral nature of carbon bonding has an important consequence that is not revealed by simple two-dimensional structural formulas: atoms attached to the carbon can be on one side or on the other, and these will not be geometrically equivalent if all four of the groups attached to a single carbon atom are different. Such carbons (and the groups attached to them) are said to be chiral, and can exist in two different three-dimensional forms known as enantiomers.
For an individual carbon atom in a polymer chain, two of its attached groups will ordinarily be the chain segments on either side of the carbon. If the two remaining groups are different (say one hydrogen and the other methyl), then the above conditions are satisfied and this part of the chain can give rise to two enantiomeric forms.
A chain that can be represented as (in which the orange and green circles represent different groups) will have multiple chiral centers, giving rise to a huge number of possible enantiomers. In practice, it is usually sufficient to classify chiral polymers into the following three classes of stereoregularity , usually referred to as tacticity .
The tacticity of a polymer chain can have a major influence on its properties. Atactic polymers, for example, being more disordered, cannot crystallize.
One of the major breakthroughs in polymer chemistry occurred in the early 1950s when the German chemist Karl Ziegler discovered a group of catalysts that could efficiently polymerize ethylene. At about the same time, Giulio Natta (Italian) made the first isotactic (and crystalline) polyethylene. The Ziegler-Natta catalysts revolutionized polymer chemistry by making it possible to control the stereoregularity of these giant molecules. The two shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
3 How polymers are made
Polymers are made by joining small molecules into large ones. But most of these monomeric molecules are perfectly stable as they are, so chemists have devised two general methods to make them react with each other, building up the backbone chain as the reaction proceeds.
Condensation-elimination polymerization
This method (also known as step-growth ) requires that the monomers possess two or more kinds of functional groups that are able to react with each other in such a way that parts of these groups combine to form a small molecule (often H 2 O) which is eliminated from the two pieces. The now-empty bonding positions on the two monomers can then join together .
This occurs, for example, in the synthesis of the Nylon family of polymers in which the eliminated H 2 O molecule comes from the hydroxyl group of the acid and one of the amino hydrogens:
Note that the monomeric units that make up the polymer are not identical with the starting components.
Addition polymerization
Addition or chain-growth polymerization involves the rearrangement of bonds within the monomer in such a way that the monomers link up directly with each other:
In order to make this happen, a chemically active molecule (called an initiator ) is needed to start what is known as a chain reaction . The manufacture of polyethylene is a very common example of such a process. It employs a free-radical initiator that donates its unpaired electron to the monomer, making the latter highly reactive and able to form a bond with another monomer at this site.
In theory, only a single chain-initiation process needs to take place, and the chain-propagation step then repeats itself indefinitely, but in practice multiple initiation steps are required, and eventually two radicals react ( chain termination ) to bring the polymerization to a halt.
As with all polymerizations, chains having a range of molecular weights are produced, and this range can be altered by controlling the pressure and temperature of the process.
4 Gallery of common synthetic polymers
Thermoplastics
Note: the left panels below show the polymer name and synonyms, structural formula, glass transition temperature, melting point/decomposition temperature, and (where applicable) the resin identification symbol used to facilitate recycling.
|
Polycarbonate (Lexan®)
T g = 145°C, T m = 225°C. |
This polymer was discovered independently in Germany and the U.S. in 1953. Lexan is exceptionally hard and strong; we see it most commonly in the form of compact disks . It was once widely used in water bottles, but concerns about leaching of unreacted monomer (bisphenol-A) has largely suppressed this market. |
|
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, Mylar )
T g = 76°C, T m = 250°C.
|
Thin and very strong films of this material are made by drawing out the molten polymer in both directions, thus orienting the molecules into a highly crystalline state that becomes "locked-in" on cooling. Its many applications include food packaging (in foil-laminated drink containers and microwaveable frozen-food containers), overhead-projector film, weather balloons, and as aluminum-coated reflective material in spacecraft and other applications. |
|
Nylon (a polyamide )
T g = 50°C, T m = 255°C. |
Nylon has a fascinating history, both scientific and cultural. It was invented by DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers (1896-1937). The common form Nylon 6.6 has six carbon atoms in both parts of its chain; there are several other kinds. Notice that the two copolymer sub-units are held together by peptide bonds, the same kinds that join amino acids into proteins. Nylon 6.6 has good abrasion resistance and is self-lubricating, which makes it a good engineering material. It is also widely used as a fiber in carpeting, clothing, and tire cord. For an interesting account of the development of Nylon, see Enough for One Liftetime: Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon by Ann Gaines (1971) |
|
Polyacrylonitrile (Orlon, Acrilan, "acrylic" fiber)
T g = 85°C, T m = 318°C. |
Used in the form of fibers in rugs, blankets, and clothing, especially cashmere-like sweaters. The fabric is very soft, but tends to "pill" — i.e., produce fuzz-like blobs. Owing to its low glass transition temperature, it requires careful treatment in cleaning and ironing. |
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Polyethylene
T g = –78°C, T m = 100°C.
|
Control of polymerization by means of catalysts and additives has led to a large variety of materials based on polyethylene that exhibit differences in densities, degrees of chain branching and crystallinity, and cross-linking. Some major types are low-density (LDPE), linear low density (LLDPE), high-density (HDPE). LDPE was the first commercial form (1933) and is used mostly for ordinary "plastic bags", but also for food containers and in six-pack soda can rings. Its low density is due to long-chain branching that inhibits close packing. LLDPE has less branching; its greater toughness allows its use in those annoyingly-thin plastic bags often found in food markets. A "very low density" form (VLDPE) with extensive short-chain branching is now used for plastic stretch wrap (replacing the original component of Saran Wrap) and in flexible tubing. HDPE has mostly straight chains and is therefore stronger. It is widely used in milk jugs and similar containers, garbage containers, and as an "engineering plastic" for machine parts. |
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Polymethylmethacrylate (Plexiglass, Lucite, Perspex)
T g = 114°C, T m = 130-140°C. |
This clear, colorless polymer is widely used in place of glass, where its greater impact resistance, lighter weight, and machineability are advantages. It is normally copolymerized with other substances to improve its properties. Aircraft windows, plastic signs, and lighting panels are very common applications. Its compatibility with human tissues has led to various medical applications, such as replacement lenses for cataract patients. |
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Polypropylene
T g = –10°C, T m = 173°C.
|
Polypropylene is used alone or as a copolymer, usually with with ethylene. These polymers have an exceptionally wide range of uses — rope, binder covers, plastic bottles, staple yarns, non-woven fabrics, electric kettles. When uncolored, it is translucent but not transparent. Its resistance to fatigue makes it useful for food containers and their lids, and flip-top lids on bottled products such as ketchup. |
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polystyrene
T g = 95°C, T m = 240°C. PS |
Polystyrene is transparent but rather brittle, and yellows under uv light. Widely used for inexpensive packaging materials and "take-out trays", foam "packaging peanuts", CD cases, foam-walled drink cups, and other thin-walled and moldable parts. |
|
polyvinyl acetate
T g = 30°C |
PVA is too soft and low-melting to be used by itself; it is commonly employed as a water-based emulsion in paints, wood glue and other adhesives. |
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polyvinyl chloride ("vinyl", "PVC")
T g = 85°C, T m = 240°C. PVC |
This is one of the world's most widely used polymers. By itself it is quite rigid and used in construction materials such as pipes, house siding, flooring. Addition of plasticizers make it soft and flexible for use in upholstery, electrical insulation, shower curtains and waterproof fabrics. There is some effort being made to phase out this polymer owing to environmental concerns (see below). |
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Synthetic rubbers
Neoprene
(polychloroprene)
Polybutadiene T g < –90°C
|
Neoprene, invented in 1930, was the first mass-produced synthetic rubber. It is used for such things as roofing membranes and wet suits. Polybutadiene substitutes a hydrogen for the chlorine; it is the major component (usually admixed with other rubbers) of tires. Synthetic rubbers played a crucial role in World War II SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene) rubber is a block copolymer whose special durability makes it valued for tire treads. |
|
Polytetrafluroethylene ( Teflon , PTFE)
Decomposes above 350°C. |
This highly-crystalline fluorocarbon is exceptionally inert to chemicals and solvents. Water and oils do not wet it, which accounts for its use in cooking ware and other anti-stick applications, including personal care products. These properties — non-adhesion to other materials, non-wetability, and very low coefficient of friction ("slipperyness") — have their origin in the highly electronegative nature of fluorine whose atoms partly shield the carbon chain. Fluorine's outer electrons are so strongly attracted to its nucleus that they are less available to participate in London (dispersion force) interactions. |
|
Polyaramid (Kevlar )
Sublimation temperature 450°C. |
Kevlar is known for its ability to be spun into fibers that have five times the tensile strength of steel. It was first used in the 1970s to replace steel tire cords. Bullet-proof vests are one of it more colorful uses, but other applications include boat hulls, drum heads, sports equipment, and as a replacement for asbestos in brake pads. It is often combined with carbon or glass fibers in composite materials. The high tensile strength is due in part to the extensive hydrogen bonding between adjacent chains. Kevlar also has the distinction of having been invented by a woman chemist, Stephanie Kwolek. |
Thermosets
The thermoplastic materials described above are chains based on relatively simple monomeric units having varying degrees of polymerization, branching, bending, cross-linking and crystallinity, but with each molecular chain being a discrete unit. In thermosets, the concept of an individual molecular unit is largely lost; the material becomes more like a gigantic extended molecule of its own — hence the lack of anything like a glass transition temperature or a melting point.
These properties have their origins in the nature of the monomers used to produce them. The most important feature is the presence of multiple reactive sites that are able to form what amount to cross-links at every center. The phenolic resins, typified by the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde, illustrate the multiplicity of linkages that can be built.
Phenolic resins
- These are made by condensing one or more types of phenols (hydroxy-substituted benzene rings) with formaldehyde, as illustrated above. This was the first commercialized synthetic molding plastic. It was developed in 1907-1909 by the Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, hence the common name bakelite. The brown material (usually bulked up with wood powder) was valued for its electrical insulating properties (light fixtures, outlets and other wiring devices) as well as for consumer items prior to the mid-century. Since that time, more recently developed polymers have largely displaced these uses. Phenolics are still extensively used as adhesives in plywood manufacture, and for making paints and varnishes.
- Urea resins
- Condensation of formaldehyde with urea yields lighter-colored and less expensive materials than phenolics. The major use if urea-formaldehyde resins is in bonding wood particles into particle board. Other uses are as baked-on enamel coatings for kitchen appliances and to coat cotton and rayon fibers to impart wrinkle- water-, and stain-resistance to the finished fabrics.
- Melamine resins
- Melamine, with even more amino (–NH 2 ) groups than urea, reacts with formaldehyde to form colorless solids that are harder then urea resins. The are most widely encountered in dinner-ware (plastic plates, cups and serving bowls) and in plastic laminates such as Formica.
- Alkyd-polyester resins
- An ester is the product of the reaction of an organic acid with an alcohol, so polyesters result when multifunctional acids such as phthalic acid react with polyhydric alcohols such as glycerol. The term alkyd derives from the two words alc ohol and ac id.
- Alkyd resins were first made by Berzelius in 1847, and they were first commercialized as Glyptal ( gly cerine + p hth al ic acid) varnishes for the paint industry in 1902.
- The later development of other polyesters greatly expanded their uses into a wide variety of fibers and molded products, ranging from clothing fabrics and pillow fillings to glass-reinforced plastics.
- Epoxy resins
- This large and industrially-important group of resins typically starts by condensing bisphenol-A with epichlorohydrin in the presence of a catalyst. (The - epi prefix refers to the epoxide group in which an oxygen atom that bridges two carbons.) These resins are usually combined with others to produce the desired properties. Epoxies are especially valued as glues and adhesives, as their setting does not depend on evaporation and the setting time can be varied over a wide range. In the two-part resins commonly sold for home use, the unpolymerized mixture and the hardener catalyst are packaged separately for mixing just prior to use. In some formulations the polymerization is initiated by heat ("heat curing"). Epoxy dental fillings are cured by irradiation with uv light.
- Polyurethanes
- Organic isocyanates R–NCO react with multifunctional alcohols to form polymeric carbamates , commonly referred to as polyurethanes . Their major use is in plastic foams for thermal insulation and upholstery, but a very large number of other applications, including paints and varnishes and plastic wheels used in fork-lift trucks, shopping carts and skateboards.
- Silicones
- Polysiloxanes (–Si–O–Si-) are the most important of the small class inorganic polymers . The commercial silicone polymers usually contained attached organic side groups that aid to cross-linking. Silicones can be made in a wide variety of forms; those having lower molecular weights are liquids, while the more highly polymerized materials are rubbery solids. These polymers have a similarly wide variety of applications: lubricants, caulking materials and sealants, medical implants, non-stick cookware coatings, hair-conditioners and other personal-care products.
Natural Polymers
Polymers derived from plants have been essential components of human existence for thousands of years. In this survey we will look at only those that have major industrial uses, so we will not be discussing the very important biopolymers proteins and nucleic acids .
Polysaccharides
Polysaccharides are polymers of sugars ; they play essential roles in energy storage, signaling, and as structural components in all living organisms. The only ones we will be concerned with here are those composed of glucose , the most important of the six-carbon hexoses . Glucose serves as the primary fuel of most organisms.
Glucose, however, is highly soluble and cannot be easily stored, so organisms make polymeric forms of glucose to set aside as reserve storage , from which glucose molecules can be withdrawn as needed.
Glycogen
In humans and higher animals, the reserve storage polymer is glycogen . It consists of roughly 60,000 glucose units in a highly branched configuration. Glycogen is made mostly in the liver under the influence of the hormone insulin which triggers a process in which digested glucose is polymerized and stored mostly in that organ. A few hours after a meal, the glucose content of the blood begins to fall, and glycogen begins to be broken down in order to maintain the body's required glucose level.
Starch
In plants, these glucose-polymer reserves are known as starch . Starch granules are stored in seeds or tubers to provide glucose for the energy needs of newly-germinated plants, and in the twigs of deciduous plants to tide them over during the winter when photosynthesis (the process in which glucose is synthesized from CO 2 and H 2 O) does not take place. The starches in food grains such as rice and wheat, and in tubers such as potatoes, are a major nutritional source for humans.
Plant starches are mixtures of two principal forms, amylose and amylopectin . Amylose is a largely-unbranched polymer of 500 to 20,000 glucose molecules that curls up into a helical form that is stabilized by internal hydrogen bonding. Amylopectin is a much larger polymer having up to two million glucose residues arranged into branches of 20 to 30 units.
Cellulose and its derivatives
Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on the earth. Extensive hydrogen bonding between the chains causes native cellulose to be about 70% crystalline. It also raises the melting point (>280°C) to above its combustion temperature. The structures of starch and cellulose appear to be very similar; in the latter, every other glucose molecule is "upside-down". But the consequences of this are far-reaching; starch can dissolve in water and can be digested by higher animals including humans, whereas cellulose is insoluble and undigestible. Cellulose serves as the principal structural component of green plants and (along with lignin) in wood.
Cotton is one of the purest forms of cellulose and has been cultivated since ancient times. Its ability to absorb water (which increases its strength) makes cotton fabrics especially useful for clothing in very warm climates.
Cotton also serves (along with treated wood pulp) as the source the industrial production of cellulose-derived materials which were the first "plastic" materials of commercial importance.
- Nitrocellulose was developed in the latter part of the 19 th Century. It is prepared by treating cotton with nitric acid, which reacts with the hydroxyl groups in the cellulose chain. It was first used to make molded objects the first material used for a photographic film base by Eastman Kodak. Its extreme flammability posed considerable danger in movie theaters, and its spontaneous slow decomposition over time had seriously degraded many early films before they were transferred to more stable media. Nitrocellulose was also used as an explosive and propellant, for which applications it is known as guncotton .
- Cellulose acetate was developed in the early 1900s and became the first artificial fiber that was woven into fabrics that became prized for their lustrous appearance and wearing comfort. Kodak developed it as a "safety film" base in the 1930's to replace nitrocellulose, but it did not come into wide use for this purpose until 1948. A few years later, is became the base material for magnetic recording tape.
- Viscose is the general term for "regenerated" forms of cellulose made from solutions of the polymer in certain strong solvents. When extruded into a thin film it becomes cellophane which has been used as a food wrapping since 1912 and is the base for transparent adhesive tapes such as Scotch Tape. Viscose solutions extruded through a spinneret produce fibers known as rayon. Rayon (right) was the first "artificial silk" and has been used for tire cord, apparel, and carpets. It was popular for womens' stockings before Nylon became available for this purpose.
Rubber
A variety of plants produce a sap consisting of a colloidal dispersion of cis -polyisoprene. This milky fluid is especially abundant in the rubber tree ( Hevea ), from which it drips when the bark is wounded. After collection, the latex is coagulated to obtain the solid rubber. Natural rubber is thermoplastic, with a glass transition temperature of –70°C.
cis
-polyisoprene
Raw natural rubber tends to be sticky when warm and brittle when cold, so it was little more than a novelty material when first introduced to Europe around 1770. It did not become generally useful until the mid-nineteenth century when Charles Goodyear found that heating it with sulfur — a process he called vulcanization — could greatly improve its properties.
Vulcanization creates disulfide cross-links that prevent the polyisoprene chains from sliding over each other. The degree of cross-linking can be controlled to produce a rubber having the desired elasticity and hardness. More recently, other kinds of chemical treatment (such as epoxidation) have been developed to produce rubbers for special purposes.
Better things for better living... through chemistry " is a famous commercial slogan that captured the attitude of the public around 1940 when synthetic polymers were beginning to make a major impact in people's lives. What was not realized at the time, however, were some of the problems these materials would create as their uses multiplied and the world became more wary of "chemicals". (DuPont dropped the "through chemistry" part in 1982.)
Small-molecule release
Many kinds of polymers contain small molecules — either unreacted monomers, or substances specifically added (plasticizers, uv absorbers, flame retardants, etc.) to modify their properties. Many of these smaller molecules are able to diffuse through the material and be released into any liquid or air in contact with the plastic — and eventually into the aquatic environment. Those that are used for building materials (in mobile homes, for example) can build up in closed environments and contribute to indoor air pollution.
Residual monomer
Formation of long polymer chains is a complicated and somewhat random process that is never perfectly stoichiometric. It is therefore not uncommon for some unreacted monomer to remain in the finished product. Some of these monomers, such as formaldehyde, styrene (from polystyrene, including polystyrene foam food take-out containers), vinyl chloride, and bisphenol-A (from polycarbonates) are known carcinogens. Although there is little evidence that the small quantities that diffuse into the air or leach out into fluids pose a quantifiable health risk, people are understandably reluctant to tolerate these exposures, and public policy is gradually beginning to regulate them.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the monomer from which Teflon is made, has been the subject of a 2004 lawsuit against a DuPont factory that contaminated groundwater. Small amounts of PFOA have been detected in gaseous emissions from hot fluorocarbon products.
Plasticizers
These substances are compounded into certain types of plastics to render them more flexible by lowering the glass transition temperature. They accomplish this by taking up space between the polymer chains and acting as lubricants to enable the chains to more readily slip over each other. Many (but not all) are small enough to be diffusible and a potential source of health problems.
Polyvinyl chloride polymers are one of the most widely-plasticized types, and the odors often associated with flexible vinyl materials such as garden hoses, waterbeds, cheap shower curtains, raincoats and upholstery are testament to their ability to migrate into the environment.
The well-known "new car smell" is largely due to plasticizer release from upholstery and internal trim.
There is now an active movement to develop non-diffusible and "green" plasticizers that do not present these dangers.
Endocrine disrupters
To complicate matters even further, many of these small molecules have been found to be physiologically active owing to their ability to mimic the action of hormones or other signaling molecules, probably by fitting into and binding with the specialized receptor sites present in many tissues. The evidence that many of these chemicals are able to act in this way at the cellular level is fairly clear, but there is still some dispute whether many of these pose actual health risks to adult humans at the relatively low concentrations in which they commonly occur in the environment.
There is, however, some concern about the effects of these substances on non-adults and especially on fetuses, given that endocrines are intimately connected with sexual differentiation and neurological development which continues up through the late teens.
Decomposition products
Most commonly-used polymers are not readily biodegradable, particularly under the anaerobic conditions of most landfills. And what decomposition does occur will combine with rainwater to form leachates that can contaminate nearby streams and groundwater supplies. Partial photodecomposition, initiated by exposure to sunlight, is a more likely long-term fate for exposed plastics, resulting in tiny broken-up fragments. Many of these materials are less dense than seawater, and once they enter the oceans through coastal sewage outfalls or from marine vessel wastes, they tend to remain there indefinitely.
Open burning of polymeric materials containing chlorine (polyvinyl chloride, for example) is known to release compounds such as dioxins that persist in the environment. Incineration under the right conditions can effectively eliminate this hazard.
Disposed products containing fluorocarbons (Teflon-coated ware, some personal-care, waterproofing and anti-stick materials) break down into perfluorooctane sulfonate which has been shown to damage aquatic animals.
Hazards to animals
There are two general types of hazards that polymers can introduce into the aquatic environment. One of these relates to the release of small molecules that act as hormone disrupters as described above. It is well established that small aquatic animals such as fish are being seriously affected by such substances in many rivers and estuarine systems, but details of the sources and identities of these molecules have not been identified. One confounding factor is the release of sewage water containing human birth-control drugs (which have a feminizing effect on sexual development) into many waterways.
The other hazard relates to pieces of plastic waste that aquatic animals mistake for food or become entangled in.
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This plastic bag (probably mistaken for a jellyfish, the sea turtle's only food) cannot be regurgitated and leads to intestinal blockage and a slow death. |
Remains of an albatross that mistook bits of plastic junk for food |
These dangers occur throughout the ocean, but are greatly accentuated in regions known as gyres. These are regions of the ocean in which a combination of ocean currents drives permanent vortices that tend to collect and concentrate floating materials. The most notorious of these are the Great Pacific Gyres that have accumulated astounding quantities of plastic waste.
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Recycling
The huge quantity (one estimate is 10 8 metric tons per year) of plastic materials produced for consumer and industrial use has created a gigantic problem of what to do with plastic waste which is difficult to incinerate safely and which, being largely non-biodegradable, threatens to overwhelm the capacity of landfills. An additional consideration is that de novo production most of the major polymers consumes non-renewable hydrocarbon resources.
Plastic water bottles (left) present a special recycling problem because of their widespread use in away-from-home locations.
Plastics recycling has become a major industry, greatly aided by enlightened trash management policies in the major developed nations. However, it is plagued with some special problems of its own:
- Recycling is only profitable when there is a market for the regenerated material. Such markets vary with the economic cycle (they practically disappeared during the recession that commenced in 2008.)
- The energy-related costs of collecting and transporting plastic waste, and especially of processing it for re-use, are frequently the deciding factor in assessing the practicability of recycling.
- Collection of plastic wastes from diverse sources and locations and their transport to processing centers consumes energy and presents numerous operational problems.
- Most recycling processes are optimized for particular classes of polymers. The diversity of plastic types necessitates their separation into different waste streams — usually requiring manual (i.e., low-cost) labor. This in turn encourages shipment of these wastes to low-wage countries, thus reducing the availability of recycled materials in the countries in which the plastics originated.
Some of the major recycling processes include
- Thermal decomposition processes that can accommodate mixed kinds of plastics and render them into fuel oil, but the large inputs of energy they require have been a problem.
- A very small number of condensation polymers can be depolymerized so that the monomers can be recovered and re-used.
- Thermopolymers can be melted and pelletized, but those of widely differing types must be treated separately to avoid incompatability problems.
- Thermosets are usually shredded and used as filler material in recycled thermopolymers.
In order to facilitate efficient recycling, a set of seven resin idenfication codes has been established (the seventh, not shown below, is "other").
These codes are stamped on the bottoms of many containers of widely-distributed products. Not all categories are accepted by all local recycling authorities, so residents need to be informed about which kinds should be placed in recycling containers and which should be combined with ordinary trash.
Tire recycling
The large number of rubber tires that are disposed of, together with the increasing reluctance of landfills to accept them, has stimulated considerable innovation in the re-use of this material, especially in the construction industry.


8.1.2: Determinism
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“Physical Determinism” 33
Physical determinism generally refers to the assertion of a deterministic physical universe (greater physical system). This holds that a complete description of the physical state of the world at any given time and a complete statement of the physical laws of nature together entail every truth as to what physical events happen after that time. In a scientific context, the term 'event' is somewhat technical, depending upon which theory one is considering, and basically is the occurrence of some 'state' peculiar to that theory, for example, a quantum state or a thermodynamic state. Physical determinism includes (but is not restricted to) nomological determinism, which holds that all future events are governed by the past or present according to all-encompassing deterministic laws.
The concept of physical determinism has also been used to denote the predictability of a physical system, although this usage is uncommon. Physical determinism can also be viewed as an observed phenomenon of our experience, or a thesis only relevant to mathematical models of physics and other physical sciences. Physical determinism has also been used as a specific deterministic hypothesis about human behavior. Although somewhat unrelated to its standard context, physical determinism has also been used in social engineering theory.
History
The notion of physical determinism takes its classical form in the ideas of Laplace, who posited (in agreement with the physics of his time) that an omniscient observer (called sometimes Laplace's demon) knowing with infinite precision the positions and velocities of every particle in the universe could predict the future entirely. Although such an omniscient observer is a hypothetical construct, and infinite precision exceeds the capacities of human measurement, the illustration is presented as a statement of what in principle would be possible if physical determinism were true, and so reduction to practice is not an issue.
Physical determinism is currently under heavy debate in modern science. For example, physical indeterminism has been proposed to accommodate various interpretations of quantum mechanics. Suggestions have also been made to reformulate the conception of determinism with respect to its application to physical law.
Causal completeness
Physical determinism is related to the question of causal completeness of physics, which is synonymous with the weaker form of causal closure. This is the idea that every real event has a scientific explanation, that science need not search for explanations beyond itself. If causal completeness does not apply to everything in the universe, then the door is open to events that are not subject to physical law. For example, a relatively common view of mental events is that they are an epiphenomenon produced as a by-product of neurological activity, and without causal impact. In this case, only a failure of deterministic physical law would allow room for their causal significance.
Other formulations
A more modern formulation of physical determinism skirts the issue of causal completeness. It is based upon connections between 'events' supplied by a theory:
"a theory is deterministic if, and only if, given its state variables for some initial period, the theory logically determines a unique set of values for those variables for any other period."
— Ernest Nagel, Alternative descriptions of physical state p. 292
This quote replaces the idea of 'cause-and-effect' with that of 'logical implication' according to one or another theory that connects events. In addition, an 'event' is related by the theory itself to formalized states described using the parameters defined by that theory. Thus, the details of interpretation are placed where they belong, fitted to the context in which the chosen theory applies. Using the definition of physical determinism above, the limitations of a theory to some particular domain of experience also limits the associated definition of 'physical determinism' to that same domain.
“Determinism” 34
Determinism is the philosophical position that for every event there exist conditions that could cause no other event. "There are many determinisms, depending on what pre-conditions are considered to be determinative of an event or action." Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations. Some forms of determinism can be empirically tested with ideas from physics and the philosophy of physics. The opposite of determinism is some kind of indeterminism (otherwise called nondeterminism). Determinism is often contrasted with free will.
Determinism often is taken to mean causal determinism, which in physics is known as cause-and-effect. It is the concept that events within a given paradigm are bound by causality in such a way that any state (of an object or event) is completely determined by prior states. This meaning can be distinguished from other varieties of determinism mentioned below.
Other debates often concern the scope of determined systems, with some maintaining that the entire universe is a single determinate system and others identifying other more limited determinate systems (or multiverse). Numerous historical debates involve many philosophical positions and varieties of determinism. They include debates concerning determinism and free will, technically denoted as compatibilistic (allowing the two to coexist) and incompatibilistic (denying their coexistence is a possibility).
Determinism should not be confused with self-determination of human actions by reasons, motives, and desires. Determinism rarely requires that perfect prediction be practically possible.
Varieties
Below are some of the more common viewpoints meant by, or confused with "determinism".
- Causal determinism is "the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature". However, causal determinism is a broad enough term to consider that "one's deliberations, choices, and actions will often be necessary links in the causal chain that brings something about. In other words, even though our deliberations, choices, and actions are themselves determined like everything else, it is still the case, according to causal determinism, that the occurrence or existence of yet other things depends upon our deliberating, choosing and acting in a certain way". Causal determinism proposes that there is an unbroken chain of prior occurrences stretching back to the origin of the universe. The relation between events may not be specified, nor the origin of that universe. Causal determinists believe that there is nothing in the universe that is uncaused or self-caused. Historical determinism (a sort of path dependence) can also be synonymous with causal determinism. Causal determinism has also been considered more generally as the idea that everything that happens or exists is caused by antecedent conditions. In the case of nomological determinism, these conditions are considered events also, implying that the future is determined completely by preceding events—a combination of prior states of the universe and the laws of nature. Yet they can also be considered metaphysical of origin (such as in the case of theological determinism).
- Nomological determinism is the most common form of causal determinism. It is the notion that the past and the present dictate the future entirely and necessarily by rigid natural laws, that every occurrence results inevitably from prior events. Quantum mechanics and various interpretations thereof pose a serious challenge to this view. Nomological determinism is sometimes illustrated by the thought experiment of Laplace's demon. Nomological determinism is sometimes called 'scientific' determinism, although that is a misnomer. Physical determinism is generally used synonymously with nomological determinism (its opposite being physical indeterminism).
- Necessitarianism is closely related to the causal determinism described above. It is a metaphysical principle that denies all mere possibility; there is exactly one way for the world to be. Leucippus claimed there were no uncaused events, and that everything occurs for a reason and by necessity.
- Predeterminism is the idea that all events are determined in advance. The concept of predeterminism is often argued by invoking causal determinism, implying that there is an unbroken chain of prior occurrences stretching back to the origin of the universe. In the case of predeterminism, this chain of events has been pre-established, and human actions cannot interfere with the outcomes of this pre-established chain. Predeterminism can be used to mean such pre-established causal determinism, in which case it is categorised as a specific type of determinism. It can also be used interchangeably with causal determinism—in the context of its capacity to determine future events. Despite this, predeterminism is often considered as independent of causal determinism. The term predeterminism is also frequently used in the context of biology and hereditary, in which case it represents a form of biological determinism.
- Fatalism is normally distinguished from "determinism" and it is a form of teleological determinism. Fatalism is the idea that everything is fated to happen, so that humans have no control over their future. Fate has arbitrary power, and need not follow any causal or otherwise deterministic laws. Types of Fatalism include hard theological determinism and the idea of predestination, where there is a God who determines all that humans will do. This may be accomplished either by knowing their actions in advance, via some form of omniscience or by decreeing their actions in advance.
- Theological determinism is a form of determinism which states that all events that happen are pre-ordained, or predestined to happen, by a monotheistic deity, or that they are destined to occur given its omniscience. Two forms of theological determinism exist, here referenced as strong and weak theological determinism. The first one, strong theological determinism, is based on the concept of a creator deity dictating all events in history: "everything that happens has been predestined to happen by an omniscient, omnipotent divinity". The second form, weak theological determinism, is based on the concept of divine foreknowledge—"because God's omniscience is perfect, what God knows about the future will inevitably happen, which means, consequently, that the future is already fixed". There exist slight variations on the above categorisation. Some claim that theological determinism requires predestination of all events and outcomes by the divinity (i.e. they do not classify the weaker version as 'theological determinism' unless libertarian free will is assumed to be denied as a consequence), or that the weaker version does not constitute 'theological determinism' at all. With respect to free will, "theological determinism is the thesis that God exists and has infallible knowledge of all true propositions including propositions about our future actions", more minimal criteria designed to encapsulate all forms of theological determinism. Theological determinism can also be seen as a form of causal determinism, in which the antecedent conditions are the nature and will of God.
- Logical determinism or Determinateness is the notion that all propositions, whether about the past, present, or future, are either true or false. Note that one can support Causal Determinism without necessarily supporting Logical Determinism and vice versa (depending on one's views on the nature of time, but also randomness). The problem of free will is especially salient now with Logical Determinism: how can choices be free, given that propositions about the future already have a truth value in the present (i.e. it is already determined as either true or false)? This is referred to as the problem of future contingents.
- Often synonymous with Logical Determinism are the ideas behind Spatio-temporal Determinism or Eternalism : the view of special relativity. J. J. C. Smart, a proponent of this view, uses the term "tenselessness" to describe the simultaneous existence of past, present, and future. In physics, the "block universe" of Hermann Minkowski and Albert Einstein assumes that time is a fourth dimension (like the three spatial dimensions). In other words, all the other parts of time are real, like the city blocks up and down a street, although the order in which they appear depends on the driver (see Rietdijk–Putnam argument).
- Adequate determinism is the idea that quantum indeterminacy can be ignored for most macroscopic events. This is because of quantum decoherence. Random quantum events "average out" in the limit of large numbers of particles (where the laws of quantum mechanics asymptotically approach the laws of classical mechanics). Stephen Hawking explains a similar idea: he says that the microscopic world of quantum mechanics is one of determined probabilities. That is, quantum effects rarely alter the predictions of classical mechanics, which are quite accurate (albeit still not perfectly certain) at larger scales. Something as large as an animal cell, then, would be "adequately determined" (even in light of quantum indeterminacy).
- The Many-worlds interpretation accepts the linear casual sets of sequential events with adequate consistency yet also suggests constant forking of casual chains creating "multiple universes" to account for multiple outcomes from single events. Meaning the casual set of events leading to the present are all valid yet appear as a singular linear time stream within a much broader unseen conic probability field of other outcomes that "split off" from the locally observed timeline. Under this model causal sets are still "consistent" yet not exclusive to singular iterated outcomes. The interpretation side steps the exclusive retrospective casual chain problem of "could not have done otherwise" by suggesting "the other outcome does exist" in a set of parallel universe time streams that split off when the action occurred. This theory is sometimes described with the example of agent based choices but more involved models argue that recursive causal splitting occurs with all particle wave functions at play. This model is highly contested with multiple objections from the scientific community.
Philosophical connections
With nature/nurture controversy
Although some of the above forms of determinism concern human behaviors and cognition, others frame themselves as an answer to the debate on nature and nurture. They will suggest that one factor will entirely determine behavior. As scientific understanding has grown, however, the strongest versions of these theories have been widely rejected as a single-cause fallacy.
In other words, the modern deterministic theories attempt to explain how the interaction of both nature and nurture is entirely predictable. The concept of heritability has been helpful in making this distinction.
Biological determinism, sometimes called genetic determinism, is the idea that each of human behaviors, beliefs, and desires are fixed by human genetic nature.
Behaviorism involves the idea that all behavior can be traced to specific causes—either environmental or reflexive. John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner developed this nurture-focused determinism.
Cultural determinism or social determinism is the nurture-focused theory that the culture in which we are raised determines who we are.
Environmental determinism, also known as climatic or geographical determinism, proposes that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture. Supporters of environmental determinism often also support Behavioral determinism. Key proponents of this notion have included Ellen Churchill Semple, Ellsworth Huntington, Thomas Griffith Taylor and possibly Jared Diamond, although his status as an environmental determinist is debated.
With particular factors
Other 'deterministic' theories actually seek only to highlight the importance of a particular factor in predicting the future. These theories often use the factor as a sort of guide or constraint on the future. They need not suppose that complete knowledge of that one factor would allow us to make perfect predictions.
Psychological determinism can mean that humans must act according to reason, but it can also be synonymous with some sort of Psychological egoism. The latter is the view that humans will always act according to their perceived best interest.
Linguistic determinism claims that our language determines (at least limits) the things we can think and say and thus know. The Sapir–Whorf hypothesis argues that individuals experience the world based on the grammatical structures they habitually use.
Economic determinism is the theory which attributes primacy to the economic structure over politics in the development of human history. It is associated with the dialectical materialism of Karl Marx.
Technological determinism is a reductionist theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural values.
With free will
Philosophers have debated both the truth of determinism, and the truth of free will. Compatibilism refers to the view that free will is, in some sense, compatible with determinism. The three incompatibilist positions, on the other hand, deny this possibility. The hard incompatibilists hold that both determinism and free will do not exist, the libertarianists that determinism does not hold, and free will might exist, and the hard determinists that determinism does hold and free will does not exist.
The standard argument against free will, according to philosopher J. J. C. Smart focuses on the implications of determinism for 'free will'. However, he suggests free will is denied whether determinism is true or not. On one hand, if determinism is true, all our actions are predicted and we are assumed not to be free; on the other hand, if determinism is false, our actions are presumed to be random and as such we do not seem free because we had no part in controlling what happened.
In his book, The Moral Landscape, author and neuroscientist Sam Harris also argues against free will. He offers one thought experiment where a mad scientist represents determinism. In Harris' example, the mad scientist uses a machine to control all the desires, and thus all the behavior, of a particular human. Harris believes that it is no longer as tempting, in this case, to say the victim has "free will". Harris says nothing changes if the machine controls desires at random - the victim still seems to lack free will.
Harris then argues that we are also the victims of such unpredictable desires (but due to the unconscious machinations of our brain, rather than those of a mad scientist). Based on this introspection, he writes "This discloses the real mystery of free will: if our experience is compatible with its utter absence, how can we say that we see any evidence for it in the first place?" adding that "Whether they are predictable or not, we do not cause our causes." That is, he believes there is compelling evidence of absence of free will.
Some research (founded by the John Templeton Foundation) suggested that reducing a person's belief in free will is dangerous, making them less helpful and more aggressive. This could occur because the individual's sense of self-efficacy suffers.
With the soul
Some determinists argue that materialism does not present a complete understanding of the universe, because while it can describe determinate interactions among material things, it ignores the minds or souls of conscious beings.
A number of positions can be delineated:
- Immaterial souls are all that exist (Idealism).
- Immaterial souls exist and exert a non-deterministic causal influence on bodies. (Traditional free-will, interactionist dualism).
- Immaterial souls exist, but are part of deterministic framework.
- Immaterial souls exist, but exert no causal influence, free or determined (epiphenomenalism, occasionalism)
- Immaterial souls do not exist — there is no mind-body dichotomy, and there is a Materialistic explanation for intuitions to the contrary.
With ethics and morality
Another topic of debate is the implication that Determinism has on morality. Hard determinism (a belief in determinism, and not free will) is particularly criticized for seeming to make traditional moral judgments impossible. Some philosophers, however, find this an acceptable conclusion.
Philosopher and incompatibilist Peter van Inwagen introduces this thesis as such:
Argument that Free Will is Required for Moral Judgments
- The moral judgment that you shouldn't have done X implies that you should have done something else instead
- That you should have done something else instead implies that there was something else for you to do
- That there was something else for you to do implies that you could have done something else
- That you could have done something else implies that you have free will
- If you don't have free will to have done other than X we cannot make the moral judgment that you shouldn't have done X.
However, a compatibilist might have an issue with Inwagen's process because one can not change the past like his arguments center around. A compatibilist who centers around plans for the future might posit:
- The moral judgment that you should not have done X implies that you can do something else instead
- That you can do something else instead implies that there is something else for you to do
- That there is something else for you to do implies that you can do something else
- That you can do something else implies that you have free will for planning future recourse
- If you have free will to do other than X we can make the moral judgment that you should do other than X, and punishing you as a responsible party for having done X that you know you should not have done can help you remember to not do X in the future.


5.2.4: Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcies
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Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Understand the basic concepts of Chapter 11 bankruptcies.
- Understand the basic concepts of Chapter 13 bankruptcies.
Reorganization: Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Overview
Chapter 11 provides a means by which corporations, partnerships, and other businesses, including sole proprietorships, can rehabilitate themselves and continue to operate free from the burden of debts that they cannot pay.
It is simple enough to apply for the protection of the court in Chapter 11 proceeding, and for many years, large financially ailing companies have sought shelter in Chapter 11. Well-known examples include General Motors, Texaco, K-Mart, Delta Airlines, and Northwest Airlines. An increasing number of corporations have turned to Chapter 11 even though, by conventional terms, they were solvent. Doing so enables them to negotiate with creditors to reduce debt. It also may even permit courts to snuff out lawsuits that have not yet been filed. Chapters 3 and 5, discussed in Section 13.2, apply to Chapter 11 proceedings also. Our discussion, therefore, is limited to special features of Chapter 11.
How It Works
Eligibility
Any person eligible for discharge in Chapter 7 proceeding (plus railroads) is eligible for a Chapter 11 proceeding, except stockbrokers and commodity brokers. Individuals filing Chapter 11 must take credit counseling; businesses do not. A company may voluntarily enter Chapter 11 or may be put there involuntarily by creditors. Individuals can file Chapter 11 particularly if they have too much debt to qualify for Chapter 13 and make too much money to qualify for Chapter 7; under the 2005 act, individuals must commit future wages to creditors, just as in Chapter 13. 11 United States Code, Sections 1115, 1123(a)(8), and 1129(a)(15).
Operation of Business
Unless a trustee is appointed, the debtor will retain possession of the business and may continue to operate with its own management. The court may appoint a trustee on request of any party in interest after notice and a hearing. The appointment may be made for cause—such as dishonesty, incompetence, or gross mismanagement—or if it is otherwise in the best interests of the creditors. Frequently, the same incompetent management that got the business into bankruptcy is left running it—that’s a criticism of Chapter 11.
Creditors’ Committee
The court must appoint a committee of unsecured creditors as soon as practicable after issuing the order for relief. The committee must consist of creditors willing to serve who have the seven largest claims, unless the court decides to continue a committee formed before the filing, if the committee was fairly chosen and adequately represents the various claims. The committee has several duties, including these: (1) to investigate the debtor’s financial affairs, (2) to determine whether to seek appointment of a trustee or to let the business continue to operate, and (3) to consult with the debtor or trustee throughout the case.
The Reorganization Plan
The debtor may always file its own plan, whether in a voluntary or involuntary case. If the court leaves the debtor in possession without appointing a trustee, the debtor has the exclusive right to file a reorganization plan during the first 120 days. If it does file, it will then have another 60 days to obtain the creditors’ acceptances. Although its exclusivity expires at the end of 180 days, the court may lengthen or shorten the period for good cause. At the end of the exclusive period, the creditors’ committee, a single creditor, or a holder of equity in the debtor’s property may file a plan. If the court does appoint a trustee, any party in interest may file a plan at any time.
The Bankruptcy Reform Act specifies certain features of the plan and permits others to be included. Among other things, the plan must (1) designate classes of claims and ownership interests; (2) specify which classes or interests are impaired—a claim or ownership interest is impaired if the creditor’s legal, equitable, contractual rights are altered under the plan; (3) specify the treatment of any class of claims or interests that is impaired under the plan; (4) provide the same treatment of each claim or interests of a particular class, unless the holder of a particular claim or interest agrees to a less favorable treatment; and (5) provide adequate means for carrying out the plan. Basically, what the plan does is provide a process for rehabilitating the company’s faltering business by relieving it from repaying part of its debt and initiating reforms so that the company can try to get back on its feet.
Acceptance of the Plan
The act requires the plan to be accepted by certain proportions of each impaired class of claims and interests. A class of claims accepts the plan if creditors representing at least two-thirds of the dollar amount of claims and more than one-half the number of allowed claims vote in favor. A class of property interests accepts the plan if creditors representing two-thirds of the dollar amount of the allowed ownership interests vote in favor. Unimpaired classes of claims and interest are deemed to have accepted the plan; it is unnecessary to solicit their acceptance.
Confirmation of the Plan
The final act necessary under Chapter 11 is confirmation by the court. Once the court confirms the plan, the plan is binding on all creditors. The rules governing confirmation are complex, but in essence, they include the following requirements:
- The plan must have been proposed in good faith. Companies must also make a good-faith attempt to negotiate modifications in their collective bargaining agreements (labor union contracts).
- All provisions of the act must have been complied with.
- The court must have determined that the reorganized business will be likely to succeed and be unlikely to require further financial reorganization in the foreseeable future.
- Impaired classes of claims and interests must have accepted the plan, unless the plan treats them in a “fair and equitable” manner, in which case consent is not required. This is sometimes referred to as the cram-down provision.
- All members of every class must have received no less value than they would have in Chapter 7 liquidation.
Discharge, Conversion
The debtor gets discharged when all payments under the plan are completed. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy may be converted to Chapter 7, with some restrictions, if it turns out the debtor cannot make the plan work.
Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income: Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
In General
Anyone with a steady income who is having difficulty paying off accumulated debts may seek the protection of a bankruptcy court in Chapter 13 proceeding (often called the wage earner’s plan). Under this chapter, the individual debtor presents a payment plan to creditors, and the court appoints a trustee. If the creditors wind up with more under the plan presented than they would receive in Chapter 7 proceeding, then the court is likely to approve it. In general, a Chapter 13 repayment plan extends the time to pay the debt and may reduce it so that the debtor need not pay it all. Typically, the debtor will pay a fixed sum monthly to the trustee, who will distribute it to the creditors. The previously discussed provisions of Chapters 3 and 5 apply also to this chapter; therefore, the discussion that follows focuses on some unique features of Chapter 13.
People seek Chapter 13 discharges instead of Chapter 7 for various reasons: they make too much money to pass the Chapter 7 means test; they are behind on their mortgage or car payments and want to make them up over time and reinstate the original agreement; they have debts that can’t be discharged in Chapter 7; they have nonexempt property they want to keep; they have codebtors on a personal debt who would be liable if the debtor went Chapter 7; they have a real desire to pay their debts but cannot do so without getting the creditors to give them some breathing room. Chapter 7 cases may always be converted to Chapter 13.
How It Works
Eligibility
Chapter 13 is voluntary only. Anyone—sole proprietorships included—who has a regular income, unsecured debts of less than $336,000, and secured debts of less than $1,010,650 is eligible to seek its protection. The debts must be unpaid and owing at the time the debtor applies for relief. If the person has more debt than that, she will have to file Chapter 11. The debtor must attend a credit-counseling class, as in Chapter 7.
The Plan
Plans are typically extensions or compositions—that is, they extend the time to pay what is owing, or they are agreements among creditors each to accept something less than the full amount owed (so that all get something). Under Chapter 13, the stretch-out period is three to five three years. The plan must provide for payments of all future income or a sufficient portion of it to the trustee. Priority creditors are entitled to be paid in full, although they may be paid later than required under the original indebtedness. As long as the plan is being carried out, the debtor may enjoin any creditors from suing to collect the original debt.
Confirmation
Under Section 1325 of the bankruptcy code, the court must approve the plan if it meets certain requirements. These include (1) distribution of property to unsecured creditors whose claims are allowed in an amount no less than that which they would have received had the estate been liquidated under Chapter 7; (2) acceptance by secured creditors, with some exceptions, such as when the debtor surrenders the secured property to the creditor; and (3) proposal of the plan “in good faith.” If the trustee or an unsecured creditor objects to confirmation, the plan must meet additional tests. For example, a plan will be approved if all of the debtor’s disposable income (as defined in Section 1325) over the commitment period (three to five years) will be used to make payments under the plan.
Discharge
Once a debtor has made all payments called for in the plan, the court will discharge him from all remaining debts except certain long-term debts and obligations to pay alimony, maintenance, and support. Under former law, Chapter 13 was so broad that it permitted the court to discharge the debtor from many debts considered nondischargeable under Chapter 7, but 1994 amendments and the 2005 act made Chapter 13 less expansive. Debts dischargeable in Chapter 13, but not in Chapter 7, include debts for willful and malicious injury to property, debts incurred to pay nondischargeable tax obligations, and debts arising from property settlements in divorce or separation proceedings. (See Section 13.6, In re Ryan , for a discussion of what debts are dischargeable under Chapter 13 as compared with Chapter 7.)
Although a Chapter 13 debtor generally receives a discharge only after completing all payments required by the court-approved (i.e., “confirmed”) repayment plan, there are some limited circumstances under which the debtor may request the court to grant a “hardship discharge” even though the debtor has failed to complete plan payments.  A Chapter 13 discharge stays on the credit record for up to ten years.
A discharge may be denied if the debtor previously went through a bankruptcy too soon before filing Chapter 13, failed to act in good faith, or—with some exceptions—failed to complete a personal financial management course.
Key Takeaway
Chapter 11—frequently referred to as “corporate reorganization”—is most often used by businesses whose value as a going concern is greater than it would be if liquidated, but, with some exceptions, anyone eligible to file Chapter 7 can file Chapter 11. The business owners, or in some cases the trustee or creditors, develop a plan to pay the firm’s debts over a three- to five-year period; the plan must be approved by creditors and the court. Chapter 13—frequently called the wage-earner’s plan—is a similar mechanism by which a person can discharge some debt and have longer to pay debts off than originally scheduled. Under Chapter 13, people can get certain relief from creditors that they cannot get in Chapter 7.
Exercises
- David Debtor is a freelance artist with significant debt that he feels a moral obligation to pay. Why is Chapter 11 his best choice of bankruptcy chapters to file under?
- What is the practical difference between debts arising from property settlements in divorce or separation proceedings—which can be discharged under Chapter 13—and debts owing for alimony (maintenance) and child support—which cannot be discharged under Chapter 13?
- Why would a person want to go through the long grind of Chapter 13 instead of just declaring straight bankruptcy (Chapter 7) and being done with it?