1.3 Social Identity and Change- Case Studies Flashcards
Stephen Frosh, Ann Phoenix et al.
gender identities developed at a young age
The researchers used individual and focus group interviews to gain an insight into how boys aged 11 to 14 (younger than in most
research of this kind) in schools in London, United Kingdom, negotiated their gender identities.
Although there is a popular stereotype of teenage boys being unable or unwilling to talk, especially about emotions, this was not the case in these interviews. It was found that it was important for the boys that they were seen as different from girls and separate from things associated with feminism. There was pressure to be ‘hard’, shown by success in sports, casual attitudes to school work and swearing. Football was important for masculinity; boys were expected to talk about football.
Looking good was important too, but played down because caring about appearance was seen as feminine.
Some boys put up a ‘front’ of masculinity with other boys but were willing to discard this in one to one interviews or when around girls. The boys did not want girls as friends, although they recognised they would be able to talk about emotions more with girls.
Many boys worked continuously on re-establishing their masculinity. Overall this research shows the importance of ideas about masculinity for boys’ identities, and how attitudes are formed at quite an early age.
Savage and Devine et al
the Great British Class Survey
The largest ever survey of the British class system, with responses from more than 160 000 respondents, combined conventional
ways of measuring social class based on income and occupation with data on social and cultural capital. For example, the survey asked about leisure activities, and interests and tastes in music and food, and also who respondents knew, reflecting changes in thinking about social class. The research demonstrated the existence of an elite clearly separate from the middle-class.
Overall, the researchers suggested that there were now seven classes, reflecting the social polarisation of British society and growing fragmentation, especially in the middle layers of society.
The lowest class is described as the precariat, to indicate its precarious position in society. Its members score lowly on all forms of capital, live in old industrial areas and have high levels of insecurity. The emergence of this class has been seen as a worrying development in British society
Franz DeWall
gender differences
study of male chimps vs female chimps. male chimps would play with stick and tear apart doll, the female chimp would treat both the stick and the doll as a baby. the female chimps were more likely to interact with the doll than the stick and vice versa withe the male chimp
