5: age & disabled identities workbook

Question 1

rites of passage

Answer 1

ritual, event or experience that marks a major milestone or change in a persons life

Question 2

age boundaries

Answer 2

social & legal boundaries which mark a particular age

Question 3

life course

Answer 3

the concept refers to a socially defined ‘timetable’ of behaviours deemed as appropriate for particular life stages within any one society.

Question 4

moral panic

Answer 4

an exaggerated media reaction to behaviour that deviates from the norms and values of society.

Question 5

anti-school culture

Answer 5

students who don’t agree with the norms, values and rules of the school. subverted these values, academic success they frowned upon and ‘mucking about’ was rewarded

Question 6

pro-school culture

Answer 6

groups of students who accept and conform to the ethos, rules and values of the school.

Question 7

pivot generation

Answer 7

middleaged people carry the responsibility of caring for their children and parents.

Question 8

dual burden

Answer 8

caring for both parents and children is a double responsibility suffered by the middle aged population.

Question 9

midlife crisis

Answer 9

a physchological pehonmenon often associated with the transition from earlt adulthood to middleage.

Question 10

conspicuous consumption

Answer 10

purchase of goods or services for the specific purpose of displaying ones wealth.

Question 11

disengagement

Answer 11

older adults withdraw from personal relationships and society as they age (leave social roles)

Question 12

active ageing

Answer 12

attitude towards ageing that promotes life styles able to maintain acceptable levels of well-being

Question 13

ageism

Answer 13

prejudice or discrimination against people based on their age

Question 14

disability

Answer 14

those who have a long-term physical, mental or sensory impairments

Question 15

the disability discrimination act 2005

Answer 15

made it unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person

Question 16

the medical modal

Answer 16

modal by which illness or disability is the result of a physical condition, instrinsic to the individual. may reduce on individuals quality of life and cause clear disadvantages

Question 17

victim mentality

Answer 17

where you often feel like a victim, even when the evidence says otherwise

Question 18

the social modal

Answer 18

looks at factors in someones life e.g. lifestyle, enviroment and economic factors that will effect their health and behaviours towards taking risks.

Question 19

stigma

Answer 19

the disaproval of, or discrimination against an individual or group based on perceived characteristics

Question 20

master status

Answer 20

the social position that is the primary identifying characteristic of an individual

Question 21

the generational effect

Answer 21

they were brought up in a much more religious era and their socialisation into values was more intense

Question 22

the ageing effect

Answer 22

people become more spititual the closer they get to death

Question 23

de-diffferentiation

Answer 23

the process by which differences between different stages of the life course becomes less clear

Question 24

deinstitutionalism

Answer 24

the process by which the institutions of society become less closely associated with maintaining different phases of the life course.

Question 25

parsons

child/youth idenity

Answer 25

Parsons believed that in all societies childhood is a period when socialisation into society’s culture takes place.

Children learn the norms & values associated with different social roles, which enables them to contribute to society as adults.

Parsons believed the family has 2 functions:
* The primary socialisation of children
* The stabilisation of the adult personalities of the population of society.

Question 26

Griffin

child/youth identity

Answer 26

The media may portray youth’s as a social problem in 3 ways:
* Deviant: norm (e.g vaping) and law breaking.
* dysfunctional : cant contribute to society, selfish (don’t bring into the economy)
* Suffering a deficit

Question 27

heintz-knowles

child/youth identities

Answer 27

Conducted a content analysis to study the way children are portrayed in entertainment television. Closely examined child characters in entertainment programmes. He found…
* Majority of the characters engage in anti-social behaviours which results in positive outcomes
* Children from majority ethnic groups are under-represented

Question 28

Mcrobbie

child/youth identity

Answer 28

Peers may create and reinforce youth identity through peer pressure, inclusion and role models.

**Culture of femininity and bedroom culture **

Question 29

Willis

child/youth identity

Answer 29

Study of the young working class boys links to the socialisation process within education.

Antischool culture

Question 30

Brannen

middle age idenity

Answer 30

The family may create and reinforce middle age identity through responsibilities and expectations.

Researched informal care responsibilities and suggested that for many people, middle age is a time when they shoulder many caring responsibilities. Children and elderly parents.

Middle aged generation is a pivotal generation

Question 31

Saunders

middle age identity

Answer 31

Media may create and reinforce middle age identity by targeting that group as consumers.

Saunders study on consumption suggests that those who satisfy their needs through ownership of various goods are influenced heavily by advertisement and media.

Question 32

Hodkinson

middle age idenity

Answer 32

Peer group may create or reinforce middle class identity through inclusion. Middle aged people may associate with others who share specific norms and values which are different to that of the majority, therefore they maintain subcultural values.

He says that although looks and style are important parts of subcultures, a primary feature of a subculture means being part of something- this sense of belonging could continue into middle age. Hodkinson studied Goths.

Question 33

Willis

middle age idenity

Answer 33

Workplace pay create and reinforce middle age identity as it is often the dominant force of their identity.

Willis found that for both the boys and their fathers, their jobs were a key source of identity. They defined themself as manual workers and membership to this occupation was the key defining feature of their middle aged identities.

Question 34

Mac an Ghail

middle age identity

Answer 34

Workplace- found that once they’d been made redundant from their steel works job the men in his study felt a loss of identity from their tight knit communities associated with their job. Their loss of role as a breadwinner led them to feeling a loss of status and identity.

Question 35

Parsons

old age idenity

Answer 35

Noted that the elderly have less status in society, once children have grown up and men have retired, the elderly lose their most important social role within the family. They become more isolated from their children.

Parson refers to disengagement theory, the time when children disengage with their previous roles and ‘harvest the fruits of their labours’ and enjoy recreational activities.

Old age identity is socially constructed to be a period of disengagement and detachment so that society can function harmoniously.

Question 36

Carrigan and szmigin

old age idenity

Answer 36

Study of old people in the media and advertising suggested that whilst older consumers have grown in number and affluence in the uk, research evidence suggests that they are less likely to be portrayed in advertisement than young people.

Depictions of old people are negative.

Question 37

Sontag

old age identity

Answer 37

goes against carrigan and szmigin

However, sontag suggests that there is a double standard of ageing, especially in TV, whereby women are required to be youthful throughout their media careers and men are not

Question 38

Landis

old age idenity

Answer 38

Supports findings of age concern and identified a number of stereotypes in representations of older people.
They were depicted as ‘one-dimensional’ and described as…
* Grumpy old man
* Feisty old woman
* Depressed or lonely
* Mentally deficient
* Sickly old person
* Having wisdom
* Busybody
* Having a second childhood.

Question 39

clarke and warren

old age identity

Answer 39

Suggest that old age may be a time to make new friends and engage in new interests.

Inclusion into such activities may define an old age identity.
Active ageing is when this period of life provides new opportunities and can be seen as an active and engaged stage of life.

Age can be identified in stages rather than chronological age.

Question 40

Johnson

old age identity

Answer 40

Suggested that ageism occurs in the workplace in the uk.
Suggests ageism is institutionalised and embedded in practices in society.
Ageism in the workplace is expressed through the stereotypical assumptions about a persons competency to do a job in relation to their age. Older people find it more difficult to get a job as they get older and face stereotypes in the workplace..

Question 41

Voas

old age identity

Answer 41

Religion may recreate and reinforce old age identity through giving people a sense of comfort when facing death.

Voas suggests that older people are much more likely to identify themselves as being religious because…
* The generational effect: they were brought up in a much more religious era and their socialisation into values was more intense.
* The ageing effect: people become more spiritual the closer they get to death.

Question 42

Hockey and James

old age identity

Answer 42

Say that children are seen to lack the status of personhood, and are separated and excluded from the public or the adult word.

They link old age and childhood and argue that they are socially constructed in a similar way , having lost their ‘personhood’. They use the concept ‘infantilisation’ to describe this: the idea that the elderly turn into babies again.

Question 43

Featherstone and Hepworth

changing age identities postmodernism

Answer 43

Argue that the life course has begun to be deconstructed- claim 2 processes have taken place.
* Dedifferentiation
* Deinstitutionalisation

There are constant messages from the media to ‘stay young’ and delay the processes of ageing.

They conclude that the ‘baby boomer generation’ have done much to break down stereotypes of old age and increase range of options and identities available to older people.

Question 44

Blaikie

changing age identities postmodernism

Answer 44

Argues that attitudes to retirement have changed and stereotypes of old age have broken down. Explains that this is partly due to ‘consumer culture’

The retired are now an important consumer group who are targeted with a range of products and services.

Question 45

The Medical Modal

disabled identities

Answer 45

Sees disability as a medical problem, focusing on the limitations of caused by the impairment, and this has long been the prevalent approach taken by society. This approach leads to the defining of a disabled person by their disability or impairment.

Question 46

shakespeare

disabled identities

Answer 46

Argues that disabled people are often socialised into seeing themselves as victims and that people with impairments may accept this ‘victim mentality’ because they can use it as an excuse for their failure.

Question 47

the social model

disabled identities

Answer 47

The social modal of disability focuses on the social and physical barriers to inclusion that may exist, such as the design of buildings and public spaces that deny access to those with mobility problems. This is the view that disability is socially constructed.

Question 48

Ridley

disabled identities

Answer 48

A comedian who suffers from cerebral palsy.
spreading awareness of his disability.

Question 49

Barnes

disabled identities

Answer 49

The media may create and reinforce an identity through portraying disabled people in a stereotyped way.

He argues that in the mass media representations of disability have generally been oppressive and negative.

People with disabilities are rarely presented as people with their own identities

Question 50

Gill

disabled identities

Answer 50

A polio survivor who became disabled later on in life, reconciling your identity as a disabled person with previously held notions about what being disabled means is a common hurdle.

Could lead to a form of ‘learned helplessness’ describing the way that some disabled people may internalise the idea that they are incapable of changing the situation and thus fail to take action to help themselves.

Question 51

Murugami

disabled identities

Answer 51

Argues that a disabled person has the ability to construct a self-identity that accepts their impairment but is independent of it.

So they see themselves as a person first, and their disability as just one of their characteristics.