Production, consumption, globalisation and identity

Question 1

What are the three ways production/ work is influential on our identity?

Answer 1

• Affects leisure activities
• Affects sense of self
• Affects tastes and interests

Question 2

(Parker) ______ + ______=______

Answer 2

Type of work + experience in work e.g. job satisfaction = leisure choices

Question 3

What are Parkers three categories on jobs types?

Answer 3

• Physically taxing jobs (miners, car mechanics, steelworkers etc.)
• Boring and routine jobs (bookkeeper, HR, secretaries, supermarket staff etc.)
• High levels of commitment (doctors, social workers, teachers, architects etc.)

Question 4

What is the nature of work for opposition type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 4

• Physically taxing
• Dangerous
• Male dominated
• HOSTILE to work

Question 5

What is the nature of leisure for opposition type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 5

• Escape from work
• Leisure = central feature of life e.g football, drinking/pubs

Question 6

What is the nature of work for neutrality type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 6

• Boring
• Routine
• Little job satisfaction
• APATHY to work

Question 7

What is the nature of leisure for neutrality type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 7

• Leisure unrelated to job e.g. relaxing with family

Question 8

What is the nature of work for extension type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 8

• High personal committment
• High job satisfaction
• Work is POSITIVE

Question 9

What is the nature of leisure for extension type of work-leisure pattern?

Answer 9

• Leisure involves their work e.g. playing gold with business clients, planning for work

Question 10

Evaluation for Parkers work-leisure pattern theory?

Answer 10

• Very deterministic
• Doesn’t acknowledge other factors such as social class, gender, ethnicity, age affecting leisure

Question 11

What is Clarke and Critchers theory on leisure activities?

Answer 11

• Certain leisure activities are encouraged by capitalism
• Healthy leisure —> healthy workforce
• Restricted choice —> remains false class consciousness
• Profit making leisure

Question 12

Bourdieus theory on work affecting leisure?

Answer 12

Work —> social class —> habitus —> leisure/consumption e.g high/popular culture

Question 13

Riach & Lorettos theory on lack of work and identity?

Answer 13

• People see you as lazy and a burden, as they do not pay tax and therefore are not contributing to society —> elderly retire (Vincent) and therefore are disliked —> lonely, vunerable, burden.
• Work gives a sense of status
• (Durkheim): People who lack social solidarity makes people feel anomie —> social exclusion
• Disabled feel like a burden —> stigmatised identity

Question 14

(Riach & Loretto) theory on losing a job

Answer 14

• Disruption to personal life
• Loss of work based friends
• Loss of job —> Loss of income
• Loss of routine
• Applying for jobs and constantly being rejected —> crisis of confidence
• Wanted to avoid being labelled as ‘scroungers’

Question 15

What is the end of work thesis?

Answer 15

• The idea that consuming goods is much more a significant source of identity than work, and that jobs are now less skilled, flexible hours, short term and less secure
• Work is no longer significant as people aren’t attached to work anymore

Question 16

What do postmodernists argue about changing identities?

Answer 16

• Class, gender, ethnicity and age no longer have a significant impact on identities.
• Lyotard argues that metanarratives no longer explain people’s identities.
• Argue that identities are now much more fluid and changing.
• Believe that our leisure and consumption choices have much more impact on identities now.
• They suggest that most people have an almost unlimited free choice of leisure activities and lifestyle, and can adopt any identity they wish.

Question 17

What does Bocock believe?

Answer 17

• People’s consumer choices are important aspects in defining their identities and the status they wish to project to others, e.g. the products we buy indicate our identity (conspicuous consumption).

Question 18

What is a media saturated society?

Answer 18

• Baudrillard says we live in what we call a media saturated society.
• In this society, the media creates desires and pressures to consume.
• Individual identity is no longer formed by class etc, but by influences from the media.
• Strinati argue we are bombarded daily by popular culture which increasingly dominates the way we define ourselves

Question 19

Why is there more choice over identities?

Answer 19

• New identities are created by globalisation which brings different cultural groups into contact.
• People now adopt different identities to meet the diversity in their lives, instead of identifying just with class, for example, they identify with ethnicity, disabilities, race, religion, nationality, music, fashion labels, sport and other leisure activities etc.
• Individuals can pick and mix to create whatever identities they wish.

Question 20

What is symbolic significance?

Answer 20

• Bauman and May suggest that advertising for products like perfumes, alcoholic drinks, cars, and clothing is not simply about selling the products as these goods have symbolic significance.
• The label is more important than the product itself, e.g. the make of the trainer is more important than the actual trainer. The label illustrates our identity.

Question 21

What are lifestyle models?

Answer 21

• The products come packaged with an associated lifestyle as shown by people in adverts.
• These people act as lifestyle models.
• This encourages people to buy these products in order to buy these lifestyles.
• Advertising and shopping provides what Bauman and May call ‘do it yourself identity kits’.

Question 22

What do postmodernists suggest about shopping? What does this link to?

Answer 22

• Postmodernists suggest shopping is not just about buying products, but about buying into lifestyles which helps establish identities.
• This links with Giddens’ idea of the reflexive self where people are constantly reflecting on and changing identites.

Question 23

What does Bauman argue about shopping?

Answer 23

• Bauman argues that life has become a shopping mall to stroll around consuming whatever you want, trying out whatever identities you choose and changing them whenever you want.

Question 24

What does Rojek argue?

Answer 24

• Argues that we live in a leisure culture where leisure activities express our identity.

Question 25

How has tourism changed?

Answer 25

• Tourism is no longer about just having a holiday but now about having cultural experiences that fit our identities.
• Urry suggests much tourism is now sold on the basis of identity packaging.
• A destination is sold to someone based on their personality, e.g. whether they are adrenaline junkies; interested in particular period of history; or a fan of a particular author.

Question 26

How have museums and art galleries changed?

Answer 26

• Urry talks of the tourist gaze, whereby tourists gaze on tourist locations and attractions.
• These are organised by tourism experts to provide enjoyable experiences which are seen as authentic. E.g. visiting Shakespeare’s birthplace and seeing his home recreated as it would have been when he was alive; or visiting a tribal village and seeing the locals perform a traditional dance.

Question 27

What does Baudrillard talk to in reference to the tourist gaze?

Answer 27

• The tourist gaze involves reconstructions to try and make these experiences authentic for tourists.
• Stimulations where imaginary things are presented as real e.g. the Jorvik Viking Centre in York.

Question 28

What is the tourist gaze?

Answer 28

Urey talks of the tourist gaze which is where tourists gaze on tourist locations and attractions that are organised by tourism experts to provide enjoyable experiences that are seen as authentic.

Question 29

How does occupation put a constraint on choosing identities?

Answer 29

• Work affects the time and money people have to spend on leisure and consumer goods.
• Parker believes that people’s jobs and whether they enjoy them or not influences people’s leisure choices.

Question 30

How does social class put a constraint on people choosing identities?

Answer 30

• Scranton and Bramham argue that the postmodernists ignore the fact that leisure and consumer based activities are only available to most well off members of society.
• Meaning more people have the opportunity to choose their lifestyles based around consumer culture than others.
• People’s choices will also be influenced by how much cultural capital they have.

Question 31

How does age put constraints on people’s leisure choices?

Answer 31

• The leisure of young people tends to be outside their home with their peer group.
• They may have more disposable income due to part time work but they lack financial responsibilities e.g. bills.
• Meaning that they are more leisure centred than any other age group.

Question 32

How does the family life cycle have constraints on people’s leisure choices?

Answer 32

• Young couples who have their own homes and children will face more restrictions on their leisure activities with bills and children.
• As children become less dependent on their parents and as mortgages get paid off, people will have more disposable income to spend on leisure and consumer goods.
• As people get older, health and reduced income limits leisure opportunities.

Question 33

What do feminists say as to how gender constricts people’s leisure choices?

Answer 33

• Feminists have shown that women generally have less time and opportunity for leisure activities than men, due to the expressive role as well as paid employment.
• Women also earn less than men.

Question 34

What does Deem say as to how gender constricts leisure choices?

Answer 34

• Research done by Deem shows that women’s leisure activities were often combined with aspects of childcare e.g. swimming with their children.
• This limits the choice of women about their leisure activities.

Question 35

What do Green, Hebron and Woodward say about how gender constricts people’s leisure choices?

Answer 35

• Green, Hebron and Woodward found that patriarchy restricted women’s leisure opportunities to approved activities.
• Females often felt threatened by taking part in leisure activities without their partner that might bring them into contact with other men e.g. clubbing.

Question 36

How does patriarchy restrict women’s leisure choices?

Answer 36

• The harassment women may face in public places restricts their leisure choices.

Question 37

How does ethnicity restrict people’s leisure choices?

Answer 37

• People often make choices about leisure based on their ethnicity. Some ethnic groups are more likely to take part in some leisure activities due to cultural expectations.
• Some ethnic minorities find their leisure activities restricted by racism.
• Asian women are more likely to be restricted to home and family based activities due to how their culture defines their roles.

Question 38

What did Robert find about how ethnicity affects people’s leisure activities?

Answer 38

• Roberts found that many Asian workers will work more so they can afford and have time to visit their family in their countries of origin.

Question 39

How does capitalism affect people’s leisure choices?

Answer 39

• Clarke and Critcher point out that leisure has become a multinational industry employing millions of people worldwide and is concerned with making profit.
• Clarke and Critcher argue people don’t have free choice of leisure activities and consumer goods.
• They say that advertising aims to convince people that their identities depends on buying into the latest lifestyle trends, benefitting capitalist companies that produce or provide these products.

Question 40

What is an argument about why work doesn’t impact people’s leisure choices anymore?

Answer 40

• In 2014, only 60% of the population over the age of 16 was in work, around 27% of these people were in part time work.
• There are substantial sections of the population e.g. the retired, students, long term sick, disabled, unemployed etc, whose identity is not affected by work.

Question 41

What is a criticism on Parker’s work?

Answer 41

• Parker was criticised for ignoring the influence of factors other than work in shaping identity and leisure activities.
• His work is also very deterministic, it assumes leisure patterns are entirely determined by work patterns.

Question 42

What does McIntosh and Deem say in disagreement to Parker’s theory on how work impacts people’s leisure choices?

Answer 42

• McIntosh and Deem say that Parker doesn’t take into account the way that gender influences leisure and that his research is primarily focused on men in full time work.
• Women only work in part time work, their leisure is far more influenced by domestic labour and controlled by men than by paid employment.

Question 43

What does Roberts say to how work doesn’t impact people’s leisure choices?

Answer 43

• Roberts adopts a pluralist view of society and sees leisure as being largely a matter of cliche, arguing there are many different groups in society and one single social division, doesn’t dominate people’s identities and leisure choices.
• His research suggested there was little connection between people’s work and their leisure activities, certain leisure pursuits were found in all occupational group e.g watching tv.

Question 44

Why is work still significant to choosing leisure activities according to Doherty?

Answer 44

Doherty argues that:
- Work is not as insecure as suggested: long term secure employment has actually been increasing in the UK.
- Part time work is not insecure and might play an important role in balancing work and family or educational commitments.
- There is evidence of upskilling where employees are given more training because higher qualification is are needed for work now.
- Many workers in a Doherty study expressed relatively high levels of work satisfaction, even those whose work might appear routine and monotonous. They still saw work as involving interaction with others and a way to socialise with others outside of the family.

Question 45

What is globalisation?

Answer 45

• The changing interconnectedness of the world