Sociological studies

Question 1

What were the ‘Young Masculinities’ findings?

Answer 1

• Boys had to be seen as different and separate from girls and things that were feminine by association.
• Popular masculinity requires males to be ‘hard’.
  (illustrated through success at sport, ‘coolness’ and casual attitudes to schoolwork and the ability to use profane language - swearing.)
• some boys were more masculine than others, this could be based on ethnicity or class.

Question 2

Evaluate the ‘Young Masculinities’ findings?

Answer 2

• used focus groups and structured interviews to compare and contrast male identities. (boys put up a front of masculinity with friends, willing to shed around girls, in a ‘soft’ situation with the interviewer.
• many studies of masculinity forms part of the construction of masculine identity for some boys.
• respondents much younger than boys usually studied in gender/masculinity research, study shows that gender attitudes and formation are set in at early age.
• despite based in schools/education, study scope is wider - considers a range of contemporary masculine styles in its concern with how identity is constructed in young teen boys.
• good qualitative data, carried out in a structured and organised fashion.

Question 3

What were the findings of ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’ ?

Answer 3

• there was minor fights when different subcultures clashed, the media portrayed the story to create a much more significant phenomenon than it originally was.
• reaction caused the police to respond to future conflict more forcefully, therefore creating future conflicts.
• people involved in the headlines and stories, read about themselves and started to play the parts that were written for them.
• other people wanted to join in, in order to gain some fame.

Question 4

Strengths of ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’

Answer 4

• moral panics occurs when behaviour or values emerge that they can be perceived as a threat to social order (e.g., fear over immigrants and asylum seekers, rise of parties like UKIP to combat perceived threat).
• concerns can escalate through media sensationalism , process of deviance amplification creates ‘folk devils’.

Question 5

Weaknesses of ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’

Answer 5

• written from an interactionist perspective, tendency to focus on the lower levels of social control like the police, without looking at the role of the state.
• interactionists do not look at where the stereotypes of these groups come from.
• interactionists focus on the labelling of deviance, they fail to examine the reasons for deviant behaviour.

Question 6

‘Just the Woman’ 2012 study

Answer 6

method: the findings were based on a fortnight’s content analysis of 11 national newspapers in September of 2012.

1. press reporting often lacks content which can lead to inaccurate, incomplete and misleading impression of women’s lives.
2. photos and coverage focus on women’s appearance.
3. tabloids objectify women and reduce them to sex objects
4. women’s issues’ are covered in a narrow and stereotyped way.
5. decontextualised and selective reporting on victims of sexual violence and the perpetrators = less female confidence in criminal justice system

Question 7

‘Just The Woman’ strengths

Answer 7

1. feminists highlighted problem of male ownership and control of the media. power of stereotypes, in shaping attitudes and behaviour and the impact on culture.
2. females almost invisible in games or presented sexually. found that majority of contestants are male

Question 8

‘Just the Woman’ weaknesses

Answer 8

feminists are divided on the ‘cause’ of female oppression in the media = different solutions to the problem, hinders collective action.