SOCIOLOGY Flashcards
Giving birth whilst still a teenager is strongly associated with social disadvantage for both the mother and child in later life. Explain why, with reference to the debate on the issue
Ongoing debate as to whether these adverse medical, social, educational and economic outcomes are due to intrinsic risks of pregnancy in teen years, or from social, economic, environmental circumstances of teens. It is widely accepted that pregnancy compounds the situation of those who are already living in socially disadvantageous circumstances
Affect of teenage pregnancy on education of mother and child
- Mother less likely to go onto further education
- Children more likely to have low educational attainment, and economic inactivity
Mental health in teenage mothers vs older mothers
Teenage mothers suffer from poorer mental health in 3 yrs after their birth compared with other mothers. 3x rate of post-natal depression
Infant mortality in teenage mothers <16 vs older mothers
Infant mortality rate is 60% higher than for babies born to older mothers
Children born to teenage mothers are more likely, in time, to become teenage parents themselves - what is important to note though?
This is true but things are not inevitable and need to take into consideration other social factors
Abortion in higher vs lower socio-economic groups
Those from disadvantaged areas less likely to opt for abortion if they get pregnant
In 1997, the New Labour government commissioned Social Exclusion Unit to develop strategy to cut rates of teen parents. Three key targets were set out in 1999 - what were they?
- Reduce rate of teen conceptions, halving rate among under 18s by 2010 (not achieved)
- Establish downward trend in <16 conception rate by 2010
- Increase participation of teen parents in education + work to 60% by 2010 to reduce risk of long term social exclusion
There is now an earlier onset and increase in sexual activity among teenagers. Explain the changing sexual attitudes and behaviour in young people. 4 points
- Loss of traditional family structures
- Changing employment patterns = children less sheltered from realities of adult world
- More sexualised society in which old taboos have faded and sexual messages permeate media
- Access to info about sexual health + contraception has not kept pace with this exposure
Sociologists recognise risk-taking in adolescence as being a ‘normal’ transitional behaviour. What need does it serve?
Developmental need to establish autonomy by encountering and developing mastery of new unexplored activities, which contain possibility of loss
Differences in contraception responsibility in ‘working’ vs ‘middle class’ backgrounds
Working class young people tended to feel that responsibility was up to women alone, whereas middle class young people hoped there would be sharing of responsibility
Why is there a difference in the perception of responsibility of contracetion in working vs middle class young people?
Affected by cultural norms, social representations, knowledge of contraception and awareness of disease transmission. This reflected difficulties in accessing advice and information
Labelling theory focuses on what part of illness?
Symbolic meanings of illness
Labelling theory draws attention to the experience of being diagnosed / labelled sick as having what 2 consequences?
Social as well as physical consequences for individual
Why is sickness is perceived as ‘a form of deviancy’?
Because it is outside norm of health, in same way that forms of criminal or anti-social behaviour fall outside norms of civil society
Secondary deviance is much more significant because it alters a person’s self-regard and social roles - why does it happen?
In direct response to this labelling that person changes their behaviour in accordance with label - constituting a self-fulfilling prophecy
Stigma in healthcare
Concept is concerned less with the social process of labelling a particular disease state as deviant, than with the stigmatising consequences of that process for an individual
What is felt stigma?
The ‘imagined’ social reaction to a labelled condition, which can drastically change a person’s self-identity
What is enacted stigma?
The social stigma that results from labelling process, derives from societal reaction which may produce actual discriminatory experiences
What is stigma by association?
People may also experience what is know as ‘courtesy stigma’ (or ‘stigma by association) because of their direct relationship to a person/child with a labelled condition
What is courtesy stigma?
Public disapproval evoked as a consequence of associating with a stigmatized individual or group
Define long term care
Any service provided with intention of maintaining quality of life on an ongoing basis, which has been allocated on basis of eligibility criteria i.e an assessment of needs has taken place, and is subject to regular review
What was the explanation offered by government for the fall in client numbers receiving long term? 3 points
→ Increase in provision of rehab services outside of formal assessment process
→ Raised eligibility criteria for services
→ Reduced funding for Councils
How many people are there in England and Wales providing unpaid care?
2011 census there were 5.8 million people providing unpaid care in England and Wales representing just over 10% of population
2014 Care Act sought to build upon recent reviews to provide a more coherent approach to adult social care in England. Describe the act
New responsibilities for local authorities to prevent, reduce or delay need for care + support for all local people. New statutory principle, individual wellbeing; can relate to:
→ Personal dignity
→ Physical, mental health, emotional wellbeing
→ Protection from abuse
→ Control by individual over day-to-day life
→ Participation in work, education, training or recreation
→ Social + economic wellbeing
→ Domestic, family, personal relationships
→ Suitability of living accommodation
→ Individual’s contribution to society
Impact of informal care giving role
- Impose financial, physical and psychological strain on carers
- Carers typically experience reduced independence + social participation
- May give up own careers, while at same time unpaid care remains undervalued in society, so potential loss of status
- Physical labour involved in meeting ADLs for relatively immobile person can be considerable
- Carers themselves may experience loss of personal autonomy in relation to increased dependence on others for support in caring role
- Relationship tensions can arise from increasing dependency of recipient of care
Why are classifications based on ‘race’ a social construct?
They have no biological basis, as are essentially social constructions or categories that were concocted before genetics as a science existed
Does modern genomics recognise the existence of separate biological human ‘races’?
No. Rather, that humans are one species that display variation related to historical geographical population distributions that have resulted in specific environmental genetic mutations
Variability in genetic differences within any given population vs between ethnic populations
There is more variability within a population than there is between ethnic populations
Ethnicity vs race
Race refers to biological or physical heritage. To describe someone’s race is to describe physical identity with reference to one of the major divisions of humankind based on ancestral origin and perhaps shared physical characteristics.
Ethnicity refers to culture and non-physical heritage. To describe someone’s ethnicity is to describe elements like their cultural, religious, national or linguistic background and identity.
Define culture
Array of shared implicit mental precepts regulating understanding and behaviour
Within the social sciences, define the notion of ethnicity
Utilised to denote some form of distinctive (from majority population) set of cultural characteristics. These characteristics can include common geographical + ancestral origins, language, cultural traditions
Epidemiology employs methodology of comparing differential ‘exposures variables’ within a population to known causative factors for disease. Give examples of variables
Gender, age, occupation, socio-economic class, health behaviour, and ethnicity
Why do problems emerge when attempting to operationalise ‘ethnicity’, to make it a measurable population category?
Ethnicity is essentially a social, not a scientific construction
As used within epidemiological research the construct of ethnicity generally incorporates two methodologically distinct concepts, what are they?
Ethnic group
Ethinic origin
Define ethnic group
Based on individual conception of social group membership and personal identity
Define ethnic origin
Based on common ancestry or place of origin
What does the coding approach to ethnicity assume? Why is this problematic?
Assumes ethnic boundaries are fixed and clear - in practice such boundaries are fluid and imprecise
Why are the boundaries defining ‘ethnicity’ so fluid?
Constructed and maintained by social groups themselves, so change over time. Additionally, label of ethnic difference is often imposed by majority groups within a society, who construct minorities as ‘other’ / ‘outsiders’
Define institutionalised racism
→ ‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide appropriate, professional service to people because of their colour, culture, ethnic origin
→ It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness + stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people’
Tendency to reify ethnicity (to treat abstract construct as if it had concrete existence) within social surveys and within clinical research, can potentially result in what?
Artefactual data outcomes
