sociology identity- age, ethnicity, nationality, social class, disability, gender and sexuality

Question 1

what are the four categories of age

Answer 1

childhood, adolescence or teens, adults and elderly

Question 2

why do people different ages have different cultures

Answer 2

socialisation- they learn the norms and values of particular point in time

Question 3

what would interactionists focus on (age)

Answer 3

labels attached to different age groups
society has certain views and expectations of different age groups
featherstone and wernick- studied greeting cards and found that society has a distaste for the ageing process and greetings cards convey meanings between social actors, they can affect social identity of individuals

Question 4

describe childhood as formation of identity

Answer 4

innocent special time, children supposed to be protected by their parents and supported in this enterprise by the state which has introduced laws to regulate quality of parenting and legislation for what is acceptable behaviour for children (schooling)

Question 5

what does aries say about childhood

Answer 5

middle ages- idea of childhood doesnt exist children werent seen as different to adults, works of art depict children like small adults, it is only from the 13th century that sees childhood as distinct phase of life from adulthood
childhood as we understand it today= relatively recent invention

Question 6

what does palmer say about childhood

Answer 6

toxic mix of technological and cultural changes are having negative impact on development of growing number of children and she outlines ways in which childhood has become increasingly toxic over the years for example the decline of outdoor play and screen saturation

Question 7

describe adolescence

Answer 7

period between puberty and achievement of full adult status, adulthood in UK celebrated at 18, state confers legal adulthood via being able to vote or marry or leave home without parental consent, prior to world war 2 adolescents regarded as part of adulthood because they went straight into work and indistinguishable from their parents in terms of values tastes behaviour dress etc, postwar= speciic teenage hairstyles, fashion and tastes in music and older generation thought of as shocking and threatening

Question 8

what did cohen say about adolescence

Answer 8

newspapers tend to sensationalise and exaggerate the behaviour of groups of young people in order to create newsworthiness and to sell papers
described how fights between two sets of youths in 1964 (mods and rockers) produced moral panic about young people and them being blamed for moral decline of nation, illustrates how young people are seen as a social problem by the older generations

Question 9

what did thornton and savage say about adolescence

Answer 9

teenagers more condemned than praised by the mass media

Question 10

what do other studies say about adolescence

Answer 10

generation gap is exaggerated, little evidence that youth identity is different in terms of what young people value comapred with their parents, few young people have got involved with youth subcultures defined as deviant by mass media (teddy boys mods rockers)
most young people conformist they get on well with their parents and place high value on traditional goals such as getting married having children and buying a house

Question 11

what did jones and wallace say about adolescence

Answer 11

modern societies have private and public markers that signify beginning of adult status- first sexual encounter, right to vote

Question 12

what does hockey and james say about adolescence

Answer 12

bound up with having freedom and independence from parents having control over material resources and having responsibilities

Question 13

what does brookes-gunn and kirsch say about adulthood

Answer 13

set adulthood as low as 35yrs but others say it starts at 50yrs

Question 14

describe adulthood

Answer 14

physical indicators of adult hood- greying hair, appearance of middle aged spread and menopause as well as social indicators such as children leaving home to go to uni or having more uni for leisure or emotional or psychological indicators such as mid life crisis

Question 15

describe old age

Answer 15

offocially and legally begins at 65 when people are expected to retire from paid work and state pensions
not accorded great deal of respect or status because work is major part of identity in industrial societies
loss of work can result in low self esteem, social contacts with others and income decline rise in lonliness poverty depression and poor health in general

Question 16

what does pilcher say about old age

Answer 16

because of increasinglife expectancy and differences in generational attitudes tastes and behaviour that we should differentiate between the young old (65-74) middle old (75-84) and old old (85+)

Question 17

what does lambert say about age

Answer 17

older men portrayed as powerful as people with authority but not the same with older women

Question 18

what does marxists say about age

Answer 18

capitalism causes stigmatism of older people, they argue becase you stop working you are seen as not being socially useful as capitalist ideology fed prioritises work
see age categories as determined by capitalism- you are a child while dependent and become an adult once you can work and become elderly when too old to work

Question 19

what is ethnicity

Answer 19

cultural practices perspectives and norms and values that set one group of people from snother- shared cultural heritage

Question 20

what is race

Answer 20

physcial characteristics rather than social ones

Question 21

how does socialiastion impact ethnicity

Answer 21

primary- parents pass on norms and values of ethnicity to childrne
secondary- more integration to norms and values, faith school or school in area where most people share same ethnicity, enjoy media products that are designed specifically for one ethnic group and religion

Question 22

what did hill say about ethnicity

Answer 22

identified generational conflict between young members of minority ethnic groups and their parents- children socialised into their minority ehtnicity by parents and that the norms and values taught clashed with those that they acquire from school and white peers which are more western
study of people in asian community in leicester

Question 23

what did ballard say about ethnicity

Answer 23

young minority ethnic individuals negotiate their identity managing to please parents and peers through behaving differently at home compared with out with friends

Question 24

what are the limitations to hill and ballard studies about ethnicity

Answer 24

out of date
minority ethnic parents and grandparents were brought up in UK so would themselves have gone through processes described
some research suggests that young muslims are more interested in their religion and attached to their religious identity tha their parents generation had been
other factors play a part in development of ethnic identities

Question 25

how does secondary socialisation create ethnic identities

Answer 25

labelling in schools (Gillborn wright mac an ghail and mirza) lead to self fulfilling prophecies and formation of anti school subcultures
sewll- mainstream media including stereotypes of minority ethnic groups, growth of gang culture among black youths
secularisation- religion has less power in the UK making religious minorities like jews and sikhs less distinct from the majority of population

Question 26

what did sewell say about ethnicity

Answer 26

peer pressure group influential in shaping ethnic identiies among disaffected african carribbean youth in british inner cities and partly responsible for educational underachievement and high levels of employment
african carribbean male identity focused on being hyper male and gangsta in eyes of their peers, he claims this compensates for the lack of father figure in the lives of many teens
street identity- shaped by media agencies such as MTV which encourage young african caribbean males to subscibe to consumer culture that views material things as more important than education

Question 27

what did hall say about ethnicity

Answer 27

some minority ethnic individuals, gender social class religion and other identities are more significant than their ethnicity
ethnicity and gender intersect

Question 28

what do difference feminists look at for ethnicity

Answer 28

how patriarchy and racism combine to disadvantage women from minority ethnic backgrounds

Question 29

what do studies show in ethnicity

Answer 29

african caribbean boys- labelled as trouble
african caribbean girls- anti school but pro education subcultures
asian- hardworking but also submissive and victims
minority ethnic woemn more likely to wear traditional dress and pass on cultural practices and norms

Question 30

what did johal say about ethnicity

Answer 30

second and third generation british asians
found that they have dual identity in that they inherit asian identity and adopt british identity, results in asian youth adopting white mask in order to interact with white peers at school or college but emphasising their cultural difference whenever necessary
british asians adopt hybrid identities- select aspects of british asian global culture relating to fashion music and food to contruct their identity

Question 31

what did tizard and phoenix say about ethnicity

Answer 31

found that 60% of mixed race childrenin their sample were proud of their mixed parentage but they noted that it was still not an easy ride to be of mixed black and white parentage in our society because of racism from both white and black populations

Question 32

what is nationality

Answer 32

status of belonging to particular nation though it intersects with ehtnicity to mean a group of people of same race religion and traditions

Question 33

what did Durkheim say about nationality

Answer 33

important function in terms of social cohesion
socialised into their nations history that made them feel a part of something bigger and to care about society

Question 34

what impact does socailisation have on nationality

Answer 34

education- children taught about heroism if countrymen against foreign foes
media- focus on national events and ceremonies

Question 35

what did marxists say about nationality

Answer 35

socialisation of nationality apart of false class consciousness, people encouraged to develop a national identity rather than a class identity, the way they feel loyal to the ruling class in their country and blame their problems on foreigners

Question 36

what did schudsen say about nationality

Answer 36

people are socialised into british identity through a common language, education (history, english literature and religion promotes national identity), national rituals (royal and state occasions reinforce british way of life), symbols (styles of dress, uniforms, passports, styles of music, national anthems indicated patriotism and tradition), mass media (encourage people to identify with birtish identities with national symbols such as royal family etc and british achievement such as olympics) and mass production of fashion and taste (embodied in foods and retail outlets)

Question 37

how has globalisation affceted nationality

Answer 37

created global culture eroding national cultures making nationality less signf
people rarely met those of other nationalities and therefore being english or french was less signf from somebodys day to day
increased interaction with people of other nationalities
changed national identities

Question 38

what is social class

Answer 38

group of people of similar status commonly sharing comparable lebels of power and wealth

Question 39

what did marx say about social class

Answer 39

bourgeoisie ruling classes- owns means of production in capitalist system and owns property, maintains positions of power and accumulates capital by exploiting poletariat
poletariat working class- sell their labour in exchange for wage or salary and less than what the work is worth and gives the ruling class profit

Question 40

what did marxists say about social class

Answer 40

social class is fundamental conflict or cleavage in society the social structure upon which most other features of society rest
false class consciousness- many people not aware of their social class status and not identify themselves as belonging to the social class based on economic position

Question 41

what did bourdieu and sugarman say about social class

Answer 41

bourdieu- how working class people lack cultural capital which sugarman sees as suffering from cultural deprivation and murray argues there is a culture of dependency in what he terms to underclass

Question 42

what did bourdieu say about social class

Answer 42

cultural capital- accumulation of knowledge behaviours and skills that one can tap into to demonstrate ones apparent cultural competence social status or standing in society
cultural capital can be expressed through knowledge accent use of language clothing hobbies and range of other factors
lower classes are often unfairly judged in society due to their lack of cultural capital
middle calss arent superior to working class but buys advantage in a capitalist society
backed up by economic capital and social capital

Question 43

what do postmodernists say about social class

Answer 43

consumption is now more important source of identity than production
people are defined what they buy not what they earn, but a criticism is that the two go together as what we can afford to buy is dictated by social class
some of the class based assumptions about what people do with their leisure is outdated and individual choices have been replaced by social class

Question 44

what does marshall say about social class

Answer 44

economic change has made the working class identity more fragmented, the loss of traditional manufactoring jobs means that people who might consider themselves working class do a wide range of jobs

Question 45

what does bradley say about social class

Answer 45

social class is still important source of identity but it is no longer the most significant one, intersects with other sources of identity such as gender and ehtnicity- individual identity is constructed from these fragments

Question 46

what does shakespeare say about disability

Answer 46

disability is a label and that being categorised as disabled is often more of a problem for an individual than the actual disbaility, disability is a social construct, he calls them impairments, emphasises the importnace to ensure equality of access regardless of impairment, inaccessability makes impairment a social problem

Question 47

what does barnes say about disability

Answer 47

people with impairments are forced are forced by society into playing a disabled role and becomes a handicap when it is socialised into being understood in terms of disadvantage

Question 48

how is there a stereoptyipe of disability

Answer 48

through the media- people with disabilities being weak and dependent, research about disability in the media found that disabled people were represented in the media infrequently and characters in drama series happened to have a disbaility normally a key part of the plot

Question 49

how is there a stereoptyipe of disability

Answer 49

through the media- people with disabilities being weak and dependent, research about disability in the media found that disabled people were represented in the media infrequently and characters in drama series happened to have a disbaility normally a key part of the plot
marsh and keating- everyone is dependent on others to a greater or lesser extent so needing help in some aspects of life is not a unique feature of disability but instead is normal

Question 50

what is learned helplessness

Answer 50

due to labelling and self fulfilling prophecy disabled people learn that they cant do things
scott- study of blindness blind peole internalised the experts view that they were dependent because this is what the experts expected them to do

Question 51

what did goffmann say about disability

Answer 51

discredited- those with disability that is visible
discreditable- disbailities arent visible to the human eye
impacts the way people are labelled and to which people can avoid a label

Question 52

what is gender in terms of identity

Answer 52

social differences between males and females based on social factors such as values perceptions beliefs and attitudes
describes socially constructed ideas of masculinity and femininity

Question 53

what did mcrobbie and wolf say about gender

Answer 53

magazines for girls that emphasised getting a ,an and conventional ideas of beauty
wolf- how advertising presented in ideal unobtainable image which girls and women feel the need to strive for

Question 54

what do feminists argue about gender

Answer 54

contemporary society is patriarchy

Question 55

what do liberal feminists say about gender

Answer 55

focuses on legal equality between the sexes, focus on issues such as equal pay property rights, many aims were resolved in countries like the UK in the late 20th century, issues like gender pay gap and glass ceiling remain, interested in legal inequality in other parts of the world

Question 56

what do radical feminists say about gender

Answer 56

women manioulated into believing patriarchy is normal, brainwashes women into wanting to be dominated by men, keep women oppressed

Question 57

what do marxist feminists say about gender

Answer 57

women are oopressed through patriarchy and capitalism, working class women are doubly oppressed

Question 58

what do difference feminists say about gender

Answer 58

black feminists- oppressed by racism too, many layers of oppression and inequality beyond race gender and class

Question 59

what do postmodern feminists say about gender

Answer 59

intersectionality- gender intersects with other identities
prefer to empower women

Question 60

how has gender changed identity

Answer 60

crisis of masculinity- men unsure what role to play because women are more successful
increase in what gets termed viciously hegemonic masculinity or toxic masculinity where boys are socialised to persist with a stereotypical form of masculinity where they expect to be dominant to hide their feelings and strive to be alpha male
new men- concerned about their appearance
feminisation of masculinity- men sexualised in media and increased interest in cosmetic products for men and male grooming
men still dominant in the worlds of employment and politics, women are exploted and oppressed

Question 61

what were the changes made in society for sexuality

Answer 61

sexual offences act 1967- ,ade gay sex for men aged over 21 in england and wales
consent for homosexual was lowered to 18 in 1994 and 16 in 1999
gay poeple could serve in UK army for the first time from 2000
in 2002 adaoption and childrne act removed requirment foradoptions to only be available to married couples
2005 civil partnership act- same sex couples could declare a legalled recognised civil partnership givng them the same legal status as married couples
equality act 2010 illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of sexuality
2013 same sex marriage legal in england and wales

Question 62

what does batchelor say about sexuality

Answer 62

heterosexuality is represented as normal in the media but descriptions of homosexuality in the media are changing with more characters in dramas who happen to be gay