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Society and Culture: Youth

In Society and Lifestyles today we learned about the differences in society and culture and how they interact with youth. We also learned that youth culture can been seen as a subculture in itself and were able to link this with social theories from Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg and Maslow. In the tutorial we studied certain questions and answered them in groups and then had feedback with the class. This was very useful because I believe it gave insight to different peoples opinion.

I feel that my knowledge has increased today because I was unaware of any of the social theories that we learned today. I feel that these theories will help me in preparing for my exam. Some of the slides in today’s lecture also referred back to the previous lecture which has further improved my knowledge and understanding of the five agents of socialisation.

I felt in the tutorial that I struggled with answering some of the questions but once a few examples were given I started to understand what I was being asked. To combat this I will look over the questions again to improve my understanding of the questions.

I feel that this weeks input has been enjoyable because youth culture is something that I am interested in and would love to teach this particular subject as an aspiring teacher.

Prejudice and Ideology

For a reflection (PDP) on your learning today, please consider the following points.

 

  1. In brief, what have I learned from the lecture, independent task and tutorial today? Please be specific.  Today has allowed me to learn about prejudice, discrimination, social norms, conformity and non- conformity, ideology and secularisation. This has given me a more in depth definition of each one and has allowed me to relate these topics to society through use off examples.
  2. Do I understand the main concepts and issues of the topics and areas I have learnt today? Where possible, how can I evidence this knowledge? I feel that I understand most of the concepts and issues that were taught today but I feel that I am still struggling with the topic of secularisation because I don’t believe that it really affects me as a person. In order to improve my knowledge of secularisation I think that I have to research more examples of this in society and possibly look for a definition that allows me to make sense of this particular topic.
  3. How has my knowledge in this area developed/increased today?   Are there specific areas that require particular improvement?  How will I address that? Today has allowed me to understand the differences in prejudice and discrimination.  I now know that discrimination is taking action on your prejudice.
  4. If at all, how does what I have learnt today relate to my general understanding of how, prejudice as an example, impacts on your micro and macro world? Any possible career opportunities/aspirations as a future primary teacher on the things I have learnt today? I can understand that discrimination in the world effects people negatively, when it could be seen as completely unnecessary. For example, discriminating someone due to their ethnicity is unneccesary because we are all human and we are all the same, your skin colour does not determine what kind of person you are. As an aspiring primary teacher I would love to be able to teach this topic to children to broaden their knowledge and to look at society in a non- stereotypical way.

 

Stress Hardiness

The purpose of this article is to investigate the effects of social support, hardiness, challenge, and the control on the relationship between stress and depression.

Stress has a major impact on a person’s life. In some cases stress can be positive, for example having nerves when carrying out a presentation may aid you and show that you care about presenting well. On the other hand, stress can have a massive negative impact on a person’s health, such as anxiety and mental breakdown’s. To combat stress social support is very important. Social support is the degree to which a person’s basic social needs are met through interaction with others. This is extremely important in combating stress because engaging with other people can allow people to relieve their stress through speaking or even from a sense of touch.

Depression is another factor that negatively affects a person’s health. There is no positive effects of having depression. To conquer depression, social support is also very important. Being able to interact with family, friends and helpful networks are essential in make a person feel more important and less alone.

Being unable to have control over your life has a negative impact of a person’s health because it can cause things such as stress and depression. Being unorganised and out of control can lead a person to become very anxious and more likely to have a mental breakdown. A way to allow control in a person’s life is to keep updated with workloads, for example when you are in University.

 

 

Reflection on The Holmes- Rahe Life Stress Inventory

In the Holmes- Rahe life stress inventory test I scored 216 points. This implies that I am 50% more likely to suffer a major mental breakdown in the next two years. When completing the test, I felt like I had avoided a lot of the high scoring events, such as the death of a close friend/ family member and divorce which may be deemed as a life event that may have ‘more impact’ on a person than what the likes of a vacation may have.

I was very shocked to be in the second category because I don’t feel like I have had a massive major event that has changed me as a person in the previous year. It makes me a little nervous to think that a test can determine what changes may happen in my life in the next few years. This does not mean I particularly agree with this test. In my opinion, I would put myself in the first category because I don’t believe I have gone through a lot of major changes in the previous year, with coming to University being an exception. I am still struggling with the differences in University and school, for example being a lot more independent in your studies. This causes me some stress but I wouldn’t say a massive amount.

To combat my stress, I believe that I have to be organised and keep on track with the workload given. Being in control of my workload will decrease my stress levels massively and keep me up to date with my Modules.

The Glasgow Effect

The Glasgow Effect focuses on the different health outcomes in UK cities. The main question The Glasgow Effect looks at is why the health outcomes in UK cities differ. Why is it that equally deprived cities have different outcomes?

Scotland has a very poor health profile compared to the rest of Europe. In Scotland, we have the highest mortality rates and lowest life expectancy in the west of Europe. This makes Scotland the most unhealthy country in the UK.

Scotland is well known for its fried food, Irn Bru and excessive drinking, which have massive impacts on a person’s health. Society play’s a big part in Scotland culture. It could be said that Scottish people may be forced to eat fattening foods and drink alcohol because of the massive influence around them. For example, parents could lead a child to eat unhealthily, and peer pressure may lead people to drink excessively. Looking at deprivation in Scotland, fruit and vegetables can be expensive which may lead or force people to pick the unhealthier option. For example, you can get a burger at McDonald’s for 99 pence.

Looking at the deprivation profiles of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester we can see that they are very similar, Manchester being the lowest at 23.4% and Glasgow being the highest at 24.8%. This is very small difference in percentage, but Scotland’s health profile still suffers.

Comparing mortality profiles of Glasgow to that of Liverpool and Manchester, we can see that mortality in Glasgow was 14% higher in all deaths. ‘Excess mortality’ in Glasgow has showed that 2,090 people under the age of 65 in excess. It has showed that almost half of excessive deaths in Scotland are related to alcohol and drugs.

From looking at The Glasgow Effect and the Scottish survey, I have determined that  I do not believe Scotland is a healthy country. According to the Scottish survey, men drink 5.2 units of alcohol and day and women 2.8 units a day. This is over the daily recommended amount adults should consume therefore this could be a major factor in the death rate in Scotland.

 

 

Inclusion and Equality

In this weeks weeks input we focused on how people with disabilities have and are being treated in society.  I thoroughly enjoyed this session because it was interesting to get some insight in to how some people feel they are treated in today’s society. We looked at the Equality Act (2010) to determine a definition of disability. I noticed from this that the definition can be open to interpretation and is not air-tight.

Looking at attitudes towards disability was very interesting and shocking at the same time. I did not realise that in some cases disabled people have been killed due to various reasons, some examples being religion and state policy. I researched further into the ancient Roman culture and found out that most infants were abandoned outside and left to die which was very shocking to me.

The Disability Rights Movement has showed a massive change in attitudes towards disability. In their opinion, we should not focus on the impairment but the environmental barriers they face in day-to-day life. This linked to ‘Universal design’ which refers to designing building that everyone can use. I think that this is a brilliant idea and hopefully in the future every single building or structure will be disabled friendly.

I have really enjoyed today’s session because it has made me realise that there should be more awareness about seeing the person before the disability. Although a person may be physically disabled, the can be incredibly capable mentally, for example Stephen Hawkins. I am looking forward to next weeks input to look into Lifestyle choices and Consequences .

Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched’ Spirituality

Today has been a massive improvement compared to last week’s lecture, tutorial and independent task. I think that this was impacted by my increase in enthusiasm this week. I enjoyed today’s lecture a lot more because I understood the majority of what I was being taught straight away. I also believe the lecturer used very good examples and short video clips in explaining certain points. For example, when learning about the impacts that religion and culture has, we looked at the impact that it has on health. The lecturer then proceeded to give an example of a Jehovah’s witness, who would not accept a blood transfusion on religious grounds because it is in conflict with their religious beliefs. The lecturer also showed us a video clip on this to put this into perspective which is very useful to look back on for future reference.

We also learned about Max Weber and Karl Marx who were and still are very famous sociologists. Their views are the complete opposite of one another which I found very interesting. In the tutorial I was asked a question about Weber, how he appraised religion as culture and the importance in society. I really struggled with this question because I didn’t understand what major impacts there were in the world. I think this was because I personally believe that Marx’s view is something I would believe over Weber’s view. Although I struggled, I was able to answer because we were in groups and I could ask people questions. I will have to work on this particular topic to become less hazy on the subject.

In the independent study task I picked to write about secularization, a secular society and determining what the term ‘de-christianisation’ meant. I thought that it was a good idea to look at questions that may be similar to exam questions. I thought that the independent task could possibly have been whittled down to half an hour because I felt after a while  I was repeating myself. I also think this task could  have been done at home so we could have the choice, whether to do the independent task straight away or have a break to rest.

Overall, I can definitely say that I enjoyed this weeks input a lot more than last week’s and I am really looking forward to learning about the new topic Inclusion next week.

Religion, Society and Diversity

Today has been a very interesting but difficult day for me. This particular module contains a lot of new information for me to retain, therefore I am finding it a little hard to grasp. I hope in the upcoming weeks I will have better knowledge and understanding of what this module is fully about.

In general, I have enjoyed my first lecture, tutorial and tutor based task for Society and Lifestyles. Today’s topic on Religion, Society and Diversity has been interesting for me to learn because it is something I have never looked into before. Although I am reflecting as a learner rather than a teacher, I believe this module will be very helpful in the years to come because it will give me more knowledge on a subject I know little about.

I thought that the lecture was very intense this morning. There was a lot of information to grasp, but I think it was beneficial in the tutorial because it gave me more to think and write about. I was very interested to learn about the insider’s (believer’s) and outsider’s (scholarly) approach to religion. I was unaware of these approaches and believe that this will be useful for me in teaching. As a teacher, it will be very important for me to keep to the outsider’s approach so that my views are not influencing the pupils in the class. This can also be linked to Ninian Smart’s multi-dimensional approach called phenomenology. This allows teachers to teach the ‘essence’ of religion and not influence a child’s view on religion.

I thought it was also very useful to learn about famous functionalists of religion. I think that it was a good idea to link this to the individual task, although today we had a limited amount of time unfortunately. I feel that this allowed us to look further into one of the functionalists and gave us more information on the background of the person. I chose to look into  Broinslaw Malinowski and found out that he was mainly focused on religion as  an institution because he believed that culture functioned to meet the needs of individuals rather than society itself.

I thought that the tutorial was very useful because we got to work in groups rather than individually. This allowed us to come together and answer the question as a group. In hindsight, I think that it would have been better to be split up into smaller groups. My group focused on the opportunities of religious diversity in society. One of the points my group came up with was that the religious institutions could be linked to social integration. We knew this because Durkheim believed tat religion serves to bind a group together, therefore allowing social harmony in religion.

Reflecting on the lessons today, I can definitely say that I have learned a lot of new information. To understand today’s lecture/ tutorial more, I will look over my notes from today to become more secure in my learning. If I am still struggling to comprehend some of the concepts/ issues discussed today I will research the area further to become more confident in Religion, Society and Diversity.

 

Room Reflection

As a child, I used to read a lot. As the years have went by, the amount of books I read has declined each year because my work load has increased. If I ever try to read now, I start to feel guilty and think about other work that I could be doing. When the holidays come around, I always make time to read because I feel relaxed enough to do so.

In general, I’m not a fussy reader. I tend to read fiction books of all genres, but I occasionally like to read a non-fiction book for some variety. I would say that my favourite genre is crime fiction and mystery, but I don’t like reading fantasy books.

I loved reading the book Room. Before we were asked to read it at University, a friend had recommended it to me, so I have now read room twice and enjoyed it even more the second time!! It was different to any story that I have every read before because it was written in a child’s perspective. I felt like the book gave me an insight into a child’s mind, and made me aware of the grammatical errors that children can make in their language. I was also interested to find out that the story had been based on the Joseph Fritzl story. I would definitely recommend Room because it was so different to any book that I had read and it would give them a new experience in reading books.

I felt that Room definitely challenged me as a reader because it forced me to think in a childlike manor. I sometimes had to go back and read sentences again to gain understanding of what Jack was saying. It could be hard to understand due to the way that he said some words, e.g. melted spoon. I feel like this has developed my reading skills because it has let me identify errors in our English language.

Before reading Room, I had never really considered how fiction can be used in Academic study. I now understand that it is possible because I have learned a lot about the English language whilst reading Room. Although I enjoyed reading room, it has not encouraged me to read any more than I do already. I feel that the book has encouraged me to read some books that I wouldn’t have before reading Room to allow me to have new experiences in reading.

 

Reflections on Placement

The one week placement has really gave me insight on what it is like to be a Primary school teacher. It has definitely made me feel confident that this is the occupation for me. Being in a primary 2 class for the whole week was challenging, but overall a great experience. The teachers were all very kind and made me feel very welcome in the school. The only negative aspect would be that the one week was too short!

Strength

I would say that my biggest strength was that I always spoke in a loud voice when speaking in front of the class. This allowed everyone to hear me when I was reading  a story to the children  and carrying out their morning meeting. Speaking at an adequate volume allowed the children to understand my instructions and also made me feel confident in my teaching.

Area of most Progress

I think that I have improved my non-verbal communication the most on the placement. I always made sure that my body language was positive by sitting up straight or standing in a wide stance. Before placement, I would tend to cross my arms and legs. Now, I am always thinking about my positive body language, and it really does made you feel more confident!!

Area Requiring Progress

For me, I have to really focus on my pace when speaking. When nervous, I have the tendency to speed up my pace of speech, which leaves me stuttering and using a lot of words like ‘ehm’ and ‘ah’. I have always had a issue with this and would love to tackle this problem.

Action plan

In order to become more successful, my action plan is to read about improving verbal communication and ways to calm nerves, as I feel that this would really help me to slow down my pace of speech. Another thing that I am going to do is record myself speaking so that I can listen to my voice and point out any errors that I could be making.