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Ideology and Prejudice

In todays input the terms ‘ideology’ and ‘prejudice’ became a lot more clearer as I now know the correct definitions and concepts of each. I can also identify the influences that prejudice can have. The tutorial really helped me develop my understanding of this as I was able to note down each influence and a reason for each as to why they influence prejudice and in what ways they do so. For example the media can influence prejudice by showing biased news that people will believe and share this idea with other which will spread unrealistic news thats not particularly true.

I believe prejudice is a term used to describe an (negative) attitude towards a group of people or individuals and may include stereotypes however, it is never based upon facts. Prejudice takes place in society through various subjects such as sex, gender, race and disability as well as lots more. Similarly, ideology is our ideas and beliefs as well as our values and interests and can be involved in groups and people who take a role of this on. Ideology includes Worldview which is a set of beliefs that explains the world we live in we then share our ideas with others and make ideology. As well as this it is an idea that society provides human knowledge and it is our generation and environment that impacts this.

One main idea that stood out for me today was that prejudice and discrimination is not the same thing and how important it is not to get these mixed up. Prejudice is when people can have prejudice on other people without acting upon it where as discrimination is when people act upon a certain idea and discriminate against it such as women’s right to vote.

As a student teacher and future educator I believe we have an influence on prejudice. We must provide different opportunities and idea in the classroom and accept everyones beliefs. We must have an open mind when working with learners to allow them to see and understand the different beliefs and ideas people have on society.

When it came to discussing the different theories I became a bit confused and overwhelmed. I understand what each one is but will need to look further into it to gain a better insight and understanding. Mannheim’s Theory of Generation believes that our ideology is determined by our family members of past generations. I also agree with this belief that our ideas have been told and influenced by the people around us ann the environment we live in. Karl Marx believes that the more social class rules the lower class and controls the beliefs and ideas of these people.

In conclusion, from todays input I have gained and furthered my knowledge on these two concepts however, to develop a deeper understanding I will complete further reading.

 

 

Impacts and methods of support for a healthy lifestyle

health

After todays input I have taken into consideration the factors that impact on our health and the methods that can be used to support a healthy lifestyle. Stress is an important aspect in todays society and can impact positive and negatively on a persons health. After having read ‘Stress Hardiness’ an article by Pengilly and Dowd (2000) it has highlighted the main components of stress and how these are caused by major life events either normative events such as moving house or non-normative events such as divorce.

One factor that can negatively impact on our health is job stress. Having troubles or being under pressure at work can lead to huge amounts of stress and constantly being buried under your work load. This can cause people to have problems with their adrenal and thyroid glands as well as increasing their heart rate. However, to be able to support this we must consider it as a challenge in order to succeed. Penally and Dowd(2000) believes that challenge is an opportunity for growth and that change is normal when it comes to being challenged. This will allow people to relieve their stress and feel it more as a goal rather than a stress.

Major life events such as getting divorced is an area of stress that can particularly cause a great amount of stress and loneliness. People may fail to particpate in certain social events or just feel  constantly down with no one to talk to. A method that could increase a healthy lifestyle in this situation is social support. Talking to a friend or family member and being able to trust them will greatly help in a time of loneliness. People will be able to listen and gain advice from someone who has went through a similar problems in their life.

People who have common mental disorders for example, anxiety this may impact negatively on ones health. Anxiety can lead to people becoming very self conscious and unwilling to do certain things as they feel they are constantly being watched or worried about what other people may think. A method to combat this is to gain a sense of control. Try to cope with how things can change quickly and learn to deal with situations more positively rather than negatively.

Age related stress is another category than can cause people stress and particuarly decrease their level of health when it comes to worrying about certain stages of their live such as retirement. People may worry tat once they retire they won’t have things to do and will be bored  without work. A stress buffer of this could be to maintain physical fitness and exercise to keep a healthy lifestyle as well as having something to do as a replacement of work.

The Holmes- Rache Inventory

After having complete the Holmes-Rache Inventory scale I totalled up my score to be 69 over the previous year. This gives the implication that I have a relatively low amount of life change and a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown. I feel quite relaxed about my score and also quite relieved that my stress levels are not too high. At this stage in my life I am relatively happy with how things are going and have minimum stress levels. However,  I feel that there was certain things I am stressed about that didn’t appear in the Holmes- rache inventory test such as the thought of my first year university exams looming over my head. I often over think the idea of these exams and put myself down as I always think the worst in exam situations. By worrying and constantly thinking about this I instantly become stressed and get stressed about being stressed and usually end up a teary mess.

In addition to this, I am constantly stressed about my university, work and social life and maintaining a healthy balance between all three of these. I always find myself tied up and worried that if I don’t spend enough time on one of these aspects I will not only let myself down but other people as well. By keeping up with my university work during the week I usually make time for my family and friends at the weekend and relax during this part of the week. Work is another aspect that I can easily come stressed about as I am constantly forced to complete over time by my boss and I feel they are unaware of the high demand of work my course at university has.

Despite this, there are many combats I do to relieve my stress and try to forget and over come what I am stressed about. My most important combat to stress is listening and talking to my friends and family about my problems and worries. I like to talk about my problems with people who have experienced or experiencing similar problems to myself as we can provide each other with support and advice. I am aware that my friends and family are always there for me in time of need and do there best to support me and make me happy.  I often find myself listening to music while tidying my room or before I go to my bed at night, this allows me to calm down and really think about my worries as well as making me happier. Another combat I use frequently is exercise. I make time to go a walk or go to the gym during the week in between university and work to release my stress by exercising and staying healthy. By exercising I instantly feel better about myself as it allows me to take my mind off my worries in life and focus on keeping myself fit. One stress combat that I use that is almost like a guilty pleasure is online shopping, this takes me mind off things and allows me to treat myself when I a feeling down.

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The Glasgow Effect

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The Glasgow Effect refers to the unexplained poor health and low life expectancy of those living in Glasgow , Scotland, compared to the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe. This investigation was put in place to look at and compare Glasgows socio-economic state and mortality rates. This then challenged the question ‘Why does Glasgow have similar levels of deprivation as other cities but appear to have the highest mortality rates?’ The cities that were compared of equally deprived areas around the UK to Glasgow were Liverpool and Manchester.
After completing research on all three of the cities the researchers came to the conclusion that each city was equally income deprived. It highlighted that 1 in 5 potential workers in Glasgow are on incapacity benefit showing the high level of deprivation state in Glasgow. In addition to this, the research suggested that the mortality rates for people under 65 years old was almost 30% higher than those living in cities like Liverpool and Manchester. This proves that it is not only the poor level of deprivation that is causing the mortality rates to be higher.
Following on from this, it appears that the higher mortality rates could be in connection with bad diets and lack of exercise which leads to an unhealthy lifestyle for those living in Glasgow. From looking at the death rates in Glasgow it shows that the death rate caused by suicide in is 70% more than Liverpool and Manchester. Due to lung cancer the death rates in Glasgow are 27% more than the other cities. A figure of great importance is death rates due to alcohol and drug related are almost 50% higher in Glasgow than the other cities mentioned. I find this statistic completely shocking, we now live in a society where people swear by the saying drink to get drunk or not drink at all. Scotland’s culture has now been redeemed for their drinking state and the amount of people who binge drink is becoming increasingly worrying. Poor health choices in this culture are spreading through generations, children and young adults are looking up-to their parents and ultimately copying and coping with their choices.
Scotland has now been named ‘The sick man of Europe’ and I personally feel to have this title over my head is intimidating. The Glasgow Effect may well be related to socio-economic status however, unhealthy lifestyles and the alcohol consumption plays a huge role in the high mortality rates Scotland receives.

Is Scotland Healthy?

Many people will argue the matter that Scotland is in fact a ‘healthy country’ or an ‘unhealthy country’, people will take into account their own health without looking at the people around them.  From analysing and taking into account the statistics from the Scottish Health Survey I have made generalisations and assumptions based on the question ‘Is Scotland Healthy?’.

Firstly, the Scottish Health Survey proposed the question ‘Would you describe your health as good or very good, bad or very bad?’ From a sample of 4894 adults, 74% of them assessed their health as good and very good with only 8% of them admitting to having a bad or very bad health. Looking at the children statistics out of 1139 children, 95% of children agreed they had a good or very good health and an astounding 1% admitted that they had a bad health. From looking at these statistics I am amazed at the amount of people who have openly admitted to having a healthy diet when Scotland has got such a high mortality rate with a consequence of this being due to peoples health. This does not mean however, that some of these people do not have a good health. Many people in Scotland will have a good healthy lifestyle and likes to exploit that however, I believe some of these people are covering up their bad health.

Mental Health is the first category highlighted in the survey and I feel this is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle. It is agreed that around 1 in 10 adults had two or more symptoms of depression. I personally believe mental health is becoming a huge impact on peoples health in Scotland, many people I know have suffered depression in various ways at some point in their life. 5% of the sample has also admitted to attempting suicide at some point or harming themselves one way or another. Many other issues of health was covered such as child obesity and dental health, they all highlighted in some way this was still happening in Scotland. The support for mental health is forever growing from call lines to help groups in spite of this I still feel mental health is a problem in Scotland that is dampening peoples health.

By looking at the diet of the sample, it highlighted that only 3.2 on average of adults ate the recommended portions of fruit and veg a day and children eating 2.7 portions a day. Another statistic that came to my attention is that over 25% of adults in Scotland in 2013 were classed as obese. In Scotland it is becoming severe issue that every second shop you pass is a take away of some sort with so much of these being fatty foods. Around 34% of children admitted to eating marsbarcakes at least twice a week. This shows that many children follow in the foot steps of their parents, the full family suffer because the parents are unwilling to maintain a healthy diet. It is vital to maintain a healthy diet to avoid suffering from heart diseases and various other health problems. In Scotland it is clear that many peoples diet is very unhealthy.

A final aspect is the lack of exercise in Scotland. The survey shows that 64% of adults claim to meet the recommended weekly guidelines of exercise. I feel that this statistic is a positive one as it shows that more than half of the sample admits to exercising weekly and being active. Although it can be argued that half of the sample is not meeting this guideline which shows that many people are not taking in the recommendations of physical health and this will show on their overall health. Again, along with your diet, it is clear that if your parents lack motivation and are unwilling to exercise it is more than likely that you will follow this and not complete the recommended weekly exercise. I personally feel Scotlands physical health needs to increase because of the lack of people attending for example games hall facilities which are now being closed down and giving less opportunities for children to exercise.

Overall, taking into account all of these statistics I personally feel that if you have been brought up around people who are unwilling to eat healthy or exercise this will pass down the line and ultimately decrease your motivation to become healthy. I think it is fair to state that Scotland is not in fact healthy nor unhealthy.

 

 

Inclusion and Equality- Focus on Disability

disability

In Society and Lifestyle, in todays input through the lecture, seminar and independent tutorial I have gathered and developed my thoughts and questions about people with disabilities and their experiences in society on inclusion and equality. Disability is number two of the nine characteristics protected against discrimination by the Equality Act 2010. I find this topic extremely interesting to read about and how being disabled can cause unfairness, I feel that it is crucial for society to treat everyone the same and give everyone equal opportunities. From looking back at ancient times, the treatment of people with disabilities was horrifying by many people being persecuted or killed just because they had a disability. In todays 21st century it is becoming an increasing matter that we as society must learn to create a new reality and ways of being.

Many people argue the matter that impairments themselves cause the disability by preventing them doing usual day to day activities, however, personally I believe that it is in fact the physical environment that surrounds us that causes magnificent ways of living and problems with those that live with a disability they find restrictions almost everywhere around them. I agree with Mel Ainscow belief that assumptions of people with disabilities are not intellectually developed and that those living with a disability should be moved into the mainstream environment to allow everyone to have fair and equal opportunities in the world.

In addition to this, I find the ‘universal design’ a very crucial and interesting concept that hopefully in years to come will be put in place in several buildings to create an equal and fair environment of use for everyone. This will allow people to treat everyone the same as they don’t have barriers separating the disabled and the privileged.

‘The opportunity of adversity’ a TED TALK video that was filmed in October 2009 by Aimee Mullens who truly believes there is no such thing as ‘normality’. Everyone has their different opinions and attitudes, beliefs, likes and attitudes. Nothing is considered as ‘normal’ as everyone is different. Society must learn to appreciate and value everyone instead of shaming and looking down on people who maybe look different or speak different to everyone else.

I feel that this is a strong topic that I still need to look into further. I feel that as a student and hopefully as an educator in the future I will gather these thoughts and be able to treat all my pupils equally. John Ravis belief is to be able to suit everyone in society we must look at the least advantaged first and consider what and how we would provide for them first. I will do just this in my classroom for an equal class environment for my pupils to earn in.

 

Inclusion and Equality

equalityAfter this weeks lecture the main concepts that I have learned are the definitions and understanding of Inclusion and Equality. Before this input, I had previous knowledge on equality and inclusion from school however, I was always thought inclusion and equality was of similar meanings now I know they are in fact completely different. I feel that I now understand the importance of these terms and how they effect society in various different ways. I found equality most interesting to read about and fully understand the key information.

Equality has many different approaches towards the meaning, first being equality of opportunity. (Thompson 2011) believes that equality of opportunity means to provide people with the same equal opportunities and chances. This will allow everyone to receive the same starting point in life and limit the equal chance of success. Equality of outcome is another approach that can determine the meaning of equality. This approach means that moving on from opportunities different  people must be given the same outcome and rewards no matter what the opportunity was. A third approach is the equality as fairness that ensures that different types of people are provided with the amount of support they need and allowed to carry out their full potential no matter what their differences are to become successful. Furthermore, equality of condition involves people being given the equal support through various different forms in their life. (Lynch and Baker 2005) examines the five key dimensions, first being, resources such as income, health care, education – the psychological needs. Equality of respect and recognition such as to be accepted and have equal rights. Equality to love care and solidarity which is societies that offer this support like education and employment. Equality of access to power, such as to make civil and political decisions. Finally, equality of equal access to working and learning such as the right to be educated, gain skills and qualities.

Unfortunately these approaches are not agreed in society by everyone and discrimination is still happening everywhere. In order to understand what gives rise to inequality and discrimination (Thompson 2011) believes that the PCS analysis helps understand how they operate. P referring to personal; this is individuals assumptions in society today which are shaped by the personal experiences of equality around us. C refers to the cultural level is very influential people are constantly being stuck under what is perceived as ‘normality’ and refusing to open up to anything outside of this. S refers to the structural level and relates to wider opportunities of discrimination such as action in communities and political people. People follow in these steps and believes anything they do is correct and the right way. Following on from this Allport (1954) wrote a book called ‘The Nature of Prejudice’ and refereed to discrimination in terms of a scale. I found this extremely interesting as it marked down the terms in order of least to most extreme. Anti locution was his first term which refers to verbal abuse by discrimination. This is insensitive remarks made towards another group which are not intentional however it is based on their opinion and shown as their judgements towards the group. Avoidance is second on the scale which is when a person isolates/avoids/maintains distance themselves from a particular group because of their differences. Discrimination is next, this is denying people access to opportunities or services because they are different, for example segregation in america. Physical attack is next which is crime and vandalism , then extermination; ethnic cleansing. From the Inclusion and equality seminar the quote from Allport ‘Although most barking does not lead to biting [..] there is never a bite without previous barking’ (p. 57). I personally believe this means that verbal abuse could potentially lead to physical attack and people should constantly watch their verbal language.

I really enjoyed this input on inclusion and equality however I feel that i must complete further reading on inclusion as I don’t quite fully understand these concepts.

 

Religion, Culture and Unchurched Spirituality

relWith religion being an unfamiliar subject to myself I wasn’t aware of the impact it had on todays society and culture as a whole. In this weeks lecture I learned about ‘unchurched spirituality’ and religion and culture and how they affected each other. In the tutorials we developed into more detail about the three theorists, named Max Weber, Bruce Lincoln and Karl Max who opposed various different views and attitudes to religion and the impact it has on society.

Max weber, one of the three theorists, believes that Christianity (Protestantism) played a significant factor towards the rise of capitalism in the western world which would thrive the work load of people who believed in this religion. Weber named this the ‘Protestant Ethic’. He firmly believed that religion  could be an agent for social change and today’s society would revolve around peoples religious beliefs.

However, Carl Marx was against this case and believed the opposite to Weber. Carl Max believed that religion was used to categorise the rich and the poor for the rich to dominate the poor. Marx argued that religion is an illusion  and is unnecessary part of today’s society it is a human creation ‘man made’ by god. He believed the religion deluded people into thinking that religion was a ranking that only certain people go to heaven, religion is named by carl marx as the ‘opium of people’ it allows people to think that only the rich can control and many people are left to accept there religious ways.

Bruce Lincoln partly agrees with Carl Marx’s attitude by supporting the idea of religion controlling society through power named as ‘hegemonic struggle’. He strongly believes that people must not accept all religious claims and ideas however, should be aware that they are there. In contrast to this Matt Waggoner believes that religion is a subjective imagination and is a myth and performance. He believes that the existence of religion is in fact a myth that controls power in society and that culture is based on religion.

Overall after further reading of all three theorists it is clear that religion has a very large impact on culture and society. I believe that the attitudes and beliefs of the theorists are in some ways different however, all agree that religion is a social change and impacted on culture as a whole.

In addition to this, I found unchurched spirituality a very interesting topic to consider the way religion can explore different in society especially in western countries. Unchurched spirituality is when people seek the help of spiritual guidance even if they are not associated to a particular religious group.

Furthermore, religion can provide a solution to social problems in todays society however, can be said to provide social goods to people. One solution to a social problem that religion  provides is material claims for people in time of need through food, shelter and care of the vulnerable. Secondly, it provides people with claims of community where people feel welcome to talk about their problems with people of similar issues. Thirdly, religion can also protect individuals for their well being and make them feel better as a whole, they may feel more meaningful . On the other hand, religion can also be a cause of social problems by impacting on health as many people refuse to accept medical treatments as it goes against their religion. Another cause may be people will use religion as an act of conflict and promote violence against other religions. Lastly, people may use their religion as an act of kindness to promote their religion and void belief in anything else.

After this weeks lecture I will further my knowledge by completing further reading to develop a real understanding of religion and culture. I have learned that religion will always have some sort of impact on todays society and culture.

Religion, Society and Diversity

religionIn todays lecture, I have learned the types and beliefs  of religion in society. After having never received any form of education at school on religion I feel that I have learned a lot more in detail about religious diversity and the positive and negative challenges and opportunities they offer. In the tutorial I feel I was beginning to learn how to prepare and form and essay with help from a group. This allows me to prepare essays plans that may possibly come up in the future. By completing the independent study task I was able research more on the anthropologist, ‘Bronislaw Malinowski’  and become more familiar with his beliefs in religion.

I understand the main concepts discussed today by following up reading on the functions of religion and gaining more useful knowledge on the anthropologist ‘M.F.C. Bourdillon’. I also understood the the types of religion as a social institution as I have previous knowledge of this however, after todays lecture I am now more fully aware of the cult which I never heard of before.  I also watched the jim jones video which helped my understanding and knowledge of religion in society.

I am struggling to understand the different functions of religion and the difference between the three anthropologists, I find this quite confusing. Furthermore, I will write the three anthropologists down and discuss their theories and compare them one by one which will develop my understanding better.

I feel what i have learned today relates a lot to myself as a student primary teacher. I must learn to expand my views and opinions on various religions and cultures to be able to adapt to children beliefs. I have also taken into account the positive and negative aspects religion has on the diversity as I feel this was extremely useful to myself as a student teacher to become cautious of these in a teaching environment.

 

16/01/2017