Society and Lifestyles – Megan Baines UWS ITE ePDP

Ideology and Prejudice

Today’s lecture was very informative and interesting. Prior to this lecture I did not have a full understanding of what prejudice and ideology were and what they entailed. However, after the lecture and workshops I now have a better understanding and an idea of how I would approach a question involving these two topics in my exam.

Prejudice can be described as someone’s prejudgements or biased thoughts on religion, race, gender, sexuality etc. It is an idea or opinion that is not based on actual fact, it can be referred to as a negative attitude, particuarly when it is a hatred or intolerance to certain kinds of people. However, when someone acts on their prejudice it then becomes discrimination.

Furthermore, we discussed and learned about the 5 agents of socialisation: media, family, peers, technology and education. This is where social interactions in each context help people learn values, norms and beliefs that make up the patterns of their culture. For children, they tend to learn these prejudices either from their parents or upbringing. It is extremely important as inspiring teachers that we have a full understanding of this topic and ensure that we teach children that everyone should be treated with respect regardless of their up-brining, background, culture etc.

A particular part of the lecture that I found interesting was the “Micro and Macro World”. I had never heard about this before and found it particuarly interesting to how it relates with our society and culture.

I enjoyed today’s lecture and feel like I know have a deeper understanding of the theories surrounding ideology and prejudice. I will continue to do further research to deepen my understanding in preperation for my exam.

Stress Hardiness

Today’s lecture focused on aspects of stress, triggers, buffers and our own perception of stress. At the beginning of the lecture, I realised that I have never really thought about my own stress levels and the things that cause me to stress. I noted down some things in my life that I feel like cause me to stress out: my job, driving lessons, family problems, a heavy workload and exam time. However, after some discussion I realised that some of these aspects can be both good and bad stress. I think it is important as educators that we realise that everyone deals with stress differently and that everyone feels and copes with it differently.

Being stressed, can have serious impacts on our health, not just physically but also mentally. It can have impacts on our heart and breathing rate, five senses and many more. Our mental health can also be effected and it can have a big impact on people who already suffer from mental health problems. I feel like when I get stressed I get myself very worked up, I panick and get very emotional. However, I feel that when I have the support from my loved ones and I can speak to my family and friends I get through it. I do feel it is extremely important that we encourage children to speak about their emotions and feelings to others, and for the stigma around mental health to slowly disappear.

Our independent study involved us trying out “The Holmes-Rahe Stress Calculator”. At the end of the test I got a score of 157 which I was a little bit surprised at. My score came under the category where I have a 50% chance of a health breakdown in the next 2 years. On reflection, some of the questions in the test were a mix of positives and negatives and therefore I feel like my stress score is a reflection of good and bad things that have happened in my life over the past year. I have realised that I do stress a lot about a lot of things and I dont deal with stress very well and therefore I feel like I need to work at aspects of my life that affect my stress levels and I am going to start working on this.

There are stress buffers that can help support a healthy lifestyle such as:

Talking to people around us- it is important that if we have a problem or issue that we speak about it with our close ones or people around us, or even a helpline. This helps to release your stress levels and feel safe and find a solution to the problem. Exercise- it has been said that when we exercise it releases endorphins which give you energy and make you happier and more positive. It can be a good release for people to help them cope with their feelings or even get their anger out by taking part in some activities such as boxing. I have been personally taking part in exercise and I feel like it has really helped me with my stress levels. Seeking professional advice- nowadays we have more access to information and professional help that can reduce our stress levels as well as any mental and physical health issues such as NHS 24, Samaritans etc.

We also had to read the Pengilly and Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness. This article basically explained a scale called the ‘hardiness scale’ which is the scale of challenge, commitment and control on the relationship between stress and depression which allows us to research reasons into combatting this. It stated 4 main factors which can negatively impact your health such as: lack of social support, loneliness, lack of human contact/touch, normative life transitions and non-normative life transitions. I found this article interesting as it gave me an insight into the types of things that can impact on my own health and stress levels.

Once we realise what it is that causes us to stress it becomes easier to help resolve these issues and start making a change to have a healthier lifestyle.

Module Assessment

This week’s lecture was an assessment briefing. We were able to discuss the best way to approach the seen question for the exam and aspects that we should take into account when tackling this type of question. At first, I found the seen question quite daunting but after discussing where the marks are awarded I feel a lot more confident in how I will be approaching this question. Starting from now, I need to begin to manage my time effectively, plan ahead and prepare for this exam. I feel like I need to start practicing past paper questions, plan essays as well as further research into each topic we have learned about. I hope to gain 40% or more in order to pass the exam and achieve a good grade in this module.

At Risk Behaviours and Society

Today’s lecture focused on how at risk behaviours and the society and culture that a child is brought up in can impact on their future and development. I found this lecture extremely interesting, relevant and important. As a student teacher, it is crucial that we inform our young people of the types of behaviours that can put them at risk and how it is so important that they are able to make their own choices but hopefully ones that ensure that they are protected, healthy and safe in order for them to flourish in life. The six at risk behaviours that we learned about were: lack of physical activity, diet, injuries, use of tobacco, sexual behaviours and alcohol and drug use. It is said that these at risk behaviours can put an individual into serious danger and therefore it is extremely important that we as educators are aware of these behaviours and the consequences that follow.

The society and culture that a child is brought up in can have a serious impact on their behaviour. For any person, the area that they are brought up in is part of who they are as it can impact on their choices, career and future life. For example, if a child is brought up in an area where there are very little job prospects, low income, drugs and alcohol misuse is common then this will have an impact on their health and wellbeing. There has been links between deprivation and health and therefore enhances the fact that society and culture plays a crucial role in a child’s development.

Furthermore, we had to read and analyse “The Glasgow Effect” in relation to the question we were earlier asked “Are Scottish people healthy?”. The study compared Glasgow and two other main cities: Liverpool and Manchester. They choose to compare these three cities because the levels of deprivation in each city were very similar. The study looks into how morality can be linked to poor health and income. From the study, we have concluded that Scotland, in particular Glasgow are more unhealthy than the rest of the UK. However, premature deaths were in Glasgow are more than 30% higher as well as all deaths being around 15% higher than the other cities. I think from doing some further reading I have discovered that there must be other factors contributing to morality other than just poor health and income, factors such as alcohol and drug consumption should be taken into account. In relation to the question “Are Scottish people healthy?” I think it is clear to see that currently we are not a healthy country however, we are improving year by year but a lot still needs to be done to improve the overall health statistics. It showed me that we as educators can act as a role model to children and encourage them to make better decisions for them to have a healthier and better future. Its important to want to be that person who can help change society and it is best to start with the newer generation because they can be that change.

Inclusion and Equality-Focus on Disability

I was unable to make today’s lecture on the ‘Focus on Disability’ due to ill health. However, I have read over the class materials and further reading and I feel like I now fully understand the information and have grasped a solid understanding of the term ‘disability’.

I was happy to read and learn that time has moved on and there has been acts introduced, such as the ‘Equality Act 2010’, to support those who may have a disability. I was shocked to learn about what happened to people in the past who suffered with a disability, it is heartbreaking to know that in the past people with a disability were treated so differently. For example, they were excluded from the labour market and were limited to low income jobs.

I think it is important to make children aware of disabilities and I think in order to challenge discrimination towards people with a disability we must start in schools. It is important that we as educators are a voice for the children and inform them of how everyone deserves to be treated with respect and every child is important and of value. It is important that children are taught about disability awareness and that they are able to develop an understanding of disability as well as being able to explore their own attitudes, values and experiences.

Overall, this was a very interesting topic and I thoroughly enjoyed learning and doing some further research into the topic.

Inclusion and Equality

I particularly enjoyed today’s class as I really like this type of topic and find it very interesting. Firstly, we learned about what incision and equality actually meant. I had a rough idea of this already as I previously done higher modern studies in school and topics like this one were commonly discussed. Something that I did find particularly informative was the five key dimensions of equality. I had never realised that there were dimensions to equality of condition before but I am keen to read more about it. We discussed the various aspects where everyone should be considered equal such as: opportunity, fairness, working and learning etc. Another aspect of today’s lecture that I learned a lot about was the PCS analysis. I had never heard of this before but I actually think it is very effective to understand what gives rise to inequality and diversion. Moreover, I found Allport’s scale of prejudice and discrimination very interesting, effective and factual.

I’m today’s workshop we worked together I’m groups of 4 to discuss a particular experience where we might have witnessed discrimination or inequality. We decided to display ours in a picture and written format. In ours we discussed how society has developed and had became more understanding in terms of anyone can be in love and should be able to show/display their love no matter their gender. We showed that years ago people, especially in schools, would fling the word ‘gay’ about without knowing its true meaning. People who were ‘gay’ used to get bullied because they weren’t like everyone else. However, nowadays society has changed and gay marriage has now been accepted and it is not seem as a big of an issue as it once was.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed today’s class and found it very interesting. I liked working in groups with my peers as we were able to initiate discussion and hear everyone’s point of view. I am really looking forward to next weeks lecture. Also, there was a quote in one of the slides that I found particularly eye-opening and inspiring. “Being different is not a problem, being treated differently is, stop discrimination”. inequality

Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched’ Spirituality

Today’s lecture focused on how religion and social issues can be linked together in terms of claims of community, spiritual claims, impact on health etc. I found this very informative and interesting as I have never thought about how religion can impact on so many social issues such as health, it really opened my mind. Furthermore, we looked at a few more theorists that agree and disagree with religion as culture. I enjoyed researching more into scholars such as Max Weber and Karl Marx and reading their views and opinions. I was very engaged with looking into how their views differed from one another.

Part of the lecture today involved learning about ‘Unchurched’ spirituality which I found very useful and learnt a lot. I had never heard of this term before however after some explanation it all started to make sense pretty quickly. It was interesting to read about the different criticisms that people have with it, some of which I agree and disagree with. We also discussed how religion and spirituality are very similar and closely linked however, are slightly different in their definition.

I found the lecture and the information given to us really interesting and it was given in a way that was easy to understand. However, when it came to the workshop I was confused with some of the exam style questions and I am still quite unclear on where I am going wrong and what I need to fix. Although, in order to improve upon this I will look into more of those type of questions and ask for assistance if I need it.

Overall, I enjoyed the lesson today and will continue to do further research on religion to develop my knowledge in time for the exa#

Religion, Society and Diversity

Today was the first class in the Society and Lifestyles module and it was focused on Religion, Society and Lifestyles. I really enjoyed the lecture and workshops and found them both very interesting and informative. I had previously done RMPS in high school as a higher and so I did have some previous knowledge on the subject already. However, my knowledge was greatly expanded from today’s lesson as it was aspects of religion and society that I had never looked at before.

From the lecture, I was able to grasp an understanding of what religion actually is and how so many people in different professions would define it. I found this very intriguing as I was unaware to how many definitions there were regarding religion and I certainly want to look a lot more into how religion can and is defined. I feel like the definitions that I related to the most were the Sociologists and Anthropologists view.

From that, we also discussed how when we as students speak and learn about religion we are taking a scholarly approach opposed to a believers approach. This was something I had never really thought about before in detail but found very interesting when we were speaking and learning about it in the lecture. A part of the lecture that I feel that I will need to do a lot of further research into from religious studies or books is the theorists. We were able to learn about different thoerists and how some of their views and findings supported religion. We spoke about four of them in particular: Smart, Malinowski, Durkheim and Bourdillon. When it came to one of the workshops, we were to research one of the theorists in more detail which was very helpful as it allowed me to gain a deeper understanding. However, I do feel like I will need to research these theorists in a lot more detail so that I can gain a deeper understanding of their viewpoints.

I would also like to deeper my understanding on functionalism. I found that I got a bit confused at this section, however once I read over my notes I started to understanding it a bit better although I do think I will need to do further readings to fully understand this part.

I really enjoyed today’s lectures and workshops and felt like they were very engaging, interesting and eye-opening. I feel like this particular module will be very useful and helpful for my progress as a learner and a teacher.