In todays lecture, we discusessed the links and relationship between society, culture and youth. I found out that culture is he values, norms habits, and ways of life characteristics of a coherent social group. Furthermore, I found that the meaning of a society is made up of people, groups, networks, institutions, organisations and systems. These may include local, national and international patterns of relationships. We then discussed how they interact on a micro, meso and macro level. We then discussed how youth is different to adults and mentioned a few characteristics that they both have. For example, youth tend to be ignorant, rebellious and dependant whereas adults tend to be more independent and strong. Youth is the stage between being a child and an adult and within this there is subcultures. For example, goths. punks and hippies.
We then went onto studying some social theorists such as Piaget, Kohlberg, and Maslow and Eric Erikson. Piaget believes that we go through stages in our life in relation to what age we are and this impacts our mental development. We then had a look at Erikson who doesn’t believe in stages but believes in stages but believes that youth climb steps in order to become an adult.
During the day I struggled to understand Maslow as much as the other theorists. I feel that I understood the main idea of the triangle but do not feel confident enough to write about him and his beliefs in more detail. In preparation for the exam I will research him further.
From todays lecture I feel confident that I could attempt a question about youth, society and culture however I feel that to have a greater understanding I need to have a look at some case studies and further research theorists.
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Ideology and Prejudice
Todays lecture for me was the most insightful and educational input that we’ve had. We were taught what ideology and prejudice are and examples of these. I thought that the lecture was very relevant to todays society and is a topic that is prevalent in every day life – especially as a teacher. Before this lecture I think that I had a relatively good grasp of what the term prejudice meant and knew some examples of where I might see these. However, when the term ‘ideology’ was on the board, I was faced with a completely unfamiliar and new word. I learned that the correct meaning of prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude towards an individual based solely on the individuals membership of a social group. I also learned that the correct and real meaning of ideology is an organised collection or body of ideas that reflects the beliefs, values and interests of a group, system, institution or nation. In general use, the term refers to the body of doctrine, myth and symbols held by the group that guides individual and group actions. I also learned that there was a link between prejudice and discrimination – someone can be prejudice towards a certain group but not discriminate against them – discrimination is acting about their thoughts whereas prejudice can be kept to oneself.
After the tutorial I feel that I can confidently speak about the 5 agents of socialisation – media, family, peers, education and technology. These 5 agents all contribute positively and negatively to society and on yourself. Our task was to discuss how each of these things impact us. We discussed how media often project false allegations and false information which can be interpreted by a naive mind to form an wrong interpretation of information which in turn, creates fallacious arguments and beliefs. Another agent that we discussed was famous and Mannheim – Sociology of knowledge. ‘The theory of generations’ – you ideology and belief systems are from the generations – whatever you have been taught from your parent, where they got theirs from etc and so views on race, sexuality and religion are often passed down the family – when in fact these views are now seen as very outdated as society has changed so much.
One concept that I did not understand fully in the tutorial or lecture was secularisation. I asked Laura for help and she gave me the example of catholics. I understood it to mean religion being adapted or used for non religious purposes for example, marriage in a church when the couple aren’t religious. I know that with this knowledge I could not confidently write and essay response on this topic and that I will need to explore it further in the library and online.
After todays lecture, I feel that I will be able to identify prejudice in a classroom and as a teacher I feel that this is essential to ensure equality.
Stress Hardiness
After our lecture on stress and the effects of stress, we were asked to read the Pengilly & Dowd (2000) article on Stress Hardiness. This article explained such a thing called the hardiness scale of commitment, challenge, and control on the relationship between stress and depression which allows us to research reasons into combatting this. The article discusses 4 main factors which can negatively impact your health;
– Normative life transitions.
– Non-normative life transitions.
– Lack of human contact or touch.
– Loneliness
– Lack of social support.
The first factor which can negatively impact your health is normative life transitions. Normative life transitions are life events that can be predicted or that you have planned – an example of this could be moving house or changing job. These type of events can cause a great deal of stress because they are life changing events however they are predicted and do not cause as much long term damage as non normative life transitions.
Another factor which can negatively impact your health are non normative life transitions. These life events are more damaging and have a more serious effect on someones life. These events are unpredictable and could be being fired from a job or a break up. Because of these life events, illnesses can become more occurrent – for example coronary heart disease and cancer.
Another factor that could negatively impact your health is loneliness. In our lecture, we learned the difference between loneliness and being alone. Being alone is literally being yourself in a room whereas feeling lonely means you could be in a room full of people and still feel yourself – this means you feel you cant talk to anyone. Lonely individuals are 4 times more likely to become sick and deal badly with stress. This can lead to unhealthy behaviours such as drinking and could also greatly contribute to illnesses such as depression.
One more factor that can impact your health is a lack of social support. Social support is the advice of your family, friends or colleagues about your life and them being there for you. If you feel you have nobody to talk to, then you will add more pressure onto yourself because you cant share it with someone else or get advice. This can be detrimental to ones health and can cause negative feelings about themselves which will effect their confidence, increase their stress levels, decrease their life expectancy, increase need for medical attention.
The last factor that can negatively impact your health is human contact or touch. Human contact is a necessity to a humans wellbeing and greatly contributes to ones mental health. From just giving your friend a high 5 or a hug, they are exposed to human emotion and get a sense of someone caring for them. This can help reduce stress levels and contribute to a healthier, happier life.
However, in todays lecture, we learned about ways to combat stress and avoid all of these problems which I am going to start implementing. One being exercising. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which give you energy and make you happier. I’ve noticed this and will often go to the gym before I start studying. But now, I need to start going a run or to the gym when i feel stressed and often do not want to see or do anything. Another stress buffer is talking to people. This helps release stress and makes you feel safe which in turn, releases your stress levels. Ive found that this has helped me the most and not bottling all of my stress up means that I can in fact be more productive. Another stress buffer is religion. Religion gives individuals a sense of inclusion and can make individuals stop participating in at risk behaviours which contribute to stress.
I am going to start implementing these factors more and from the lecture and being educated more on stress, I know that I am now aware on how to cope with it.
The Holmes – Rahe Stress Inventory
After completing the Holmes – Rahe stress inventory, I scored 236 points which put me in the middle category which suggests I have a 50% chance of a breakdown in the next 2 years. This gave me a revelation that I need to start adapting some stress dealing mechanisms as I have a lot of stress on myself and upon thinking, am not good dealing with it. This score has given me the realisation that I should start taking more care of my mind and body and start letting myself rely on help from others to avoid the outcome that this test is suggesting i am at risk of. However, I felt that the test was aimed at older, more independent individuals and a test targeted for young adults could be more accurate. I also believe that stress can be due to temporary issues, for example, at the moment I am planning my trip to New York for the summer. This stress will be gone in a few weeks.
i believe that the majority of my stress derives from being a student and this test did not state anything about that as so I believe it was fairly inaccurate. Another area that brings me a great deal of stress is my part time job in a hotel and by working I have limited my time for social activities, studying and time for myself – neither of these factors are mentioned. A sign of my stress is my sleep pattern. On an average night, I get around 6 hours sleep and this is due to stress and late nights from work which means I have to stay up later to complete any outstanding work that I have.
To combat the stress in my life I am going to try and take some more time to relax. I am constantly trying to please and see other people and so I am trying to go to uni, work out, see my family, my friends and my boyfriend. By trying to please everyone, I often run down myself and so I am going to try and take an hour a day to have a bath or a nap to recuperate myself.
At Risk Behaviours & Society
During this weeks lecture, we firstly explored at risk behaviour. In society, there are 6 at risk behaviours which can put an individual in danger. These are as follows;
– Injuries
– Use of tobacco
– Alcohol and drug use
– Sexual behaviours
– Diet
– Lack of physical activity
As a student teacher I found this lecture extremely relevant as you need to be aware of these behaviours in order to prevent them in children. By educating children on the risks of these behaviours, they are much more likely to live longer, happier lives.
After this, we explored The Glasgow Effect which is a study which compares Glasgow to two other main cities – Manchester and Liverpool. The document explores how morality is linked to poor health and low income. The results show the deprivation levels of these cities are almost identical. Despite this, premature deaths in Glasgow are more than 30% higher, with all deaths around 15% higher than in the other cities. This means there must be another factor contributing to this. Upon further reading I found some shocking statistics – deaths of those living in Glasgow (in comparison to residents of Liverpool and Manchester) were 27% higher in relation to lung cancer, almost 70% higher for suicide, 2.3 times higher for alcohol-related causes, and almost 2.5 times higher for drug-related poisonings. All of these illnesses often relate to ill health and bad habits such as smoking, alcohol intake and drug intake. This shows that Glasgow and Scots are in fact more unhealthy than the rest of the UK.
Inclusion and Equality – Focus on Disability
From todays lecture and seminars, we established that a disability can range from a very small impairment to something much larger which prohibits an individual from many activities and events. In todays society, we have come a long way and are well on our way to equality. I learned how important it is to address and spend the extra time going above and beyond to make sure that any individual with a disability has the same chances as those who dont.
One thing which took me a while to understand further was the thinking model and universal design. For me, this is new material and is something I hadn’t been exposed to before. I found the language in the lecture slides was quite complex and so I took it upon myself to access other resources and ask my peers for advice which furthered my understanding. In regards to the language used in the slides, I also found that I was very unfamiliar and uneducated on the language used when speaking about disability and is something that Is fundamental when becoming a teacher. It is inevitable that I will come across a child with a disability and so I need to make sure I possess the correct language when addressing the child, their parents and higher authorises to project the most efficient response.
As a whole, I understood and really enjoyed this input as I know how relevant it will be in my future life and career.
Inclusion and Equality
In this lecture we discussed what inclusion is and what it can lead do. From my understanding, I think inclusion is the antidote of exclusion – including everyone, of all backgrounds, religions and cultures in a society and community. Through promotion of inclusion of every individual – we are well on our way to helping society reach equality. We then learned about the Equality Act 2010 which was introduced on the 1st October 2010. It provides a UK-wide legislation which aims to protect the rights of individuals, advance equality of opportunity, and promote a fair and more equal society. This helps eliminate exclusion, harassment and discrimination.
After todays input, I have understood that there is a difference in inclusion and equality however they work in unison. I did not fully understand PCS analysis and have been doing further reading and have been taking more time to understand the lecture slides on moodle so I can put this into practise in the future.
This lecture opened my eyes to the importance of inclusion in society and how prevalent it is in the 21st century. As a teacher, I will be exposed to children of all backgrounds and I want them to feel at home and all equal when they enter my classroom each morning. This input has given me the knowledge, current termination and motivation to make sure I apply this in my future career.
Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched’ Spirituality
In this lecture, we focused on spirituality – which is something that isn’t familiar to me. I came to the definition that it is a belief which isn’t always associated with religion or church. The ‘unchurched’ nature of religion has materialised due to the decrease in religion and the decrease of its importance in todays society. In todays inputs, I learned that spirituality is self governing, very individualised to personal beliefs and gives individuals a belief of believing in something without belonging to a group. We then learned about criticisms of unchurched spirituality which broadened my knowledge on this topic. We learned that because spirituality does not have a church or place of worship – the effect it has on society is very limited. After this, I still found it difficult distinguishing the similarities and differences of religion and spirituality as they are both beliefs just practised in different ways. We also learned about social issues such as suicide and any deviation of any social norm can be solved by religion. This is because it gives individuals a sense of community and helps people in their time of need through food donations. After this lecture, I feel a lot more opened to different views of individuals around the world.
Religion, Society and Diversity
In the first lecture we learned and were introduced to what religion actually is. We were shown many definitions from different perspectives. We also learned about what sociology of religion is – it is a study of religion and how it relates to other factors of society. I also learned about the different dimensions of religion and how there are different typed of religion which all contain different concepts. Some of these were cults, sects and established religions – which all have a shared concept of their own beliefs, practices and worships.
In this lecture, I understood all the key concepts being discussed however this was after a long train of thought and open debate. I understand that there are many forms of religion, which all have their own beliefs, concepts and worships. The function of these religions vary and were discussed in the work of Bronislaw Malinowski and M.F.C. Bourdillon. Some of these functions were to deal with life crises such as health and the environment, to help people socially transition through stages in their lives such as marriage or welcoming a child, and for basic needs which Malinowski stated gives him comfort and security in a world of dangers. One concept which I struggled to comprehend was the culture aspect of religion. This was because we were presented with criticisms from Karl Marx and so I found it difficult consolidating one definition and understanding of culture in religion. Before starting this module, I had done R.M.P.S all through school and at a higher level – gaining an A1. However, after one lecture at University, I feel my knowledge has vastly improved and I have learned about the many different dimensions that religion has.
