Author: Andre Coleman

In this assignment I will look at the different sociological perspectives on health and ill health as well as the different definitions of it.

Defining health is really difficult as there are many different views. There have been many criticisms of the defining of health. The definition of health has changed over the years. For example

In Mauritania; a small country in N.W. Africa, obesity is considered a sign of beauty. Girls are ‘force-fed’ so that they grow up with that obesity look.

In the western country obesity is seen as ill health, unattractive and associated with negative stereotypes.

Obesity is still seen as a sign of wealth and well-being in many parts of Africa.

Functionalist Approach

The functionalist approach on health and ill health derives from Talcott Pearson. Talcott saw ill health as a threat to society and believed that good health was essential in order for society to be still functioning. He said that ill health affects our ability to work and perform our roles in society. For that reason he said that for a person to be considered sick there are several expectation to be met. He called the expectations the ‘sick role’ which indicated how people are supposed to be like when they are ill and how they should be thinking. The sick role divides into two groups; the rights and the obligations.

Rights;

The sick person is free from any social roles. For example work, or school, they should be allowed to take the day off in order to get back to normal

The sick person is not responsible for their condition

Obligations;

The person should seek for medical assistance. For example going to the doctors to get checked up and get treatment

The person should not like being sick. For example the person should not fake being sick just because they get attention as well as getting a day off their normal duties.

However the sick role backfires sometimes as people tend to lose patience with the sick person or deny that they are sick for reasons such as liking the role. For example family, they may show sympathy at the beginning but after a while they lose patience with the sick person and assume he/she is seeking attention or is a hypochondriac.

Marxist & Feminist Approach

Marxist approach believes that the health and social care service care services are provided just to help the bourgeoisies gain profit. The Marxist believe that the health and social care of the service users should be maintained in order for them to quickly get back to work so that they can make profit for the bourgeoisies. In order to maintain the social hierarchy the government purposely ignores the selling of products which can harm one’s body for example, cigarettes, tobacco etc. In the modern world I believe the hierarchy is shaped into a pyramid with a few elite at the top controlling and manipulating those below which allows the rich to always be the rich and the poor to be the poor giving no chance for movement in the hierarchy.

Feminist writers believe that the medical profession and pharmaceutical industries have given a low priority to developing male contraceptive pills which have fewer harmful side effects compared to contraceptives used by women. This shows that society is exploiting women and increase anxiety and stress for women there by suppressing their abilities and making life outside of family harder so that women resume their position as a housewife. For example a women experiencing depression or nausea at her workplace will perform badly therefore in comparison to males who are performing better and getting better result she will seem inferior .This clearly shows how society and its medications are purposely full of side effects to marginalise women, so that the males will be more dominant.

While Marxist and Socialist Feminist argue that women are not receiving the same medications as males. Women have two roles, also known as ‘double day’ which signifies two roles women have to undertake. First of all as a housewife, taking care of her domestic duties, and the other as a worker/employer. Sociologist Doyal suggests that it is the fact that women have two roles in society, that they getting sick. Personally I believe it is due to the medication we receive as women, which could otherwise be given to men with far less side effects. It is the due to the lack of consideration and its need for male dominance that women are sick.

Even now in this modern day the definition of health is not clear. There are two opposing theories one being that health means the ‘absence of disease’ the other being ‘not only an absence of disease but also a state of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being’. The negative concept is the ‘absence of disease’ which would mean that the person needs to be diagnose with a disease in order to be unhealthy. However the positive definition which is provided by the ‘World Health Organization (WHO)’in 1974;not merely an absence of disease but also a state of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being’ means that you don’t have to be diagnosed with a disease you could be mentally ill ,physically, spiritually ,socially, emotionally, or intellectually. So therefore the health and social care sectors usually take a holistic assessment in order to address the needs of the ‘whole’ person rather than single issues. (Btec level 3 health and social care book 3).

Sociologist Mildred Blaxter carried a large survey and then identified three definitions to health and well-being;

One positive definition; ‘regarding health as being fit’

Two being a negative definition; ‘Regarding health as being free from pain or discomfort

And lastly a functional definition; ‘regarding health in terms of being able to perform certain, day-to-day tasks

Concepts of ill health
Clinical Iceberg

One concept of health is Clinical Iceberg this is a term used to describe unreported illness. The statistics produced by the government and the doctors have a 94% off unreported illness missing from the statistics. For example Lyme Disease is one of the highest unreported illnesses that is unreported. “A survey last month for the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign suggested that nearly twice as many men as women had not visited their GP in the past year.” (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8154200.stm last accessed 22/10/12 18:02) & (http://www.anh-usa.org/lymedisease/ last accessed 27/12/12 )So therefore this could be one of the reason why there are so many unreported illness because men do need see a doctor because the try and live up to the saying of ‘men don’t cry and they are tough’ so this leads them to think that if they do go to the doctors that they are weak.

Impairment

Impairment is the restrictions to our day-to-day activities caused by physical or mental dysfunctions for example Down syndrome; a learning difficultly.

Disability

Disability is seen by Tom Shakespeare as restrictions that arise for a person with impairments because society does not take into account the needs of people with impairment for example someone in a wheel chair not having ramps in buildings or someone deaf not having hearing aids available. However some people may refer this to ‘disabling environment’ which suggests an environment where facilities for the impairments are not available for people to take full part in social life.

CONTENTS

Introduction————————————————————————1

Section 1

Definition of health and illness————————————————-2
Evaluate Sociological and biological constructs of health——————3

Section 2

Structural patterns in inequality in modern Britain————————-4
Evaluation of unequal distribution of illness——————————–5

Section 3

Factors that reduce the freedom of health care —————————-6
Structures of healthcare service that might affect individuals———–7

Section 4

Conclusion———————————————————————8

Section 5

Reference———————————————————————-9

Introduction

This report aims to understand and analyse the different definitions of health and illness in different perspectives, evaluate them and identify structural patterns in inequality in Modern Britain.

It also evaluates unequal distribution of illness from different perspectives among different groups. It identifies problems that might occur in accessing health care among different groups in modern Britain.

Finally it evaluates changes in healthcare services and the structures, and how this might affect different groups in the society.

DIFINING HEALTH AND ILLNESS

The speech “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” can be used to define my own version of health and illness as to what our views are about health and illness. For example I view health as been strong and healthy enough to carry out my daily chores, on the contrary inability to achieve it will be blamed on my physical health. So how do people view health and illness?

World health organisation (1946) defines health as the mental and physical wellbeing. On the other hand illness will be the defined as lack of mental and physical wellbeing.

The biopsychosocial model view health and illness as the interaction between biomedical, social and psychological factors. Biomedical refers to genetic factors such as inherited conditions and physiological changes of individuals, psychologically how we manifest our feelings and thought and socially how we socialise and communicate with persons and group of persons in the society as a whole. The interaction with all of these factors, coupled with cultural differences among different groups of people in Britain will influence the way we view health and illnesses.

Holistic model view health and illness by taking into account the whole person, which includes the person’s body, spirit and mind. This mode is much more individualised to the person involved and rarely take into account wider picture and the social and environmental factors that might possibly influence health and illness across various cultures.

Biomedical models defines health and illness by using scientific measure to determine if a person is ill or not, as they believe that illness is caused by physical factors, such as physiological changes in the body and inherited genes, in case of mental health causes might be referred to neurotransmitters defect, biochemistry which might be linked to high increase of dopamine to the frontal cortex of the brain and so on. As such blood test, analysis and series of test are carried out to identify the causes and this may enable them to classify the illness and provide appropriate treatment through the use of drugs to control or cure the condition. Biomedical model view human body as a machine, in real sense machines do develop a mechanical fault and will require fixing up. This is how biomedical model view the body, at a point it might break down and require fixing up through surgery or drugs.

Sociological model believes that health and illness are caused by factors outside of the physiological changes in the body. This model attributes causes of ill health to poverty and inequality, socio standard of behaviour and communication in the society. Sociological model view health to be socially constructed in the society to control people. They also believe that different factors such as psychological, political, social, economic, biological, and culture and environment influenced the way people view health in the society.

Health is not an easy term to define. For some it encompasses mental health, for others physical and mental health are compartmentalized.

A perception of health or mental health is not only defined within the medical context, but it is also defined by the patient within a sociocultural context that includes family and social network as well as a wide selection of potential providers. Such definitions may vary from one culture to another, Warwick-Boot (2012).

Biomedical models does have some advantages as it enable the medical team to carry out series of medical test to find out any physiological changes. However, scientifically, there has been no expansion of drug innovation, old drugs have been manufactured under different names doing the same thing as previous drugs. This raise concern if these drug manufacturers are neutral to the medical teams. Areas with major health concerns and needs are been neglected and drugs budget have been dramatically reduced due to the poverty conditions of these groups for the fact that they might not make a lot of profit, this refers to the medical professionals as iatrogenesis meaning they are the cause of health problems.

The benefit of Sociological model is that it takes into account the factors outside of the physiological changes in the body such as psychological, political, social, economic, biological, culture and environment when viewing health and illness. The down side to it is that way cultures and different groups view health and illness changes over time. For example once homosexuality was viewed as illness and now it is normal in a society.

Section 2

Ethnicity

According to M. Senior, B Viveash (1998) refers to ethnicity as a way of life, behaviour that one acts on to make a sense of their cultural identity in a particular group in the society as a whole. Movement in and out of Britain have made Britain into more diversified cultural society today, to those who preserved it. Though several ethnic minorities are small, but in some cases there are larger ones in some demographic region like Brent in London. This makes it more obvious for a particular health need to be cared for in an area where ethnic groups are concentrated in.

The biological model often refers to the features which makes up the physical look of a person such as their skin colour to classify them into a group. Why the sociologists distinguishes people according to their ethnic groups.

The artefact explanations strongly believe that there are specific health and illnesses associated within different ethnic groups.

The sociologists have great concern in understanding why some certain health and illnesses are associated with different ethnic groups. Such as Afro-Caribbean linked with high rate of sickle cell anaemia an inherited blood disorder, why the White European have a high rate of haemophilia a disorder that prevents the clotting of blood and might cause someone to bleed to death if quick medical emergency intervention is not carried out on time. Also Asians are associated with high rate of heart diseases and so forth.

It is important to examine the way ethnic groups have distributed themselves in the demographic regions of Britain to enable us to account for their numbers in a particular area, whether they are minor or large such as ethnic group in Brent in London, understand some health related issues associated with these specific groups and outline the health care needs of the majority of the local people in the society.

Health inequalities exist among different groups. In this case among ethnic groups.

Ethnicity and Culture

According to Public Health Action Support (2011) there is evidence of documentation within ethnic inequalities in health outcomes in the UK. There are difficulties with the approach and measurement of ethnicity as to what the causes might be as outlined below.

Ethnicity is regarded as a fluid concept, because it entails different meanings within different contexts. For example, an individual from Pakistan might consider himself as a Pakistani when filling out a form in the UK surveys, when filling out a form in the US might consider himself Asian. The definition of ethnicity is influenced by historical value and the current social and political context (Bradby, 2003).
As definitions of ethnicity changes classifications such as race, skin colour, language, religion, nationality, country of origin, and culture do not change. These have limitations and implications in accessing health. Often reason for research are not clearly stated. Bhopal (1997) claims that ethnicity is a euphemism for race. Review of the literature, Comstock and colleagues (2004) found that researchers failed to differentiate between the concepts of race and ethnicity.
Reliability and validity of measurements of ethnicity are huge concern to the society as a whole. Assigned ethnic identities may not match individual identities which threatens the validity of the research. Comparisons over time cannot reflect mixed ethnic identities. Finally classifying people as black, white, or Asian may mask differences associated between different groups of people. Ellison (2005).

For the fact Ethnicity is not written on UK death certificates, and mortality data uses country of birth as a proxy, this systems fail to recognise ethnic minorities that are born in the UK.

Findings on ethnic inequalities in mortality (Kelly & Nazroo, 2008):

Caribbean’s born in the UK have high rates of mortality from stroke. Men born in the Caribbean have low rates of mortality from coronary heart disease.

Born in West/South Africa you may have high mortality rates from stroke, but low mortality rates from coronary heart disease.

If born in South Asia you may have high mortality rates form coronary heart disease and stroke.

Non-white individuals may have low mortality rates from respiratory disease and lung cancer, but high mortality rates of diabetes.

Table 1: Analyses the rates of mortality by country of origin, England and Wales, 1989-1992.

Cause of death

All

Coronary heart disease

Lung cancer

Breast cancer

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Women

AlAll

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

ScScotland

132

136

120

130

149

169

114

IrIIreland

139

120

124

120

151

147

92

A South Africa

110

103

131

105

42

17

84

West Africa

113

126

56

62

62

51

125

C Caribbean

77

91

46

71

49

31

75

So South Asia

106

100

146

151

45

33

59

Source: Wild and McKeigue (1997:705) in Bartly (2004)

Explanations for ethnic inequalities in health include:

Biased results of statistical artefact.
Illness are blamed on migrationprocess (change of environment).
Genetic and biological differencesbetween ethnic groups may be a factor.
It is associated with different culture and health behaviours.
Poverty
Experiences of various forms of racial abuse leads to health problems.
Unequal treatment by the health care system in Britain.

Ethnic inequalities in health care access still persist in NHS. The inverse care law, first described by Julian Tudor Hart in 1971, states: The availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population

served.

Goddard and Smith (2001) outline reasons for variations in access to health care:

Availability:Some health care services may not be available to some population groups, or clinicians may have different propensities to offer treatment to patients from different population groups, even where they have

identical needs.

Quality: The quality of services offered to patients may vary between population groups.

Costs:The health care services may impose costs (financial or otherwise) which vary between population groups.

Information:The health care organisations may fail to ensure that all population groups are equally aware of the services available.

The sociological perspectives to illness varies. The functionalism expects a large population to have division of labour as no one is self -sufficient to ensure that the society functions in an orderly manner. They also encourage people to seek and comply with medical advice for speedy recovery so as to return back to work. They understands people have to work, and people do not claim to be ill deliberately and as such should not be punished. This perspective do aim to protect workers from been abused or punished by their employer due to ill health, however they do overstate the importance of the doctors who have the power to make or break a patient which leads to lots of medical errors referred to as iatrogenesis. There could also be dependency on drugs to force people back to work.

Marxism examine the economic systems of the capitalist society that shapes the society as a whole. As such the society is divided into two social groups which are the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Bourgeoisie the private property owners and those that owns the means of production and create bogus profit are believed to have greater influences in the rules of the society. Why the proletariat (labourers), those who work for the bourgeoisie are been manipulated to believe that they are in a fair system. Marxism ideology encourages us to question the motives of the doctors as they intend to serve the rich people of the society. Due to the need to access healthcare and it is made available to the proletariat they have been made to believe that illness is a personal issue rather than socially constructed. Marxism does not acknowledge the the interaction between doctors patient and also they ignore the sickness and employment benefit offered by the capitalist states.

Feminism views thinks men dominate the medical professions and make decisions about a woman’s body which affects women. They also feel that lack of understanding of a natural process of childbirth have been labelled to be a medical condition. Exhaustion from a new role as a mum, have also been labelled as depression. They also think why are women contraception over emphasized? And men left out. This explains the inequality and the patriarchy world we are in today.

The interactionist views are that individuals attaches meaning to their own behaviour as well as others they also feel illness differ from person one person to person, even when they are diagnosed with the same condition. They are not always in compliance with the medical team that is why a dialogue is needed for mutual agreement between the doctor and the patient. Sometimes the doctors do not come to terms with a patient if they complain of a particular illness, and sometimes doctors label people with illness which affect the psyche of people’s mind and then making them psychosomatic by acting out those symptoms.

If we look at post natal depression as an illness diagnosed by a medical team from all of this prospective we can see that the functionist view conforms to this by giving the medical team the power to label this individual, which results to administration of drugs that eventually will become tranquillizers which leads to dependency with much more side effects. From the Marxism point of view people will be brainwashed to accept the fact that they are suffering from this illness due to their personal physiological changes rather than socially constructed issues of the society as a whole. The feminist does not see post natal depression as an illness, rather they feel it is a natural process for a woman to become sore after the birth of a baby as they may have had episiotomy, sore breast, sleepless nights for caring for a new born, instead of labelling it and interrupting a natural process by medication, they feel the patriarchy medical team should understand things better from a woman’s point of view. Finally post natal depression may be viewed as labelling an individual which into may utter their psyche and may begin to manifest the symptoms, they feel labelling someone may actually make them worse off.

Can you think of human behaviours or conditions that have recently been mediatised?

Think about what makes a person disabled? Write down some physical symptoms and then discuss how these can be ‘enabled’ in our society

Section 3

Definitions of Health, Illness and Sickness

http://nccc.georgetown.edu/body_mind_spirit/definitions_health_sickness.html

__________________________________________

Warwick

____________________________________________________

Michael Senior with Bruce V

Health Knowledge

Inequalities in the distribution of health and health care

http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-economics/4c-equality-equity-policy/inequalities-distribution. Public Health Action Support 2011

The Full Monty is a movie based on a group of men who have been made redundant due to effects of economic change and political misfortune. This leads to a shift in social organisation, when taking into consideration in conventional social order men are anticipated to be the primary breadwinners. As a final way out, the group decide to put on an amateur strip production for the ladies in the local workingmen’s club as a way to make money. For the purposes of this sociological analysis of the film, The Full Monty, two sociological theories will be consulted namely from Raewyn Connell regarding hegemonic masculinities and social order and Emile Durkheim concerning egoistic and anomic suicide.

2. Key Theorists

Raewyn Connell, is an Australian sociologist acknowledged for her work in the fields of sociology, education, gender studies, political science and history (University of Sydney, 2010) She is currently a Professor at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Education and Social Work .Connell’s work deals critically with social structures, inequalities and social justice, gender relations and gender identity politics in the context of hegemony, especially hegemonic masculinity. She is for the most part recognised for her widely-cited book, Masculinities (University of Sydney, 2010).

David Emile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French positivist sociologist. Durkheim developed the sociological positivism of Auguste Comte in greater detail, hence developing a rigorous methodology combining sociological theory with empirical social research.[2] Also influential in anthropology, Durkheim was a structural functionalist and an early proponent of solidarism.[3]HYPERLINK “#cite_note-3?[4] During his lifetime, Durkheim gave many lectures, and published numerous sociological studies on subjects such as education, crime, religion, suicide, and many other aspects of society.

3. Hegemonic Masculinity and Social Order

The Full Monty is set in Sheffield, North England after Thatcher’s era (1979-1990) (Tamba, 2002). After the fall of the steel industry in Sheffield, men’s roles in society were compromised, they were no longer able to be the breadwinners of the household and as such the women became the providers and started impeding on the hegemonic masculinity of these men. Official figures show that the number of men of working age with jobs has fallen from 92 per cent in 1971 to 75 per cent. The number of women who are employed has risen from 56 per cent to 69 per cent, narrowing the gap between women and men to 6 per cent (Watt, 2010). This gives women more financial independence and often leads to them wearing the trousers in a relationship, further contributing to the man’s loss of masculinity. The men in the film feel inadequate and hopeless with being unemployed. “With women increasingly becoming the breadwinners and traditionally roles being reversed by their newfound economic independence, men were forced to re-examine their relationships and deeply held beliefs about gender roles” (Tamba, 2002)

The group in this film come up with this strip act which is directed at getting money as they are all struggling financially. However, a number of social issues and perceptions arise on the lead up to the act. Social order is challenged when certain traits are defined as either being specifically feminine or masculine. When the men are together in Gerald’s house taking off their clothes, they start comparing themselves to the “Chippendales”, who were the strip group that gave Gaz the idea to do it themselves. They show their insecurities about their bodies and as such their masculinity. Dave, one of the members of the group, finds himself dealing with a weight complex. He views himself as overweight, unappealing and repulsive. As he discusses this with the rest of the men, one of them, Gerald states that “fat David is a feminist issue”. This perception is generalised, meaning that it is only women who should have to conform to the models of attractiveness that are set by men. However, Dave challenges this notion with this concern about his weight and appearance. In the beginning of the movie whilst they were taking auditions for the group, the presence of Horse, a black man, sets about a succession of wild whispers and accusations about how black men have good bodies and bigger sexual organs. The film yet again contradicts this theory as Horse, upon hearing they were going to do the full Monty is seen buying a penis enlargement product.

5. Durkheim’s Suicide

Durkheim (1897) stated that there are four types of suicide, these are based on the degrees of imbalance of two social forces: social integration and moral regulation. In the film, a young man, Lomper, was a security guard at Harrison’s, the steel mill where Dave and Gaz once worked. After Lomper finally loses his job long after the mill shut down, he tries to commit suicide by asphyxiating himself in his car by carbon monoxide poisoning. By coincidence Dave and Gaz are out jogging and pass Lomper trying to start his car. Dave, who stops to help, tries to have a conversation with Lomper however cuts off the contact after getting no response. After a few seconds, whilst walking away, Dave realises that Lomper was trying to asphyxiate himself and runs back to save Lomper’s life.

The subsequent scene shows Dave, Gaz and Lomper sitting on a hill, talking about different ways of committing suicide. Dave suggests “getting a mate to run you down right fast (with a car)”, to which Lomper says he “hasn’t got any mates”. Gaz rebuts telling him they just saved his life, “so don’t tell us were not your mates”. Lomper’s inclusion in the group gave him a newly-optimistic attitude on life.

Lomper’s attempted suicide can be attributed to two of Durkheim’s types of suicide. The first is Egoistic suicide. This form of suicide is the result of a weakening of the bonds that normally integrate individual into the collectivity. Durkheim refers to this type of suicide as the result of “excessive individualisation”, meaning that the individual becomes increasingly dethatched from other members of the community. He went on to discover that particularly males who were unmarried, with less to bind and connect them to stable social norms and goals, committed suicide at higher rates. Lomper who says he has no friends is an example of this type of suicide. He is not sufficiently bound to a social group and left with little social support or guidance, therefore his attempted suicide into this category of an Egoistic suicide.

The second type of Durkheim’s suicide that Lomper’s attempt subscribes to is Anomic suicide. Durkheim says that anomic suicide ‘occurs in times of social upheaval and moral disorder in which people do not know where they fit in within their societies’ (Germov & Poole, 2008: 28). The male characters in the film were once proud workers in the heavy steel industry who suddenly found themselves without a job, without hope and without a proper role in society. During the economic downturn of the industrial business in Sheffield a lot of the men lost their jobs, including Lomper. According to the British Medical Journal (1999) between 1980 to 1991 the suicide rates for males aged between 25-65 was double compared to the under 25 age group. This could show that these higher age groups were more greatly affected by the social defragmentation as they were the ones most likely in the now devastated steel industry. Consequently Lomper was not sure where he fit into society once he lost his job and he had no friends to converse with, making him a person with an increased risk of suicide according to Durkheim (1897).

The most sophisticated theories of modernization emphasize the role of a wide variety of social and institutional variables and carry out a mainly sociological analysis of the transition (Larrain 1989:87) Discuss.

Modernization is the process of making something modern. It is linked with newness and the idea of society and the economy evolving. Modernization theory became prominent in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The theory is concerned with both then economic and social factors in which encourage development and growth. Modernization theories often explain a series of growth stages that a society will progress through towards modernization. This essay will focus on the social variables and theories that are important in explaining modernization. However, modernization theories have received much debate and other theories and critics, will too, be examined.

Modernization theory was a great importance after World War II, and the differences between the first world and second and third world were important to the theory. Many policies were made for development of the third world which were focused around the modernization of economies and societies. The theories of modernization have also always focused on the ideas of two types of society, the traditional structures and the modern society. These two social structures are historically connected through an evolutionary process which followed certain general laws (Gwynne, 2008). Modernization involves a mixture of development factors such as technological change, changing values and attitudes, and capital accumulation. However, highest priority is often given to social changes such as values, norms and beliefs that would prompt related change in the spheres of development.

It could be argued as in Larrian’s words, that the most sophisticated theories of modernization do emphasize the role of a wide variety of social and institutional variables and carry out a mainly sociological analysis of the transition. Economic theories are plentiful and of great importance, but the incorporation of new ideas brought up sociological theories of modernization. Bohman (1996) says;

‘Modernization theory claimed a high correlation existed in the Third World societies between the degrees of modernization and the diffusion of Western-style cultural and attitudinal traits.’

The sociological theory explains the need for removing all social and cultural barriers which are slowing modernization. Brohman (1996) states that

‘The interlinking of changes in both economic and non-economic factors (e.g.; in attitudes toward work, wealth, savings, and risk taking) could then take place in a mutually reinforcing manner to support development.’

Social barriers can be seen in many social theories, such as those by Weber and Parson’s.

The sociological view on modernization can be seen through many theories. Modernization can, at large, be seen as created by social and cultural factors and many sociologists have argued this theory of modernization. There is a long historical tradition within social sciences of the transition from traditional to modern societies.

Firstly, Post World War II Max Weber wrote on modernization and suggests that a society can be constructed by deep routed traditions and beliefs, in which effect everyday life, and thus society. Weber focuses on a religious aspect to the modernization of society. According to Weber it is important that a society is organised once capitalism has emerged, and that religious ideas were crucial in the development of capitalism in the world. Weber sought to explain that factors especially those concerned with industrialization were responsible for making modern western societies different from others. Brohman (1996);

‘He stressed the appearance of rationalization; actual process that he believed was peculiar to western society’.

The theories suggested by Weber include social and institutional variables such as religion, culture and work ethics which will hinder or favour development and the modernization of a country. Cultural differences can be seen between modern western countries and less developed ones.

Talcott Parsons continues Weber’s ideas with his theory of modernization. His theory views social values, norms and institutions as playing a crucial role in determining the potential for development of various societies. Brohman (1996)

‘Development involved much more than simply initiating economic changes; new values, norms, institutions, and organizations had to be introduced to transform the old social order’

Therefore if a society were to modernize, elements of traditional societies that were restricting modernization needed to be replace (Brohman). Parsons uses the idea of the modern ‘ideal’ of social values in order for capitalisation to occur. A set of variables were suggested that were thought to differentiate traditional from modern values.

The first variable is concerned with status by achievement or ascriptive criteria. A modern society is stratified by qualifications and experiences, whereas traditional society gains status through it being ascribed or through ethnicity. The second looks at the governance of patterns of interaction by universalilism versus particularism. A modern organization will have rules and regulations in which apply to everyone and lead to systematic efficiency. On the other hand, traditional society organisations may favour or discriminate certain individuals. The third variable focuses on role expectations. Gwynne (2008);

‘The roles which the individual within the society expect one another to

perform’

A social value system is linked to role expectations within a society which are encouraged by rewards and punishment. In modernized countries the expected or normal behaviour is one which is necessary for capitalism, such as risk taking, profit motivation and non-familial organisations. Larrain (2000) says;

‘The entrepreneur is the agent of development because of being hard working, rational, willing to take risks, etc.’

Studies on Modernization can be applied to Parsons variables. Lipset (1967) uses Latin America as a case study. Lipset suggests that the behaviour characteristics of Latin American societies are preventing it from modernization. These behavioural characteristics were those of weak achievement motivation and weak work ethic. As they do not have the role expectations of a modern society, then modernization can therefore be stunted.

A further view on modernization, rather different than Parson, from a sociological view point is that of Gino Germani. This saw that social change was occuring at different speeds to that of economic growth. One stage of social change may occur in different stages of modernization. Therefore, traditional society can live along side a modernizing capital. His thesis was threefold, and gave a similar contrast in the societies of modern and traditional cities. For example, in a traditional society, change is not the norm, whereas in industrial society change it is quite normal. This therefore emphasises that the type of stage a society is in, and the role expectations they will have, will influence modernization. Germani also points out institutional variations between the traditional and the modern world. The traditional world will not have structure and institution, whereas, the modern world will have structure and institutions with specialised functions.

Germani’s theory progresses with the idea that knowledge must be present for the change of the modernization process to occur. Knowledge included science and technology, and knowledge must be guided by philosophy and theology. His theory also links to the social norms and behaviours of society. He focuses on the way people are socially stratified and suggests that a society shall move from traditional norms to modern norms, and then the social stratification must change. For example, a stratification bases on inheritance must change to achievement, therefore, social mobility must be changed for modernization to occur.

The social analysis of modernization was adopted post second world war in Latin America. As modernization occurred else where in the world, ideas from other countries effected theories of development in Latin America. A change can be seen as cultural identities were being changed, and therefore theories started to shift towards the social sciences. There was thus great interest in the structure of Latin American societies.

Sociologists in the 1940’s and 50’s were suggesting a transition from traditional society to modern society in Latin America and advanced industrial societies were the ‘ideal’. Germani published work on Latin America and it can be seen from this work how the process of social change in Latin America are asynchronous. Larrain (2000);

‘For Germani, therefore, culture becomes the ‘value system’ of society and this structural-functional aid is applied to Latin America as an abstract scheme whereby the transition is supposed to mean the progressive abandonment of religious values and old rural traditions and their replacement by the values of reason, freedom, progress and tolerance’.

These theories of changing society all evolve to modernisation. Social evolution theories have been used when explaining modernization. Brohman (1996);

‘comte, theorized social evolution as a series of stages of human development beginning with a traditional society and culminating in a modern society’.

Such theories of social evolution can therefore be combined with the traditional to modern society idea to explain a theory of social change in which development occurs leading to industrial capitalism (larrain, 2000).

Sociological analysis of modernization is therefore important. However, it can be criticised by the economic theories. This suggests that sociological needs are not the most sophisticated or most focused on. From this angle, development is a process of capital formation, determined by levels of savings. Once these savings have been made they can be reinvested back into industry and thus, growth is sustained. Growth is a linear process which will increase once momentum is gained. This idea of gaining momentum is similar to the work of Rostow. The economic theories look at areas where little growth has occurred and have found that at first it is hard to start to develop, but once development has started in is easier to sustain. This is best described by Lewis (1950:36)

‘once the snowball starts to move downhill, it will move of its own momentum, and will get bigger and bigger as it goes along… You have, as it were, to begin by rolling your snowball up the mountain. Once you get it there, the rest is easy, but, you cannot get it there without first making an initial effort.’

Rostow is a key theorist in economic theories of modernization. He suggests that there are a series of sequences from the traditional world to modern capitalism based on mass consumption. This too, looks at the difficulty of the first ‘take off’ stage when growth first begins. Rostow’s five stages starts with the traditional society in which agriculture and low productivity is the dominating economy. The second stage is concerned with achieving preconditions for ‘take off’. Rostow suggest that in western European countries, Britain with its natural resources, trading possibilities and social structure meant it was the first to develop fully the preconditions for take off (Roberts, 2000). Stage 3 was take off; this is seen as the most problematic stage. The resistance to steady growth are finally overcome and growth becomes its normal condition. The rate of effective investment and savings may rise from 5% of national income to 10% (Roberts, 2000). New industries expand rapidly, yielding profits in this stage. The fourth stage is the road to maturity, which is a long historical period of the economy. It normally occurs about 60 years after take off. The economic growth is sustained and outputs are regular which, thus, increases population. The economy is modernized with improved technology. The fifth and final stage is the age of high mass consumption, in which the leading sector shifts toward consumer goods and services and an emergence of a welfare sate exists at this stage.

In contrast, Alexander Gerschenkron suggests his theory of economic modernization could be important if it is linked to backwardness. This means that as one country modernizes and the backwardness in a country deepens then the underprivileged society will become increasingly sensitive to the contrast between itself and the successfully modernizing state (Gwynne, 2008). With ideologies and modernizing elites, a society can move toward industrialization and accelerated growth. If a society adopts advanced scientific and industrial techniques then they will be able to industrialise. If a society was lacking important elements for growth then new institutions will not be able to develop.

Further theories include Alber O. Hinchman, whose theories focus on patterns of unbalanced growth. Hirnchman suggests that if development efforts are concentrated on the key industries in underdeveloped regions, then this may encourage development. His work can link with Gerschenkrons ideas. Geography plays an important part in his theories, as he argues that the growth must be geographically unbalanced and the growth must be centred on ‘master industries’ which can then make linkages around the country. This creates concentrated regions of growth in the country, and once this growth is established it disperses throughout the country. The state was also predicted by Hirnchman to intervene if there was an area of national crisis.

A less optimistic approach is that of Mydral, who believes there are spatial implications of economic modernization. He describes the ‘process of cumulative causation’ where economic activities become concentrated in certain areas which has a negative impact on other spaces which will lead to the movement of people, capital and goods. This would mean that the movement of surplus will not spread around the country. One way of spreading the capital can be seen in Myrdal’s work on Venezuela. The oil resources were funnelled into the growth of Civdad Guayana which was being built on the basis of steel and aluminium in the country’s underdeveloped east. This was a way of reducing the centralization of the economy in Caracas.

Therefore, sociological theories of modernization may not be the key theories. Another important factor is the idea of Eurocentrism, which means, as started by Cloke et al (1999)

‘the characteristic of believing that the western European experience is the only correct was to progress’.

Therfore, can theories really be applied to the whole world. This also triggers the idea of European superiority, which might lead to increased sensitivity between the west and the third world, causing greater backwardness. The model of economic growth still remains firmly rooted in western economies and may use economic theories as a basis to development research.

A further implication to sociological analysis is that it ignores some political analysis of modernization. This focuses on the idea of class systems. The middle and upper classes are crucial to the development process. As the middle class expands their population, they provide a stabilising force for the modernization transition (Brohman, 1996). As the middle class is expanded, upward mobility becomes easier, based on mass consumption and for liberal democratization. Western states use education as a critical tool for modernization. Good education leads to entrepreneurship and innovation. Once this spreads to the third world, modernization will start. Political modernization also links to the stability of institutions. Brohman (1996);

‘Huntington adopted the position that maintenance of stability rather than promotion of democratic institutions should be the primary goal of political modernization’.

Overall it can be agreed that the most sophisticated theories of modernization emphasize the role of a wide variety of social and institutional variables and carry out a mainly sociological analysis of the transition. Post war theories have been critical to explaining a sociological view on modernization. Many theorists such as Parson’s and Weber have had very influence theories, and do carry out a sociological analysis on modernization. This shows that there are greater depths of analysis of modernization than just economic, thus, a sociological analysis looks slightly deep and could be argued to be more sophisticated. On the other hand, economic theories are deeply rooted in modernization theories and will be used in development research. These to have come up with highly sophisticated analysis of the transition. Therefore it could be argued that sociological analysis is the main or the widest theory used. It must be taken into account that all these theories are affected by the fact that they are written from a western viewpoint and may suffer from eurocentrism. With all these ideas taken into account, it could be concluded that there a wide range of modernization theories, some will emphasize the role of economy and politics, and some will emphasize social values and will be of a mainly sociological viewpoint.

Select and present an article from a current newspaper or magazine in your country, (the UK), that offers an assessment of some social problem. Assess the data in the article in terms of a social scientist’s perspective. What is your conclusion regarding the article.?
Introduction

Relationships between the West and the Muslim world have been of considerable interest both to politicians and to the general public, especially sociologists. Since the events of 9/11 in America the world has been confronted with the fact that there is a faction within Islam that will do anything to make its voice heard and to further its concerns in the West. This paper therefore has selected a newspaper article concerned with the publication of some cartoons involving the Prophet Mohammed. This has caused considerable upset in the Muslim world and is given a different presentation in different publications. The article selected for analysis here is taken from the Daily Mirror, Saturday 4^th February. This paper will assess the data in the article from the perspective of a social scientist and will then give some conclusions regarding the article. Sociological analysis of documents is usually described as content analysis and there are a number of ways in which this type of analysis may be undertaken. Some sociologists use formal content analysis where a number of different texts on a given subject are used. This also sometimes involves the use of statistics (Giddens, 2001). Content analysis may also involve thematic and textual analysis. This paper will use a thematic and textual analysis (as described by Bryman, 2004) to analyse the chosen article. Scott (1990) maintains that great care should be taken when analysing documents, particularly media documents. The person undertaking the analysis needs to be aware of their own position and prejudices at the outset and how this might impact on their reading and understanding of the text. There are, therefore, problems of reliability with this kind of analysis.

Language and Ideology

The article that I have chosen to analyse is entitled “Muslims Day of Rage: Muslim cartoon Protest rock the world and Britain” by Victoria Ward and Stephen White. The article concerns the protests and violent reactions to the publication by a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The first thing that was noted was the title. Muslim’s Day of Rage, this is the kind of phrase that is likely to add to the Islamaphobia that has been growing in the West since the events of 9/11 and the London terrorist bombings last July. The wording implies that all Muslims were not only upset and insulted by the cartoons, bearing in mind that all forms of representation not only of the prophet, but of human beings are forbidden in Islam, but that most of them are engaging in violent protest. This analysis of the title is confirmed by the opening lines of the article:

FURIOUS Muslims warned Europe it would pay with blood yesterday for publishing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist (Daily Mirror, 4/2/06-no page number given).

Again the article does not differentiate between groups of Muslim protestors and the Muslim community at large. It tends to suggest that the vast majority of Muslims take the view that Europe should be made to pay in blood for the insult. This kind of wording is likely to incite religious and racial hatred. Looking at the article as a whole it might be said that the ideology underlying this article relates to Islamaphobia and is perhaps connected to the writers’ own fears of terrorist attacks. This theme of Muslim violence can be detected throughout the article. What is most problematic about this is that the article does not clearly differentiate between those Muslims engaging in demonstrations and violent protest, and those Muslims who are not. The language is used in such a way that it appears to apply to all Muslims and represents them as an angry and violent group.

Representation

The title and opening lines of the article I would suggest, tend to represent Muslim people as a homogenous group who want to see the West pay for the outrageous insult to the Prophet. The writers go on to speak of demonstrations that were charged with hatred in London where the Danish flag was burned and some protestors were claiming that ‘another 7/7 is on its way’ (referring to the tube and bus bombings in London last year). The article refers only briefly to the cartoon itself:

The offending cartoon, which first appeared in a small Danish newspaper, showed the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet to prevent idolatry (Daily Mirror, 4/2/06)

No criticism is made of the paper that printed the cartoon, of the cartoonist that produced it, or even of the fact that to Muslims such a cartoon would be viewed as blasphemous. While not wishing to endorse violent protests or to take sides it would seem that the article treats the subject with a very uneven handed approach. Clearly the writers, although this is not mentioned, hold to the idea of free speech and the freedom of the press. The question is why should this unheralded endorsement of free speech be contrasted with the representation of ‘furious’ and ‘angry’ Muslims. The ways in which the information is presented arguably gives a distorted picture of the whole issue. The cartoon is given much less space and attention than the acts of groups of Muslim protestors and tends to minimalise the offence that even the majority of non-demonstrating/protesting Muslims must have felt.

Passive and Active Language

The sentence relating to the cartoon is written in the passive voice, it says that the cartoon ‘first appeared’ as though it was not the work of human hands. By contrast all the recorded incidents concerning the protestors and the demonstrators are presented in the active mode as the following two extracts show.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, more than 150 Muslims stormed a building housing the Danish Embassy and tore down and burned the country’s white and red flag (Daily Mirror, 4/2/06).

Thousands of Palestinian refugees marched through the streets of their camps in Lebanon, burning flags and urging Osama bin Laden to avenge Mohammad (Daily Mirror, 4/2/06).

No information is given as to the accuracy of the number of Palestinian refugees, the authors cite demonstrations from across the world and so some of those represented must have come from secondary sources, live news bulletins or other papers but it is not stated where such information came from or how the numbers given in the article for example the article states that more than 10,000 Palestinians were burning Danish cheese. The ways in which these numbers are presented and the fact that the newspaper makes consistent use of verbs to describe the protests and demonstrations gives what might be said to be an inflated view of what has been going on. The reader could be forgiven for believing that many thousands of Muslims across the globe have been involved in demonstrations and violent protests. Clearly this does not make violent action and threats of violence right but perhaps journalistic ethics were not hugely in evidence judging by the way in which this information was presented. Towards the end of the article Jack Straw condemned the cartoon, but again, not the cartoonist who produced it not the editor that published it. His comes as a voice of calm reason at the end of a litany of violent protest and threats of violence, adding to the overall picture of Muslims as enraged and violent rather than groups of Muslim protestors. At the end of the article the writers point to the fact that the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain urged Muslims not to be provoked by the extreme actions of those elements who were out to exploit the situation. It would seem that this might be a clearer picture of events than that which the writers of the article have presented us with.

Conclusion

In this paper I have attempted to analyse, from the point of view of a social scientist, a newspaper article that is concerned with protests and demonstrations by some groups of Muslims over their upset at the publication of a cartoon which present the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. I have used a textual and thematic analysis in reading this article and have tried to cover most of its aspects. In undertaking this analysis I was acutely aware that the way in which the article was written annoyed me because I felt that it did not give an accurate picture of Muslims as a whole. It seemed that some of the language used by the writers was used not just to persuade, but to inflame and that this could lead to counter-protest on behalf of those people who see Islam and its people as a threat to Western civilisation.

Bibliography

Bryman, A 2^nd ed. 2004 Social Research Methods Oxford, Oxford University Press

Giddens, A. 2001 4^th ed. Sociology, Cambridge, Polity Press

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=16665334%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html Daily Mirror, “Muslims Day of Rage: Muslim cartoon Protest rock the world and Britain” by Victoria Ward and Stephen White. 4^th February 2006

www.polity.co.uk/giddens

Sociolinguistics is the study of aspects of societies, including cultural norms, the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society. Language is an important portion of identity and culture within many speech communities; also associated with member’s self-esteem; within these communities. Sociolinguists have structured a number of ways to categorize the languages within their status and social function domains such as vernacular. The specific concern of this paper is focusing on the significance and function evaluation of the vernacular (dialect, accent) and through the presentation used and by sociolinguistic-studies, it is intended to decide on the argument if the language change is lead by the implications, role models of media or not.

Touching upon the concepts of vernaculars, dialects and diglossia is a good place to begin. The term “vernacular” has various meanings; but mostly refers to a language not standardized and not officially confirmed; which is used by local people. Generally, vernaculars are spread among communities living in a multilingual atmosphere where they have a different mother-language than the official language of their residence. For example; Afro-American English is a vernacular created among the group of people living in places where the standard American English was officially used; but had African languages as their mother-tonque. Standard languages, like the American English or the Received Pronunciation in Britain are classified as highly prestigious languages associated with educated; as compared to the people talking vernacular languages.

Different from a vernacular; a dialect is a variety of a particular language characterized by specific regional features such as pronunciation; spoken by a specific group of people. Furthermore, according to Fergusson (1996), diglossia is a special language-situation where, in addition to the primary dialect of the language (categorized as (L)), there is a highly regulated and often more complex variety, which is used in official writings and formal speeches (categorized as (H)); but not exactly followed seen in daily conversations. “Diglossic situation exists if it has two distinct codes which show clear functional separation” (Wardhaugh, 1998: 87).

It has been observed that, in due course the standardized varieties of languages (like Standard American English) started becoming less dominant and local varieties (like African American English) became more prominen. Sociolinguists studied the origins of these changes trying to answer whether it was the social factors or impacts of the popular media that triggered these language changes.

Labov suggested certain principles to justify these changes within languages: He first said that “linguistic variation is transmitted to children as stylistic differentiation on the formal/informal dimension, rather than as social stratification. Formal speech variants are associated by children with instruction and punishment, informal speech with intimacy and fun”. ( Labov 2001: 516) Consequently; “linguistic changes from below develop first in spontaneous speech at the most informal level. They are unconsciously associated with nonconformity to sociolinguistic norms, and advanced most by youth who resist conformity to adult institutional practices” ( Labov 2001:516). In connection with these principles stated by Labov (2001), the positive attitude of youth generation on the growing prestige and spreading of the non-standard languages is quite acceptable. Aftwerwards, Labov also stated that these changes were symbols of nonconformity actions against the structured social norms of appropriate behavior, and were generated in the social settings that challenged those norms. Finally, the constructive nonconformity principle of Labov (2001) concluded that these changes were spread to wider communities by those who displayed the symbols of nonconformity in larger pattern of upward mobility. Apparently, the popular media and its figures also had an indirect impact on this by disseminating these changes to language communities, as explained in detail in the relevant section; below.

Likewise, Debra Spitulnik (1997) argues that mass media has a role in the construction of community, and the cultural continuity depends on a social circulation of discourse and public accessibility. The popular mass media has the “ability to enact local concerns on a global stage” and to merge “the ‘marginal with the ‘dominant,’ the ‘parochial’ with the ‘ cosmopolitan,’ and the ‘local’ with the ‘global’” (Johnson and Ensslin 2007: 14). This is said to be a form of re-scaling often associated with the globalization of the late-modernity.

In the light of these studies, the language used in songs of 50 Cent is presented with the main dialect, accent is used alongside the significance and functions of the vernacular speech. In this presented domain of popular media the vernacular is the African American English dialect with standard being the American English.

Appendix 1

The use of vernacular during rapping, affects the voice quality of the speaker within the psychological or emotional states. If the topic is exciting or joyful, voice rises and when it is time to be calm, the voice descends into a bass level.

One of the distinctive features of vernacular is usage of double added prepositions as in “up on it” (line 4). Besides, the use of double negative is common in this vernacular compared to Standard American English. Is is used to structure strong positives and emphasize meanings (line 8). Negatives are formed different from standard American English e.g. use of “ain’t” as a general negative indicator (line 11).

Appendix 2

Mostly a “v” substitution occurs in the vernacular unlike Standard English. When using profanity in combination with the “F” word, speakers pronounce “M.F.” correctly just like in Standard American English in order to emphasize the meaning (line 2). Unlike the standard, there are words in vernacular that indicate the possessive: e.g. in line 4 “them” is used for “they”. If in the context of the sentence a reference is made to “more than one”(plural), it is not necessary to add an “s” to the noun: e.g. “like” in line 5. Also it can be seen that “want to” is converted into “wanna” in line 3.

African American English speakers have a large repertoire of slang words uncommon to Standard American English. The “bread” in (line 6) refers to money in African American English. There is “th” dropping within the African American English as in (line 7) “with” is pronounced as “wif”. The phonetic feature of African American English is quite different from standard American English e.g.; “solve them” is converted to “solve’em” which is continuous sound in one word that can be considered as the compressed phonetic feature of the vernacular (line 9). There is also consonant reduction in African American English: consonant sounds in letters such as (T) are often not pronounced unlike Standard American English (line 11).

In the media images; low and middle class African Americans have a negative image: associated with marginal lifestyles; engaged in bad things. For example; (appendix 2, line 10) it is clearly implied that 50 Cent participated in gangster activities, as he raps in African American English. But the re-scaling process of media within semantic positioning, such as “In the hood they say there’s no b’ness like hoe b’ness ya know” which cross over into ridiculous representations of unsophisticated ideals and ambitions which, most likely, are unattested practices either in low or middle class black communities.

Vernacular has always had a impacted hip hop and rap genres by incorporating meanings (power, money, love, slang idioms) that are historically and contextually situated and relevant to experiences of African American communities. Here vernacular serves as a translator engine, a special tool to express these meanings. This is because, for the African American communities the dialect is not only a variety that one may hear or speak within the community but also a variety delivering local community knowledge, wisdom. For example; the slang idiom “I’m the love doctor” (in line 9 appendix 1), the nickname usually associated with the late Barry White, whose soulful voice is considered by many Americans to be the ultimate music for seduction, is also interpreted by African youth through vernacular.

The other speech communities can also access to vernacular; via popular media. That is how popular media spreads certain linguistic-traits around the world and influences the language of all communities; as opposed to having this communication confined to vernacular society. However, it should be noted that media is only spreading out what’s there but the creator of the change is not the media, it is someone different (in our case, somebody in vernacular).

Given that the standard American English is a political sign for the African Americans which also imply the rejection of their culture; 50 Cent sings especially in vernacular to empower himself within the social and cultural contexts of the African American communities. His vernacular speech also functions as a resistance language towards the white community. It can be assumed that he presents himself as the retainer of local New York, Queens as the low variety vernacular he has chosen to use, which incorporates loss of voiceless “y” and central off-glides as “her” becomes “/ho’/” in (appendix 1, line 13) which New York accent is famous for.

All in all, this ordinary performance involves no visuals but only audio and follows the authentic values which emphasize the potential meaning of the restricted language. 50 Cent seems to be following the guidelines of Clarke and Hiscock (2009) on how keeping it real in rap involves reflecting local realities as well as respecting the African American origins of the genre.

While it can be quite difficult to assess the precise role of the media and its figures in language change, perhaps this issue should be looked in two categories: The direct and the indirect influence of popular media and its figures. As to the direct influence of them over the language change, the answer should be parallel to that of Chambers: “at the deeper reaches of language change – sound changes and grammatical changes – the media have no significant effect at all” (Chambers 1998: 124). The re-scaling process on cultural norms and shaping the vernacular features of media domains is greatly exaggerated. Consequently, language change is the result of the growing prestige of a certain variety of language that is triggered by the social factors such as the non-conformity issues of communities with a vernacular alongside with the standard language. That being said, the media can be considered as having an indirect influence on language change. As also seen in the analyzed example, media plays a major role in raising the awareness to the change taking place; to this growing prestige of a variety within other speech communities as well. In short, it can be concluded that, language change is unlikely to be driven directly by media or its role models only; but they have an indirect impact on it.

There has long been patterns in the way societies operate; this revolves around the foundations of society. With the complexity and diversity found in societies; developing statues, roles, groups, and institutions ensure the survival of society. The social groups that we as individuals, belong to, give us a status and a role to fulfill. Individuals can belong to primary or secondary groups. Primary groups are where there is an intimate interaction between people and cooperation over a period of time, while a secondary group is where individuals do not interact. “Status is our relative social position in a group or institution; while a role is the part our society expects us to play in a given status.” [1] Individuals can be associated with an ascribed status or an achieved status. An ascribed status is status that is given to an individual involuntary, while an achieved status is a status that an individual obtains through their life. Involvement in groups and institutions give us a set of statuses and roles that allow people to know what to expect from each other. [2]

Sociologists believe that status is a position in society. Individuals are generally influenced by only one master status when they interact with another person. With every status there is a role, this becomes the prescribed role or the expectations of what individuals should do in accordance with their particular status. The expectation of individuals having to play two conflicting roles of two different statuses at the same time causes role conflict. When people interact in accordance with their statuses and roles, a social group is formed, a collection of people who interact with one another and have a certain feeling of unity. Within these groups they act either formally or informally towards each other. [3] “Society cannot survive without social institutions, a set of widely shared beliefs, norms, and procedures necessary for meeting the basic need of society.” [4] Family, education, religion, economy, and politics are the most important institutions. [5] Institutions make life easier for individuals. The diverse nature of society determines what type of status or role individuals’ receive, and what the individuals do with the status and role determines how they interact in a group or institution.

Most of our social interactions occur in patterns. Individuals are defined through society when they have a role, status, group, or institution. There can be struggles found when individuals lack the four foundations of society. “Interactions that form the 4 foundations have guidelines on how interactions are to be shaped and what the expectations become.” [6] In order to survive society, societies have to be able to fulfill certain basic social and human needs. These needs are considered basic because if a society is not able to meet them, it runs a risk of collapsing. [7]

A distinguishing characteristic of societies is the existence of a set of institutions. Social institutions are ways in dealing with such universal needs and are much broader in scope. The institutions consist of family, government, economy, education, and religion. Institutions all found in human groups exist and are used everywhere. “The universality indicates that they are deeply rooted in human nature and that they are essential in the development and maintenance of orders.” [8] Institutions are social orders that control behavior in the important areas of social life. Each institution is connected to norms, values, and role expectations that people who make up society have provided to generations as a permanent solution to society’s unfinished business. [9] “There is provided procedures through which human conduct is patterned by making the grooves deemed desirable by society, these grooves appear to the individual as the only possible ones.” Society instills in members predetermined channels for marriage. The US society expects marriage to be within a man and a woman living in a home together. [10] Social institutions are adapt to changes and broken down into smaller components including status, roles, and groups.

Members’ of society according to their positions tend to act according to what is expected of them involving their status and role. A status is the part people are expected to play, whereas a role is the actual script expected to follow. This status defines part of an identity and how individuals interact with others. [11] A daughter or son would be considered as a status. Statuses define relationships with the individuals people interact with. Members of society can be titled with many statuses such as ascribed status, achieved status, or master status. The status of a daughter is an ascribed status. If a person decides to get married or become a programmer, they will be taking on an achieved status. Master status has special importance for social identity, shaping a person’s entire life. When an individual gets a job, a lot can be determined about the person from that job. That job becomes their master status. Social expectations attached to any given status define a role in society. Our roles determine how individuals are expected to behave and interact based on the status we occupy. [12] “Statuses and roles are not isolated entities, but rather related to other statuses and roles.” [13] A student, for example, takes on the roles of attending classes and completing assignments. Many statuses involved many roles, which lead to many obligations to fulfill, causing role conflict. [14] This can be found in the life of a working mother who takes on responsibilities through the home, while taking on a job outside of the home. It becomes important for individuals to have a status and a role because these guide our behaviors in society. [15]

Most interactions take place in groups. Groups whether primary or secondary, have distributions of statuses and roles, which shape the behavior and interactions of their members within specific institutional contexts. [16] Primary groups are formed within families, friends, or peers where the relationships have strong emotional ties, whereas in secondary groups the members are less personal and emotional. Communication becomes very formal. There is only a relation over particular roles and for practical reasons, like the relationship between a stockbroker and his clients. [17] Sociologists have found that the size of a group can determine how members behave and relate to one another. Within these groups there is group behavior through leadership and conformity. The pressure to conform within small groups is powerful. [18]

There are many ways to define a role, a status, a group, or an institution, but each can make an individual successful and feel like they are apart of something greater. Generally, an individual’s drive is to become somebody in society. Institutions arise from the clumsy actions of many individuals; these rules evolve into a set of expectations. The consequences of the expectations provide solutions to maintaining society. Individuals must not forget that institutions can be changed although they exist to serve and be accountable to man. Without institutions, individuals are left without guide to channel their behavior through important areas of social life. [19] Without institutions, individuals are left without a set of expectations to follow. Individuals lacking a status are not defined through relationships with the people they associate with. Master statuses are an individual’s identity; they shape their entire life. Without the goal in having a master status, individuals would not strive to succeed. Many people left without having a status or a role become very repulsive and have a continuous state of jealousy. They begin to think the world is a dangerous and scary place, pushing away those of high status and low status out of their life. Those of low status are not socially confident and lack sharp social skills. This lack of social skills causes a lack of job opportunities and group relationships. When individuals are not involved in groups, they are left without close relationships to other individuals and left without someone to relate to. They will most likely find themselves in secondary groups, where relationships often result in loneliness and isolation. [20] Being involved in the foundations of society shapes an individual’s attitudes, actions, and opportunities. Further proving that individuals who obtain the foundations of society find success, but left without them lack the opportunities to succeed.

Introduction

From an early age and through the course of our lives we learn and develop our personality to which predominantly determines our role in society. During this process there are many internal and external factors and influences such as family, friends, education, , gender, class, environment race etc that determine our pathway and outcomes in life. This assignment will assess the view that primary socialization is more significant than secondary socialization in developing patterns of deviance and criminality.

The way which we learn to become members of society is through socialization, adopting the norms and values of society and by our actions and behaviour carrying our social roles. (Oxford University Press 2009).Primarily there are two distinct agents of socialization to which young people learn to integrate into society. These being Primary socialization and Secondary socialization.

Primary socialization, this stage of development occurs in the early stages of a young person’s life and is period of development of intellectual and emotional and social self. The main agent in this period is socialization within the family and immediate community. The young person’s experience at this stage can differ in contemporary society from differing types of child rearing and differing and kinds of family and community circumstances.(Huddersfield university lecture notes 2009). For a young person to thrive in society, parents /carers must teach the child from an early age what they need to know about what is normal expectations, how to behave, what are societies values and language used.. If children do not receive adequate primary socialization, they tend not to fare well as adults”. As (James. A and jenks Jeminating from Rousseau) SUGGESTS THAT CHILDREN ARE BORN FREE FROM CORRUPTION AND INNOCENT FROM ALL THAT IS WRONG. ITS IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SOCIETY THAT THROUGH TIME WILL DAMAGES THEM. YELLOW READER.

The way the family functions and also the environmental factors may have a great impact on the child and his development. The capacity and style of parenting received is instrumental in achieving best outcomes for the young person. (Kendra Van Wagner 2009online) suggest that “During the early 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children and identified four important dimensions of parenting”:

* Disciplinary strategies

* Warmth and nurturance

* Communication styles

* Expectations of maturity and control

Alongside this (Vincent Iannelli, M.D. 2004, online) suggests physiologists have identified 3 types of child rearing.

Authoritarian

This type of parenting always wants to be in control and exercise their control on their children. They set strict authoritative rules and expectations to keep order and discipline without involving children in the process and are very critical to non conformity.

Permissive

Permissive parents are relaxed about boundaries and control of their children. They make few rules, if at all and the rules that are made are not always imposed on their children. Parents can give too many choices and accept a child’s behaviour which might be good or bad and respond in the same way.They tend give up on the child behaviour and don’t get involved with changing it.

Democratic /authorative parents

Parents guide children’s behaviour by teaching, not punishing them; they teach children to be responsible for themselves and to think about the consequences of their actions. Parents do this by giving out clear expectations and follow this through, catching the child been good and praising their behaviour rather than focusing on the bad behaviour. They establish goals that are achievable and give choices that are age appropriate.

Authoritarian parenting styles generally lead to children who are obedient and proficient, but they rank lower in happiness, social competence and self-esteem.

* Authoritive parenting styles tend to result in children who are happy, capable and successful (Maccoby, 1992).

* Permissive parenting often results in children who rank low in happiness and self-regulation. These children are more likely to experience problems with authority and tend to perform poorly in school.

From this we can conclude that the pemissive parenting styles is the one that leads to non conformity. Identifying that children need clear boundaries to keep them safe ,when following upon consequences these should be done in a learning method rather than a punishment and should be conducted in a loving caring manner.allow them in making choices and decisions that effect them are lifes which are understanble and age appropriate. When setting goals to achieve these should be achievable so should help build confidence and raise self esteem. We need to coomunicate with them control.

Other family and community factors

In large families young people may receive less one to one support from their parents corers which could reflect in behaviours not been addressed lack of emotional support

Gender
Social control witin the family
Broken homes

(Williams K.S, 2001p.38o) Points out there’s some evidence to suggest that a child with absent parents possibly through death, divorce or who have left the family home are seen to be a risk factor to criminality. (Haskell and Yablonsky 1982 cited in Williams k.s 2001p.38o) examined research of the relationship between crime and broken homes and found “between 23.9 and 61.5 per cent of delinquents came from broken homes compared to 12.9 to 36.1per cent of non delinquents came from broken homes”. As Charles Murray suggested criminality is linked to young people from single parent families who he describes as the underclass. (Williams K.S, 2001p.38o).

Relationship

A child usually in British society as a mother and father one or two siblings in other cultures the extended family may live within the house hold and help bring up their children. Within the British society in other families some children are reared in single parent homes others are looked after by step parents, divorced parents. (Giddens 2006 p.166.) Within families the focus here is on the parent /child relationship. Delinquency can arise as a result of insufficient levels of supervision by family members, little affection is shown towards them, operate minimal interaction, a small amount of family harmony, and how discipline is carried out. (Williams K.S, 2001p.382). This lack of supervision is highlighted as to be a cause of criminality by the “Youth Lifestyle Survey, (Flood and Page 2000, cited in Williams K.S, 2001p.382) conducted in 1998-9, that those boys who were poorly supervised were three times as likely to offend as those who were better supervised” other facts that effects a relationship which is highlights above is whether the family members have to work long hours due to low pay or other social circumstances which also impacts on the bonding between parents and child and lead to criminality. insome families the size of the family might mean less one to one time with individual mebers there for regulation of supervision can be minimal. A point on relationship is that even if the parent teaches all the law abiding behaviors they will only learn from them if the child regards them.

Attachment

From the birth an “infant engages in behaviours that complement and synchronized with actions of the parents” (Gormly,1997, Reissland,1998 cited in Digiulio 2001, p.40) i.e. a child will communicate its needs and the parent /carer will respond. This could be when the child wants care, comfort, and pleasure, its nappy changing, holding smiling talking etc. This interaction more often than not with the birth mother fosters affection and builds a relationship known as (Attachment). Attachment could also be formed with someone close to the child who he sees often enough to form the secure attachment.

According to Bowlby Attachment helps to keep the infant and mother relationship a close one which thus acts as a tool for survival and offers sense of security and protection. The child knows that the attached person is reliable and gives them a firmly fixed foundation for social development. (Wagner. K 2009 ONLINE)

Problems can arise from attachment which is displayed in Young people’s behaviour as (Wagner .K 2009) suggests that through Research that “failure to form secure attachments early in life can have a negative impact on behaviour in later childhood and throughout the life”.

. What people see in theer community its surroundings its peoples and activities can influence through there observations if there family parents carers don’t explain its rights and wrongs the ypoung person can copy this behavior as normal perceived behavior in socisty for instances graffit inappropriate language used fighting littering values o others also the community influence could come from the environmental its structure unemployed parents housing conditions.

What values are expressed by the family and those closely around them i.e. education employment manners,children learn from and develop aspirations,reinforce operant conditioning.a sense of identity and belonging. The passing on of appropriate love, care and affection from family and community members creates warmth from an early age, forms an attachment and or bonding. Imitative learning, Children observe (observational learning) their parents, families and or careers characteristics from an early age and start to copy their types of behavior and actions. They learn from their community environment its strengths, weaknesses and differences, its surroundings and resources, its members acts and behaviours, from this they learn to adapt their behavior respect and understand others values social settings(social learning). Families tend to treat girls with difference allowing them to take less risks and this primary socialization is an first important step in preparation for life. Within families set roles are

Secondary socialization actions learned largely from outside the family and community who are often institutional such as schools, college also leant from peer groups outside the family and media.

Within school pupils learn more about official and unofficial things i.e a formal set curriculum of subjects set out by the education authority. In school there are also hidden curriculums which are around conforming dress codes, respecting rules and unquestioning authority, time management state rules and discipline and often involves the separation of children based on abilities. Pupils can also be managed and looked upon form there class background and past family histories known to school. Institutions like school can be seen to strip away young people’s individuality by its apparent strict codes of conduct, regulations, rules and authoritarianism. (Social control) School socialization seems to indicate a preparation set out by authority to reflect conforming to state rules and improve employment prospects. Vincent Iannelli, M.D.,

Peer group we can learn from our peers and imitate their behaviours they tend to be a aid a resource to turn to a breakaway or an alternative support mechanism such as when family is dysfunctional. From peers we can gain a sense of warmth emotional bonding. Peers can be instrumental in our acts behaviours, beliefs

Causes of crime relating to family

Through our experiences of socialization if they are not positive experiences or certain needs are missing such as those highlighted in every child matters are healthy, safe, enjoy and active make a positive contribution economic well being hen problems with our self and our role in society can become problematic, acting out in a deviant or criminal behaviour.

Deviance /crime

Deviance arises from acts that are disapproved of, imposing of social judgements from members of a community, or society and political concerns on the behaviour or acts of others. These judgements can be based on norms and values and can change in differing cultures, gender, class, race, age or other social difference. (Oxford University Press 2002)

The deviant committing the act is applied with a stigmatizing label and is sanctioned accordingly i.e. sent to Coventry, looked upon as delinquent. The label applied instead of deterring (social control) the individual from other deviant acts can lead the individual to act out further their newfound delinquent identity and conduct in many cases promoting their initial act to other forms of criminal activity. (Munchie.J, 2009) Primary Deviance to Secondary deviance). Or the deviant can go on to develop there life’s which is acceptable to society. Acts of deviance can be seen to be exaggerated by the media and tends to create a moral panic where society becomes feared by young people that are portrayed as delinquent and again can amplify further deviances by many. Deviance can be as an illustration of an individual’s difficulties to manage their poverty through economic explotation. (Muncie. J 2009 p.130).

crime

(Oxford University Press 2002) Describes crime as the violation of laws, or more precisely those social norms that have become subject to state control and legal sanctions reliant on punishment. An e.g. of crime can be the Theft act which s a statute law passed by parliament and defines what a theft is this could be i.e. dishonesty by abstracting of electricity from such as fiddling a meter, using mobile phones at work. In order for act to be defined as a crime the law says it needs to have two elements. The Acteus-Reus a roundabout way of describing a defendants conduct, the act. And the Mens-Reus a blameworthy or culpable state of mind when you commiteed the act or that you were reckless you didn’t pay regard to the consequences of your action. (Huddersfield University 2009). However some acts carried out that the law states are criminal may seem quite normal to some people such as borrowing copies of DVDs or purchasing goods from other sources.

Crime and the way its dealt with can be seen to play a major part in communities and can determine the setting of social boundaries,behaviours and gain a sense of unity from its values and beliefs.(Munchie.J 2009 p.101) 2009these can change through different cultures, localities and throughout history. Definitions of Crime can also be socially constructured to reflect power and gain control over society. The power, the law, authority and courts when sentencing using guidelines can deal with crime in different ways depending on their judgements on the young persons class, age, reasoning of responsibilities of act committed, and gender.

The argument of how an individuals work/life interfaces can affect their social life and standing within a community has long been a sociological concern. Sociologists have been concern with the ways in which an individual’s participation in work can shape other institutions, such as social relationships, community participation, identities along with the influence in can have on values and beliefs. How society’s individuals manage a work/life balance has also been a sociological concern. Clark (2000) defines balance as “satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict”. This report shall attempt to explore how the connections amongst work activity and ‘community’ participation and how the links between domestic divisions of labour and the labour market can transform how an individual balances their participation in work and their social self.

To avoid social isolation, individuals need to have the feeling of belonging and included in some kind of institution, be it a family group or to form a community link through work (flum, 2001). Finding the balance of combining such important institutions can prove difficult for some and this report shall examine the impact this can have on an individual’s social self, with the wider community and within their personal relationships.

The way we work is changing fast, and can be seen to be the result of advancements in new technologies, changes in employment legislation and an increasingly competitive and connected global world. Not only has there been a change in work and working life, a change in life outside of work can also be seen to have changed within contemporary society. A change in family units and structures, reduced leisure time and community participation and a change in the way individuals spend their leisure time. An increase in ’24’ hour activities has also both affected the way work can affect an individual, both for the good and for the bad.

There have been great changes in the British economy, with a move from major manufacturing into a growth of service sector employment and the expansion of part-time employment. Such expansion can be seen to attribute to the rise in opportunities for married women, with children, who comprise almost 45% of the British labour market, taking low-paid and part-time employment. Despite equal pay and anti-discrimination legislation, a gap between earning and discriminatory practices can still exist within the workplace and individuals within it. Middle-class white men are arguably the most common social group to be over represented in high level jobs, such as management and business owners, while women, ethnic minorities, elderly and youth and individuals from lower classes are more likely to perform low skilled and low paid jobs, such as in the service industry, retail or care (Castells,2000). Although they experience difference in terms of job role, some similarity can be seen. This similarity often comes in the structure or demands a job may come with, and the way that these impacts on the way individuals can manage their work/life balance.

Factors such as the advancement in technology have increased the expectation and need for fast responses and increase in constant availability from workers and lead to increase pressure on employees. It can be seen that the UK has the longest working hours compared to the rest of Europe, and the average number of hours worked per day has remained steady, but the number of employees working more than 48 hours has increased in the past ten years. A rise in the number of hours being work, it can be argued that the demands of work begin to dominate life and a sense of work-life imbalance follows (Guest 2001).

Work in this instance is being defined as paid employment, but it is also important to remember that many individuals also take part in unpaid work. These can include extra unpaid hours, travelling to and from work (commuting) or in fact the roles and responsibilities of some work require constant communication, via email, phone calls and other technological communication tools via the development of the internet, , is said to have profound implications for the organization of economic activity and for increasing productivity (Castells, 2001) which can be seen as a reason as to why the home and work boundary can see to have become very vague. Much interest into the definitions of work has come from the rise in occupations that allow individuals to complete their work in none ‘traditional’ forms. For example rather than travelling into a communal office or destination, many roles and tasks can be completed independently and as a result there had been a rise in employees working from home. This essay shall attempt to uncover the impact that such a shift in definitions and positions of work has had on the both completing jobs roles successfully as well as maintaining a personal and social identity within the wider community.

Richard Sennett (1998) stated that new forms of work can become destroyed. New working systems and types of occupation can in fact lead to an imbalance between the tools and value that social individuals hold to create a successful working life, and those that are required to maintain a stable family and social life have also changed, Sennett noted this as the ‘Corrosion of character’. The new working patterns that have been created have changed the rhythms of working life and the concept of the fixed working day have declined for many individuals, and as hours have become more varied and flexible, so must the availability and commitment of the individuals who hold these positions. This change in schedules and lifestyle with ultimately have an effect on how well workers can participate in wider society or maintain that work/life balance.

Focus on patterns of work life balance are often seen to focus on the imbalance that members of society face trying to maintain both a work life and social life. Attempting to maintain healthy relationships, both at home and in the workplace and a pressure to decide between attempting to progress within an individual’s chosen career and maintain a positive life outside of work.

Throughout his work Sennett attempts to look at how the act of capitalism had changed. Throughout his work he draws on the work of past writers such as Weber and argues that although the new flexible, competitive workplace gave workers a new sense of mobility, choice and freedom to ‘control’ their work schedule, it ultimately has not delivered such promises. Instead it has replaced the existing work life culture with a new society with workplaces that are without stability, routine and an environment that encourages self-determination and risk but also provides disorientation and produces uncertainty for employees. Sennett recognises that this ‘chaos’ denies workers a sense of self or ‘frame of reference’ by which to conduct their social life and social self.

Family units and communities can be seen as the initial institutions for social integration. In times of social change, for example from agricultural to industrial/industrial to post-industrial/national to global, families and communities have remained a constant institution that has helped with promoting and maintaining a sense of social cohesion. Along with providing a basis for its members, families can also be seen as an important tool for teaching the next generation how to cope with such social change and the adult world of work. As the family provide this foundation, it can be argued when such ‘work’ changes in the family unit and wider community they are a part of can be put under stress. Staines and Pleck (1983) state those working late nights, weekends, every changing shift patterns or any other ‘disruptive’ work patterns can make managing and scheduling sufficient family time and leisure activities difficult. Working shift patterns that unsettle family life activities can have a long standing and somewhat negative effect on the level of marital happiness and also the overall satisfaction of family life.

Arguments surrounding the work-life interface have primarily been concerned with how family members are able to balance work and home life activities, primarily with how working mothers are able to balance their work and childcare responsibilities. Contemporary arguments concerning the work life balance can be seen to have shifted from such a view to how society has changed and developed and how such changes have influenced a work life balance. A change in society has led to a change in how companies and organisations have adapted employees working arrangements to be compatible with such social change and new responsibilities and lifestyles.

Workers, who have chosen flexible working hours or have chosen non-permanent agency work, are seen to have more control over maintaining a successful working and private life balance. This is achievable by having more control and to ability to create a work schedule structure that allows them to work around childcare or other domestic responsibilities that they have. Such agency work or self-arranged tasks do come at a price. Giving up company benefits, socialising with other employees, having employees’ rights or job security are sacrifices that working from home or agency workers have to make (Lambert 1999).

Flexible hours and the rise in individuals working from home are seen to be practiced to organise time around working time or domestic responsibilities. Flexible and working from home can be seen to be practiced to help to balance domestic responsibilities or to complete an ever increasing volume of work. Those who participate in part time work, or maintain a low status within the workplace are seen to avoid high levels of stress commonly associated with full time occupation, and as a result are able to care and maintain their family household and associated workload without any burden or stress (Ginn and Sandall 1997: 415). As mentioned previously the members of a family unit who participate in such forms of work are women. By allowing women to participate in work as well as maintain a successful family lifestyle, can in fact make up for the heavy or unsociable workload of the male member of a family.

Longer working hours for many organisations can be seen to a rise in ‘new’ forms of occupations. As individuals can be seen to be living and working a ’24’ hour lifestyle, there has been a rise in the expansion of jobs that can be seen as personal care and consumer services to cater for such employees (Perrons, 2002). ’24’ hours supermarkets and the rise in request for out of hour’s doctors’ surgeries can all be attributed to the rise in new and flexible working hours as well as creating new and expanding job roles.

It can also be seen that a change in the work life balance can also be of benefit to organisations and companies, as a shift into new policies or procedure of work could lead to a rise in productivity and profits and can help companies to respond to any new and developing consumer needs more effectively. The Employment Act was updated in 2003 to include more benefits to assist employees and employers alike with managing the demands of a successful work life balance. Reforming polices such as increased maternity and paternity leave helps to encourage and support employees maintain a healthy relationship with their working life and family life. (REFERNECE)

Research by the Institute of Employment Studies (DATE) looked into workplace policies that are in place to allow employees to create a successful work life balance. Throughout research, there was a noticeable trend in the resistance of taking up such polices, there were a number of reasons why workers felt unable to take advantage of organisational work-life policies. A main reason for such resistance may be due to the fact the employees may feel that accepting flexibility may affect their career progression or may result in a change in wages. Also as a result of flexibility, an employee’s workload could increase and their wages could reduce, which in fact would negatively impact their personal time, instead of helping it. Even though many organisational polices are put into place in the workplace, many workers could be left feeling that they would not be supported if they did take advantage of them (REFERENCE)

Throughout this paper we have examined that factors that can negatively affect the work life balance of those in work. It has examined how changes in work have also changed how an individual balances their family and personal leisure commitments. Many of these changes reference how intense involvement or over commitment to either work or family life can result in a damaging balance, but that is not always the case. Studying the work life balance, Greenhaus, Collins and Shaw (2002) found that individuals who invested more time and involvement in family and personal leisure activities, rather than work, experienced a more equal work life balance then those who concentrated on work and working patterns outside of work (Greenhaus, Collins and Shaw 2002:pp.526).

What we have explored as the term work life balance can be seen to supposedly communicate the needs all of all employees, throughout this essay it has become apparent that not all employees struggle with maintaining, or accessing such a balance. When reference to a work life balance, most research categorises such ‘life’ as maintain a successful family unit and work life, but does not take into account those without such caring responsibilities and the access they have to a happy and successful work life balance.

(Jump to)

Introduction

Discussion

Americans’ Contacts with Homosexuals

LGBT Americans Opinions

Social Acceptance by American Society

Religious Belief

References

INTRODUCTION

Being a bisexual means getting attracted to both people of their own gender and another gender also. Women who get attracted to the female gender are known as lesbians and similarly the men who get attracted to the male gender are known as gay. The bisexual women and men get attracted to both the male and the female gender. Getting attracted to the same gender is also known as homosexuality.

The attitudes towards the homosexuality differ in different cultures, because all the cultures have their own values regarding sexuality. Some countries approve the homosexual behavior whereas some disapproves it. The research has been done and it is found that the certain populations have accepted the homosexuality more than others.

Homosexuality may be illegal in some countries, but where it is legal, there a age has been defined and that age differs from country to country. Homosexuality is neither a mental illness not a matter of an individual’s choice. It does not threaten the healthy and secure homosexuals. Therefore, there is no need to oppress the homosexuality.

But in our society, discrimination occurs daily against gays, lesbians and bisexual people which greatly affect them (Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues). Due to which the gay, lesbian and the bisexual people feel depression and the relationship problems same as the heterosexual people feel.

DISCUSSION

I agree with your statement, as in my opinion also, being a lesbian or bisexual woman is more accepted than being a gay or bisexual man by the current American society. A research has been done and it has been found out that the most Americans don’t bother while getting surrounded by the homosexuals. Various studies has been done and results into various factors, such as:

82% of the Americans don’t bother when around homosexuals (Views of Gay Man and Lesbians, Roots of Homosexuality, Personal Contacts with Gays, 2013).
Whereas, 14% of the Americans say that, it bothers them while surrounded by homosexuals.

In 2003, about 76% of the Americans do not bother to be around homosexuals. Few years ago, the balance between the gay and the lesbians was not favorable. As:

Gay men were viewed favorable only by the 37 % of the Americans, whereas 51% of the Americans viewed them as unfavorably.
Lesbian women were viewed favorable only by the 39 % of the Americans, whereas 48% of the Americans viewed them as unfavorably.

By a 2 % margin, the American people are more favorable to lesbian women than gay men.

But today,

58% of the American people view the lesbian women favorably while only 29% of the Americans view them as unfavorably.
And, 55% to 32% margins (Views of Gay Man and Lesbians, Roots of Homosexuality, Personal Contacts with Gays, 2013) have favorable views towards gay men than unfavorable views.

Still, the percentages of Americans who have the favorable views towards lesbian women are more than the ones who have favorable views towards the gay men.

The study has found out that the Americans’ views are rapidly changes to acceptance of gay men and lesbian women with time (Harms, 2011). Americans now approve the same-sex relations and moreover, they provide the lesbians and gays the freedom of expression.

Moreover, public have different views about the fact that why people are lesbian and gay? And, about 42% of the public thinks that the people choose themselves to live as gay or lesbian. About 8% thinks that it’s a result of upbringing, due to which the people are gay or lesbian, and Others think that they are born as lesbian or gay. In American society, about 66% of the Americans think that the people choose themselves to live as gay or lesbian. About 20% of the Americans think that they are born as lesbian or gay. But overall, 58% of the people thinks that the homosexuality should be accepted as they thinks that its by birth, and 63% of the people think that it should not be accepted as they thinks that it’s just a choice of people of being gay or lesbian.

Americans’ Contacts with Homosexuals

In Americans Society, different people have different views to share about their contacts with the homosexuals. And, 87% of the Americans are somehow in contacts with ones who are lesbian or gay. 23% of the Americans say that they know personally some people who are gay or lesbian. 61% of the Americans had gay or lesbian contacts (Views of Gay Man and Lesbians, Roots of Homosexuality, Personal Contacts with Gays, 2013).

The contacts with gays and lesbians also differ in different religions. As 30 % of the religions say that they know some gays and lesbians, and Only 8 % says that they don’t know any.

LGBT Americans Opinions

Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) adults are asked the question and it has been found out that the society is accepting them as compared to past decades and more will accept it in upcoming decades (A Survey of LGBT Americans, 2013). And, 39% of the LGBT Americans say that they are not accepted by their families. 30% of the LGBT Americans say that they are attacked physically. 29% of the LGBT Americans say that they are not allowed to go at worship places. 21% of the LGBT Americans say that they are not treated fairly by their employees. 21% of the LGBT Americans say that they are the targets of jokes. Moreover, At the age of 17, the people gets the feel that they are homosexual, and at the age of 20, they share this information with their families.

LGBT adults say that their acceptance is increasing as the time passes. But some of LGBT adults say that they still feels discrimination in the society. They said that they need more acceptance in mostly all the societies. Thus, their views needs to be focused on.

Social Acceptance by American Society

Most of the LGBT adults have said that they have got social acceptance and moreover, there is significant progress towards the social acceptance of LGBT adults. The study has been done to see the criteria of social acceptance. And 19% says that there is progress towards social acceptance of LGBT adults. 59% says that there is some (A Survey of LGBT Americans, 2013), and 21% says that there is no progress in socially accepting the LGBT adults.

Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) adults are more accepted by the American society as compared to past and others socities. But, still a more acceptance is needed, so that they don’t feel any discrimination. According to some LGBT adults, they are accepted by most of the American society whereas some LGBT adults said that they need more acceptance in the American Society as they feel discriminants. The views of different LGBT adults are needs to kept in perspective. In compared to all other socities, Americans are found to be ore tolerant towards the lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) adults than they al were in past decades. Only 2 out of 10 said they are not socially accepted as they are treated unfairly by the public, they are not either accepted by their own families, they are physically attacked, and moreover, they are the target of jokes.

Religious Belief

In opposition to the social acceptance of LGBT adults, Religious belief is an important factor (Religious Belief and Views of Homosexuality, 2013). Over the past decades, 47% to 60% of the Americans belief that the homosexuality should be accepted. While only 45% to 31 % of the Americans think that it should not be accepted.

When the Americans who think that the homosexuality should not be accepted are asked why they feel so? Then 52% of them said that, homosexuality is against their religion. As Religion is a big factor, due to which some Americans are against the homosexuality. Moreover, they belief that the homosexuality is traditionally wrong. But, there is only small percentage of Americans who think that the homosexuality is against their religion.

58% of the Americans say that the homosexuality should br accepted by the alw and should be legal according to the laws. They said, it should be supported same as the traditional relations are supported.

Thus, It has been notices that the lesbians are more accepted than gays in American Society, But overall, their acceptance in this society has been progressed.

REFERENCES

A Survey of LGBT Americans. (2013, June 13). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/#

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://cms.bsu.edu: http://cms.bsu.edu/campuslife/counselingcenter/newsfooteritems/diversityresources/diversityinformationandlinks/glbt

Harms, W. (2011, October 5). US VIEWS ON GAYS, LESBIANS SHIFT SHARPLY. Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://www.futurity.org: http://www.futurity.org/us-views-on-gays-lesbians-shift-sharply/

Religious Belief and Views of Homosexuality. (2013, June 6). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://www.people-press.org: http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/06/section-3-religious-belief-and-views-of-homosexuality/

Views of Gay Man and Lesbians, Roots of Homosexuality, Personal Contacts with Gays. (2013, June 6). Retrieved November 5, 2014, from http://www.people-press.org: http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/06/section-2-views-of-gay-men-and-lesbians-roots-of-homosexuality-personal-contact-with-gays/