Author: Andre Coleman

In his essay ‘Disneyworld Company’ (1996), Jean Baudrillard suggests that we are living within “an immediate synchronism of all the places and all the periods in a single a-temporal virtuality”. Please explain this statement, referencing at least two contemporary digital examples.

In his statement ‘an immediate synchronism of all the places and all the periods in a single a-temporal virtuality‘, Baudrillard is addressing the gap between what we can see as the known and the experienced (Baudrillard, 1996). It is in this sense that Baudrillard is writing against the notion of human nature and revealing only experience as the real and knowledge as merely the imagined. It is due to this gap that Baudrillard is then able to show that virtuality has begun to replace our real perceptions. To understand this in full we must investigate his and other philosopher’s thoughts regarding the digital age in greater detail.

Informed primarily by the role that intelligence and sensual perception plays as it is applied to experience and knowledge, Baudrillard looked at the role of subjectivity as it related to both the objective and the phenomenological world. Beginning his enquiry into humanity and reality and its relationship to the world, Baudrillard focused upon the condition of the free world and its growing technologies with an emphasis that its Medias had placed upon commercialisation, imagery and art consumption. Baudrillard spoke of the new emphasis on the philosophy of self fulfilment suggesting that,

‘Through planned motivation we find ourselves in an era where advertising takes over the moral responsibility for all of society and replaces a puritan morality with a hedonistic morality of pure satisfaction, like a new state of nature at the heart of hyper civilisation’ (Baudrillard, 1968, p.3)

After prescribing this current philosophical and moral reality that he believed informed the condition for humanity in the west, Baudrillard then turned to a notion of subject / object consciousness in an attempt to define a link between our knowledge and our experience. Detailing a consumer-able condition that pertained very strongly to post modern, capitalist living, Baudrillard concluded that the relationship between the subject and object now formed the living consciousness of an abstracted life between what he/she identifies with and what is signified in the actual consummation of any chosen object, such as an image, by stating that,

‘We can see that what is consumed are not objects but the relation itself – signified and absent, included and excluded at the same time – it is the idea of the relation that is consumed in the series of objects which manifests it.’ (Baudrillard, 1967, p.11)

What Baudrillard does here is implement the idea of a simulated code acting as our knowledge, rather like that of a robot with artificial intelligence, that works by replacing the old humanised ideological frameworks that once informed society and acted as the gel between experience and knowledge / subject and object. These driving forces once born of experience communicated through culture and language in the forms of social exchange and communal ideology were seen by Baudrillard as being the premise of the image. In this we see that Baudrillard is showing how this simulated code informs a new humanity, devoid of natural origin, that does not live out a life according to cultural meaning that is supported by a communal language, but instead acts out an imagined life that can be understood and identified by its relationship to the values apparent within the code or what Bakhtin called the ‘relationship of the other’ – essentially, placing life itself as a simulated relationship to a tructural code of knowledge. (Bakhtin, 1993). Writing on the subsequent implications of this reality that he defined as hyper-reality and documenting the cultural shift that supported the change from registering external behaviour of a subject as an indication of a subjective response to the recognition of the other as an objective image of simulated experience, Baudrillard suggested that,

‘A whole imagery based on contact, a sensory mimicry and a tactile mysticism, basically ecology in its entirety, comes to be grafted on to this universe of operational simulation, multi-stimulation and multi response. This incessant test of successful adaptation is naturalised by assimilating it to animal mimicry. , and even to the Indians with their innate sense of ecology tropisms, mimicry, and empathy: the ecological evangelism of open systems, with positive or negative feedback, will be engulfed in this breach, with an ideology of regulation with information that is only an avatar, in accordance of a more flexible patter.’ (Baudrillard, 1976, p.9)

With this we can see that all cultures have become divorced from a natural reality born of experience and that the ideas of a structured culture have become replaced by a gap that is filled with the virtual. In this sense, life, according to Baudrillard, is one of virtual imagery that is then rationalised against a simulated code rather than an intrinsic relationship with nature. Essentially, this ideological code acting as virtual knowledge informs us of linear time and space and so distorts our experience of life and existence. The virtual imagery presented to us via global technology and media, such as the internet, then reinforces our application to this reality and gives us our user identity that replaces the old systems devised of actual or phenomenological reality. Scepticism towards global medias, technologies and the growing dependency that humanity and society had begun placing upon the cultural apparatus of the globe was put forward by Marxist philosopher Seigfried Kracauers in his concerns about the mass consumption of art. This indicated that reality of the working masses was hidden under the illusion (or virtuality) of mass produced, distributed and unrelated art (Kracauer, 1963). Expanding upon the ideas of mass consumption and art put forward by Kracauer, contemporary Walter Benjamin introduced the notion of time and space to this idea. Focusing upon the history of technological progression and its relationship to art and social reality, Benjamin suggested that,

‘Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element its presence in time and space, its unique existence as the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of existence. This includes the charges which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years as well as the various changes of its ownerships. The traces of the first can be revealed only by chemical or physical analysis which it is impossible to perform on a reproduction; changes of ownership are subject to a tradition which must be traced from the situation of the original’ (Benjamin, 1935, p.1)

Bringing the role of time and space into the capitalist reproduction of art, Benjamin was able to expand upon Kracauer’s notion that this art was resistant to nature, the individual, the nation and the community. What Benjamin was then able to suggest was that firstly, any one piece of culture belongs to the mass production of art that determines it, and that secondly, every cultural artefact cannot stand free of the time and space in which it was presented as without its mass, it has no meaning or cultural apparatus from which it can be signified or understood (Benjamin, 1935). We can see from this that both Kracauer and Benjamin devised a rationale that applied to the placing of the ideological and virtual conceptual framework within the technological reality of global production. More contemporary thinkers and writers that have concerned themselves with this role of global media and their advancing technologies in the current global condition, hae often supported these views providing evidence for the onus placed upon imagery in the process. For instance, in his text War and Peace in the Global Village writer Marshall McLuhan commented directly upon the growing dependency of western cultures mass media technologies. The global village mentioned in the title referred to the relationship between the people of the global cities and the mass culture that they consumed and were informed by. In particular, this text observed the actual impact that new technologies such as television and news had on cultural perception and indicated how it affected the perception of time within that perception, suggesting that it was being used to artificially construct a regional global identity based upon a virtual history and world based upon linear time and imagined geographies. For instance, information readily received from actual and real events in the world made the concept of a world and its state of being a direct part of one’s own naturalised condtion and experience. Essentially, as this mass of information could be freely accessed by anyone among the global village at any time, then the information could be seen as a virtual universalising reality. Furthermore, using an example of contemporary war coverage, McLuhan was able to demonstrate a clear biasness that was present in the then contemporary manipulation of mass technologies so that invading troops could be portrayed as ‘military contractors‘. He termed this as ’dichotomization’, which would offer two points of view both pertaining to the culture / counter culture of the presiding mass (McLuhan, 1963). This is the gap between knowledge and experience that Baudrillard was referring to, in which he believed synchronisation could flood the space now rendered free of actual time and actual space and portray the virtual as the real.

Although we can see that both Kracauer and Benjamin’s theories of mass reproduction and McLuhan’s findings on the perceptions of technological medias are still relevant and apply to the presentation of the global world that we now find ourselves deeply immersed in, other theorists have offered another approach, implying that Kracauer and Benjamin’s theories contained a fatalistic scepticism that was born of the early twentieth century western modernist perspective. For instance, concerned with the notion of technological expansion, mass culture and the effects of globalisation, contemporary cultural theorist Homi Bhabha engaged in a global perspective that aimed to critique the notion of mass reproduction and its over riding condition. Considering Kracauer and Benjamin’s conceptual analysis of the reproduction of the mass and observing the colonial effects placed upon other cultures, Bhabha positioned this dimension in the conemporary sense by emphasising that it also formed a part of the dichotomy of the mass. Having placed their theory of mass reproduction as one of global scepticism, that was bound by the cultural historicity of their western heritage as is represented by Baudrillard’s positioning of Disney Land as a producer of virtuality within the contemporary age, Bhabha then suggested a third way approach that stood outside of the virtual mass and could observe it organically, either as individual or as a community. Having positioned Kracauer and Benjamin’s theories as part of the dichotomy of the mass, Bhabha was then able to indicate that the essence of a true global perspective was born of organic community that could be found somewhere outside of the global mass; somewhere away from the ‘imaginary’ virtual debates of global inter-national territories and free of their dependencies upon linear and grand concepts of history and time elase (Bhabha, 1994). He suggested that the location of this elsewhere was within the unbound psychology of the individual and not in the construct of their ideological positioning within the virtual time and space created by global media, technology and information. Engaging with Benjamin’s notion of time and space in this cultural reproduction, Bhabha reasoned that,

‘The temporality of negotiation or translation has two main advantages. First, it acknowledges the historical connectedness between the subject and object of critique so that there can be no simplistic, essentialist opposition between ideological misrecognition and revolutionary truth. The progressive reading is crucially determined by the adversarial or agonistic situation itself; it is effective because it uses the subversive, messy mask of camouflage and does not come like a pure avenging angel speaking the truth of a radical historicity and pure oppositionality. If one is aware of this heterogeneous emergence (not origin) of radical critique, then – and this is my second point – function of theory within the political process becomes double edged. It makes us aware that our political references and priorities – the people, the community, class struggle, anti-racism, gender difference the assertion of an anti-imperialist, black or thir perspective – are not there in some primordial, naturalistic sense. They make sense [only] when they come to be constructed in the discourses of feminism, Marxism.’ (Bhabha, 1994, p.23)

It is from this idea of mass, global communication and its accessible depictions of regionalism and linear time that Baudrillard states that there is a synchronism. This synchronism is understood by Baudrillard as the thing that is manipulated by Disneyland to enforce and reinforce an idea of what is real and what is not that as part of the process negates the actual experience of the object itself. Essentially for Baudrillard, through image Disneyland is set within an ideological and conceptual framework reinforced by mass imagery and perceived as being real rather than being virtual. Through the mass image, the reality of Disneyland appears to us as real as it accords to the simulated code that acts and has replaced our naturalised and cultured knowledge structures, without the real experience itself being captured within an experiential temporality. Therefore, it is through the ideology of image that we view the notion of Disneyland as being fixed and constant and not in a transient state of natural and ultural change as pertains to objects of the organic or civilised worlds. Essentially, it is through a display of established imagery that Disneyland can synchronise all the places and all the periods of the virtually known globe, and its many cultures, in a single a-temporal virtuality and replace any reality in the process.

Bibliography

Bakhtin, M., (1993) Toward a Philosophy of the Act. Ed. Vadim Liapunov and Michael Holquist. Trans. Vadim Liapunov. Austin: University of Texas Press

Baudrillard, J., (1968) The System of Objects Taken from: The Order of Simulacra (1993) London: Sage.

Baudrillard, J., (1976) Symbolic Exchange and Death Taken from: The Order of Simulacra (1993) London: Sage.

Benjamin, W., (1935) The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction London: Harcourt.

Bhabha, H., (1994) The Location of Culture New York: Routledge

Kracauer, S., (1963) The Mass Ornament London: Harvard University Press.

McLuhan, M., (1968) War and Peace in the Global Village Washington: Washington Post.

Web Links

Baudrillard, J., (1996) Disneyworld Company Paris: Liberation. Taken from: www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=158 Jean Baudrillard

With the advent of civilization and ever improving societies, man has found the need for several constants. The needs for shelter, food and security have been just a few of these constantsaˆ¦as has the need for incarceration of some of those members of society that have chosen not to follow the rules that a particular society has deemed as necessary. For those members, jails and prisons were built to hold people before or after a conviction, it is not meant to be a permanent stop for those convicted, just a placeholder.

The first jail built was believed to be in 1166, ordered by King Henry II of England, from there jails spread throughout Europe but changed in scope and size over time. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) Workhouses and poorhouses were developed in the 15th and 16th centuries in England where sheriffs took the role of supervising vagrants, the poor and the mentally ill. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) These so-called jails were not sanitized and had unhealthy conditions for the prisoners. This caught the attention of 18th century reformers. One such reformer was English sheriff John Howard. In 1779, England’s Parliament passed the four jail reforms that Howard proposed: secure and sanitary structures, jail inspections, elimination of fees, and an emphasis on reforming prisoners. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011)

The first jail in the United States was the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia, built in 1773; it housed offenders without regard to sex, age, or offense. The Philadelphia Quakers had wanted the Walnut Street Jail to be a place where inmates reformed themselves through reflection and remorse, but shortly after its opening, it turned into a “promiscuous scene of unrestricted intercourse, universal riot and debauchery”. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) On October 5, 1835, the Walnut Street Jail closed and those prisoners were transported to another facility. By the close of the 19th century, most cities across the United States had jails to hold persons awaiting trial and to punish convicted felons. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) So, what has changed in the jail population and structures since they were first built? Back in the day, prisoners were treated inhumane, beaten, flogged, and even hung for their crimes. In today’s jail society, those types of treatment are nothing but a moment in history. There are laws governing the treatment of prisoners and prisoners now have “rights” on how they are treated. The 8th Amendment, ratified in 1791, protects persons convicted of a crime to not have excessive bail or fines imposed, nor to have cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. (Head) I tend to somewhat disagree with this due to some persons crimes are so hideous that they deserve fines and/or cruel and unusual punishment, I mean look what some of those criminals do to their victims! I think they deserve the same treatment as they gave those victims, but that is just my personal opinion.

The design and structure of the jails have also changed. Jails have changed throughout history, and have been through four phases of design, First-Generation, Second-Generation, Third-Generation and Fourth-Generation.

First-Generation jails were designed back in the 18th century, and were called ‘linear design”. In this design, prisoners lived in cells or dormitories. The cells lined up in the corridors and the inmate supervision was minimal. Staff would walk the corridors and would not be able to see into the cell until they were right up on it. The idea of this type of design was to keep prevent inmates from trying to escape and to keep the staff safe. I would describe this type of jail setting as isolated. The downfall to this type of setting is no type of social contact with anyone unless a fight broke. This was not a solution to what needed to be done in order for the prisoners to “reform”. These types of jails were more like solitary confinement, which over time would literally drive a person insane.

The Second-Generation jails emerged in the 1960’s to replace old, rundown linear jails and provide staff officers to observe inmates in a central zone or better known as a control booth, of the jail. The conception of the second-generation jails was for staff to be centralized in one area, which was enclosed in glass for security, to overlook the “pods”. These jails have been termed “podular remote-supervision facilities”. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) This type of jail has its difficulties. The advantage for this type of jail is that the staff can see more of the inmates without having to walk down a corridor. The disadvantage for this type of jail is that the staff and inmates are still separated and with no social contact, much like the first-generation jails.

The Third-Generation jails, which are also known as direct-supervision jails, were introduced in the early 1970’s. The housing unit is podular. The cells are arranged around a common area or dayroom. There is not control booth and no physical barriers between the staff and the inmates. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) The first direct-supervision county jail in the United States was the Martinez Detention Facility in Contra Cost, California. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) With the direct-supervision jails come the principles of Direct Supervision: 1. Effective control, 2. Effective supervision, 3. Competent staff, 4. Staff and inmate safety, 5. Manageable and cost-effective operations, 6. Effective communication, 7. Classification and orientation, 8. Justice and fairness, and 9. Ownership of operations. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) Direct-supervision jails facilitate staff movement, interaction with inmates, and control and leadership over pods. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011) With direct-supervision, staff and inmates intermingle and this is a positive movement towards the reformation of the inmates and their social skills. You cannot just put someone back into society if he/she has had no contact with other people over a certain amount of time. When you are alone, after a while you get use to the idea of being alone and you get “set in your ways” and adopt a certain way of doing things. Take my brother for example, no he was not in jail, but he had been living on his own after his divorce for about 10 years and when he recently remarried, it was difficult for him to adapt to new lifestyle that involved another person. He had to adjust his ways that he had been accustomed to and to accept new ideas and new “rules” for the house. This was very difficult for him and it goes along the same line for inmates. People need social interaction and with the third-generation jails they received it.

The Fourth-Generation jails brought improvements to the direct-supervision jails by adding “borrowed light” or natural sunlight into the day room. This improves the moral of the inmates and staff and saves on electricity bills when it is sunny outside. Along with the borrowed light concept, the fourth-generation jails also implemented program services, more staff, volunteers, and visitors to the jail, even vending machines to the day room. This reduces the feeling of isolation. This improvement adds to the staff the ability to carry out the nine principles of direct-supervision. (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2011)

Along with these new generation jails requires new interpersonal skills. Officers and staff must have excellent interpersonal skills. They must be able to address minor and major conflicts within the pods, even though in the new generation jails, especially the fourth-generation jails, conflicts are at a minimal rate due to the improved conditions and the attitudes of both the inmates and the staff. Reports have shown that the staff “no longer saw themselves as mere guards or defined their jobs as simply to keep criminals locked up”. Among the positive impacts, the officers and staff tend to see the jails as “cleaner, less crowded, having fresher air, and being more temperate”. However, these same researches also showed, even with the improvements, that the staff was no more satisfied than with the new generation jails than the traditional jails. (Appegate & Paoline, 2007) I can see how the “cleaner” jails could be a positive effect on the staff and inmates. Take for example, you are invited over to a friends’ house and it is totally in chaos and messy. The friend might be comfortable in that type of environment, but you are not so comfortable. If the environment were cleaner and more organized, you would be more comfortable and able to relax and enjoy that visit. Same thing with jails, the cleaner and organized it is, the more positive the attitudes of the staff and inmates. They will be more prone to communicate and “follow the rules” than in a run-down, unstructured type of jail. Another point of view would be that if an inmate can see that the place he/she is housed and it is not being take care of properly, what makes them think that anyone cares to find ways of improving it, that the facility is complacent with the conditions? Not that I would want to experience jail life, I would prefer it to be clean, healthy and somewhat a positive environment.

With the improvements of the third and fourth generation jails brought, it also brought controversy and disadvantages. Results from studies show that few jails are strictly adhering to the new design techniques that have been recommended for the successful operations of these new generation jails. (Tartaro, 2002) Overcrowding is a popular problem in today’s jails and even thought the crime rate is down, there is still overcrowding. Another problem the new generation jails have is the age of the offenders has increased and having the necessary accommodations for these “elder” prisoners. In the traditional jails, there were no medical treatments available, in today’s jails, most jails offer medical treatment, but only on the same level as lower income families. Studies have also shown that inmates with disabilities are a growing problem in that they were discriminated against and most jails do not have the means to house inmates with disabilities, and I mentioned earlier, the 8th amendment protects this group of prisoners in today’s society. (Ginsberg, 2009)

In closing, the research I have done I have learned that the differences in the “old” jails and the “new” jails are similar in some ways and totally opposite in other ways. I believe that in the old jails and the way they were imprisoned were more likely not to repeat their offenses, and in the new jails, offenders are likely to repeat their offenses. In the old jails, inmates were brought into the public eye and were embarrassed by their actions. The old, traditional jails were not focused on reforming the prisoners; they were more focused on punishment to these criminals. In today’s jails, we are more focused on reformation of the prisoners and trying to help them merge back into the society from what they once came from, but as I have learned in class, some inmate repeat their offenses because the jail life is better life than what they had. They may have come from broken homes, life of poverty and the jails give them a place of security and more of a home life than what they had. As sad as this is, it is true and with the economy the way it is, this would seem like a better life. New generation emerged due to society to “stand against the inhumane treatment that convicts were submitted to and to require the transformation of detention places from excusive instruments of punishment into establishments of moral recuperation” (Merei, 2012) Merei also stated that “in the nineteenth century, it was developed the concept according to which jails could become, from the means of expiation of the evil committed, social sanctums for healing the soul of the one in conflict with the laws of society” . In Merei’s report, she mentioned that a man named Panait Mucoiu made a categorical statement, which sums it all up. Mucoiu stated, “As long as you take the men’s freedom, you will definitely not transform him into a better person. You will harvest relapse. By incarcerating him and by giving him, every moment, the conviction that everything that happens in detention is a punishment, the society proceeds with all its resources to make him an enemy”. (Merei, 2012)

Appegate, B. K., & Paoline, E. A. (2007, June). Jail Officer’s Perceptions of the Work Environment In Traditional Versus New Generation Facilities. Retrieved November 21, 2012, from ProQuest Criminal Justice: http:search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/criminaljusticeperiod…

Ginsberg, B. (2009, June). Out with the new, in with the old: the importance of section 504 of the Rehabiliation Act to prisoners with disabilites. p. 713.

Head, T. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2012, from About.com Civil Liberties: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/lawenforcementterrorism/p/8th_amendment.htm

Merei, L. E. (2012, January). The affirmation of the renewing current of prison reform in the 19th century Romanian thinking. p. 313.

Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J. (2011). Corrections in the 21st Century. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Tartaro, C. (2002, September ). Examining Implementation Issues with New Generation Jails. Retrieved November 21, 2012, from Sage Journals: http://cjp.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/content/13/3/219

It has been a fact that one of the most exciting features movies posses is that they can boost motivation. They tend to act as a catalyst as some movies brought up the subject that drives the motivation one needs in life. Since the beginning of cinema and films it has been investigated that how the films or cinema affect the audiences by bringing inconspicuous changes in cultures, values and behavioral patterns in a society. It has been quested for years that how effectively a movie can convey a message. Several theories have also been developed and it has been contemplated that movies does leave an impact on the minds of audiences. The study of the effects of motion pictures or cinema has been one of the profound areas of research in the field of mass media. There is a lot more to movies besides the entertainment factor, it can create awareness, motivation or it can give you an incentive to follow. One way or the other, movies do influence our minds.

Keeping in view the above mentioned concern this study deals with the, “Effects of the movies based on IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) or ART (Assisted Reproductive Technique) on married couples”. There has been a unique trend seen in movies released during the past decade that rather than showing glamour, romance and shinning love stories, film makers are more interested in producing movies upon subjects that are closely related to actual reality or social taboos that are actually at hand in our society. There had been a great fillip to the subjects shown in movies recently and one of them is studied by the researcher that is the IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) based movies. Watching different kind of movies can enhance our understanding, and can provide us information and increase our awareness level.

There have been concerns since the beginning of media research that whether motion pictures do have direct and indirect effects on the minds of the viewers according to their needs and desires. And yet there has been such movies which carries a specific subject that targets the special audiences and have the desired influences. Any kind of visual stimulation unique to film provokes an emotive response that has therapeutic properties (S C Noah, 2005-14). Films are considered as a powerful tool in educating the audiences. “What is seeing is believing.” and movies are the one powerful medium that tell stories we understand.

Many a time’s people began to identify themselves as the part of movies and imagine the situation as it is happening to them. That is why one burst into tears sometimes. The conclusion of such movies can give them a lesson or such information they are looking for. IVF based movies have given hundreds of people either infertile couples or sperm donors a way to overcome their disability or a way to make money. Medical director of Delhi IVF and Fertility Research Centre also confirms that due to media attention and handful of movies based on IVF people are more aware of this technology now.

Infertility is a wide spread phenomena but with the technological advancements, medical treatments and techniques have been introduced such as the IVF or ART, most commonly known as the test tube babies. But people were not aware of this process until media gave attention to these subjects. A couple of movies have been released on this subject that spurt the interest of the audiences. Doctor Shahnaz Nadir Lakhani also confirms in an interview with a prestigious newspaper of Pakistan that media has played a vital role in changing the opinion and thinking of people towards IVF treatment as with more awareness people tends to develop faith to overcome their disability (Ilyas, 2009). The researcher here deals with the effects about the information disseminated by these movies particularly among the married couples. A women going through IVF treatment to overcome her infertility admits that she has come to know about this treatment from certain media programs (Ilyas, 2009).

In a Muslim country like Pakistan, where religious reserves and guidelines are put forth before going for any kind of reproductive treatment, confirmed by the global survey in which 26 Muslim countries including Pakistan strictly prohibits any kind of sperm Donation in IVF or gamete transfer (Marcia C Inhorn, 2005). Nevertheless IVF clinics flourished under private institutions and infertile couples consider this treatment as “marriage savior”. Dr Samrina Hashmi, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) general-secretary remarked that this is important to bring private institutions under some regulations as the private institutions work only under their own ethical codes and government is under the influence of some quarters due to religious reserves.

During the past decade media and films have given this phenomenon a recognition, and awareness among people and different societies. The researcher through this study examines that what is the opinion of married couples after watching IVF based movies with respect to the level of awareness and acceptance of this IVF process.

Statement of Problem

Many research studies have been conducted to examine the impact of motion pictures or cinema on the society. There is an intense relationship between the motion pictures and the change of attitude and behaviors of the audiences (Fearing, 1947). F C Berlet confirms in his study entitled, remembering: A study of experimental and social psychology, that individuals respond to the situation which cognize with his remembering, perceiving and imagining about the situation. And motion pictures have their desired influences upon individuals because they let one to cognize with his world (Fearing, 1947). The idea or subject shown in movies does have a direct and indirect effect on the change of behavior in the audiences. Movies affect your brain in various undetected ways (Braff, 2011).

Movies based on the subject of IVF or ART treatment; most commonly known as the sperm donation or test tube babies has brought a spurt into audiences. People were not so well aware of this treatment or term IVF in the past few years or say five years before. But due to the media attention and movies being produced on such stories have brought awareness among the people that what it actually is (Mahajan, 2012). The Hollywood and Bollywood movies based on IVF depicts the increasing level of awareness and acceptance among their societies. But the question arises here is that no study previously has been conducted to examine the effects of these movies upon our society that what is the level of awareness and acceptance about the concerned issue and IVF treatment specifically on married couples. This research study investigates the effects of IVF based movies on married couples.

IVF treatment has been in practice in Pakistan since 1985 but most people do not have the knowledge of what is the actual treatment about and how it is undertaken. Due to religious reserves and high rate of illiteracy, most people were unaware and against the treatment. Unlike other countries of UK, USA and even India where this treatment is legalized under laws, Pakistan has no law stating this treatment as legal.

This treatment is practiced under private hospitals and IVF centers but government has not paid any attention towards this phenomenon while formulating their health policies. But the movies based on IVF have increased the awareness level to a good extent. A gynecologist and infertility specialist Kamini Rao confirms that there has been 30% increase in the queries about the treatment. However the researcher’s concern is carried from here that to what extent these movies have affected the married couples in Lahore Pakistan.

As mentioned above, it has been in practice in Pakistan from a long time as well but unlike some other certain countries there is no legal law under which it is practiced in private institutions. Few years before the terms of sperm donation and In Vitro Fertilization technique was not a common phenomenon. Most people were unaware of the process and even they do not know what sperm donation is or they were unaware and against any medical treatment for infertility and reproduction. In the past decade, there has been seen a growing trend in Hollywood and Bollywood movies to stimulate social taboos surrounding societies. There were produced message oriented movies on medical disorders and disseminated information on certain subjects that were not mostly spoken of, for instance, In Vitro Fertilization process.

Where in certain countries like USA, UK and India this technique of overcoming infertility or becoming single mothers has been a normal practice but in Pakistan where females are not as independent to take decisions in this regard, adding to this, infertile females are more likely to be seen as a victim of socio-cultural factors (Chandra, 2009; pg 228) and also keeping in mind the religious reserves and low literacy level of 40.3% (est. 2009, CIA), both male and female as married couples have been taken as a focus of this study in context of the society exist in Lahore Pakistan. Therefore, researcher has undertaken this study to determine that whether these movies have any effect in our society analyzing both females and males as married couples.

Objectives

Objectives are the focus of any study. They provide a definite aim to follow through the study. They offer a framework upon which the whole study is laid. The researcher has been studying the effects of IVF based movies on married couples. The researcher has been keen to observe that how the issues discussed in the IVF based movies have been affecting upon them.

Keeping in mind the above cited concerns, the researcher laid the following objectives to determine the frame work of the research study.

To analyze the level of awareness IVF movies are creating among married couples. (Knowing, understanding, sensitivity, alertness)

To explore the level of acceptance about the IVF technique among married couples after watching IVF movies. ( recognition, approval, endorsement, consent, support)

To analyze the opinion of married couples about IVF movies. ( view, outlook, attitude, belief)

Research Questions

Research questions provide a focused framework for a researcher to conduct the study. These questions define the whole process. For this purpose research questions were designed to set a focus for this study as:

Q1. Do the movies based on IVF are increasing the general level of awareness among the married couples?

Q2. To what extent these movies have impact upon the acceptance level among married couples?

Q3. Do these movies form the opinion of married couples regarding IVF treatment?

Q4. Do these movies change the opinion of married couples regarding IVF treatment?

Q5. Do these movies boost motivation among married couples?

Hypothesis:

The hypothesis designed for the study is as follows:

(A) Major Hypothesis
Greater exposure to movies based on IVF issues has increased the level of awareness among married couples

The major aim of this study is to dig out the effects of movies based on IVF on married couples. The researcher is keen to observe the level of awareness these movies based on IVF are creating specifically among females and males as married couples. Infertility has been a cause of mental distress and anxiety due to the socio cultural factors of a society, and females are more likely to fell as a victim of social blames and they want escape from these factors and social blames at any cost but in our present society without males it cannot be possible . And as cited before that motion pictures are a one of the major way to motivate or create awareness among the audiences. Therefore, the media attentions given in movies based on IVF are disseminating information that most people are not so well aware of. The researcher through this study wants to examine the effects of IVF based movies on married couples in Lahore Pakistan to investigate the level of awareness these movies are creating and to what extent.

The researcher has reviewed the literature upon these variables and analyzed that infertile couples are more likely to be affected psychologically and socially and they want to go through every process to overcome their inability. Message given in the IVF movies are a way to motivate the audiences and to make them aware of the medical treatment that is becoming popular in the meantime. The researcher wants to examine the effects of IVF based movies upon the married couples of Lahore, Pakistan that whether they get awareness from these movies and to what extent they accept this procedure according to the society we live in.

(B) Sub-Hypothesis
Greater the exposure of married couples to IVF based movies tends to change their acceptance level about the IVF treatment.

The researcher is keen to observe that how the IVF based movies tend to increase the acceptance level among married couples in terms of their family and social interactions. We live in a society of religious reserves and the IVF procedure is not yet legalized under any laws, but it is practiced under private institutions and is acceptable in a limited circle of society. The researcher through this study wants to examine that how the media attention and movies based on the IVF treatment shapes the acceptance level among the married couples of Lahore, Pakistan.

Rationale of the Study

We live in a society where technology has greatly influenced the lives of people. This study is focused to determine the effects of movies based upon the IVF reproductive technology on the married couples. This study is aimed at finding out the effects in terms of awareness and acceptance level and how it has shaped the opinion of married couples of Lahore, Pakistan. This study is important because there have been reserves about the reproductive technologies but media has generated spurt into the audiences through movies. There is not been given much attention previously to this subject in regards of how these movies have affected upon the married couples.

Rationale for selecting movies based on IVF

In words of Marshall McLuhan, movies influence the general understanding of the world as the viewers began to see the world through the prism of images persistently shown in the movies. More evidently films are recognized as the most powerful medium of mass education, entertainment and propaganda and it has great psychological and emotional effects upon the audiences.

People have emotional attachments to certain subjects for instance one that is studied under this research that is IVF reproductive treatment. The powerful visual images enhance the emotional stimulation and affect the minds, opinion and attitude towards a certain phenomena. There have been given much attention to IVF treatment and procedure in the movies of past decade. It has been seen that there has been a rise in the level of awareness due to these movies in different societies but in Pakistan there has not been given much or little attention in this regard to determine the effects upon the society particularly on married couples.

The concern of the researcher drives from here that everywhere in the world media has been able to educate and motivate the audiences, for instance, in Bangalore (India) there has been 30% more increase in the queries about the procedure and treatment after watching Vicky Donor released in 2012. The IVF has been practiced in Pakistan since 1985 under private institutions and has been successfully implemented among a limited circle of a society that has knowledge about the treatment. However during the past five years the movies by bringing up the stories based on IVF treatment and procedure has created a general understanding and awareness among the people.

The researcher through this study analyzes the effects of these movies on married couples of Lahore Pakistan to determine the extent of awareness these movies have created and the level of acceptance that has shaped the opinion of females by watching these IVF based movies.

Rationale for Selecting Married Couples

The study aims at finding out the effects of IVF based movies upon married couples of Lahore, Pakistan. There had been several studies conducted to examine the relation between infertility and females, concluding that females react more strongly to their infertility than the man that is they have a strong desire to have a child (Bergh, T., Boivin, J., & Collins, A , 1999, 78(1):42-48). However, keeping in mind the socio-cultural factors that women belonging to a society like ours where she is not independent to make any decisions regarding reproductive techniques. Therefore, this study aims at determining the effects of IVF based movies on married couples in Lahore Pakistan.

Keeping in mind the religious reserves and misconceptions about the treatment that are high lightened by the movies, this study aims to investigates that whether the married couples are getting awareness from these movies and to what extent and how these movies shape their opinion regarding the acceptance of this treatment in our society.

Significance of the Study

This study is beneficial in terms of examining the present and future scenario of the IVF treatment in Muslim world that how the movies are creating general awareness and increasing the acceptance level among the married couples living in Muslim societies. These movies based on IVF are an excellent tool for social education but in Muslim countries these subjects are sensitive. This phenomenon has its root from the western societies where it has been a common practice to be a single mother or a way to overcome infertility among couples. However, this study will help to explore the level of acceptance in Muslim societies like Pakistan where IVF is not yet legalized but has been under practice privately.

It is important for the readers of international community to note the status of IVF treatment and the media attention given to this subject through movies that how it is influencing Pakistani society particularly married couples that to what degree they are getting general awareness to accept and change their opinion.

Since the British Welfare state materialized in 1945, the debate on how to reform it has never ceased. In the first 25 years after it was introduced, the debate concerned how to increase its scope and abolish means-tested benefits. Then, after the economic crisis in the 1970s, the aim was on how to trim it back. Now, the future of the welfare state itself it the subject of fierce debate.

In this essay I will begin with a history of the UK Welfare State and how it came about, before analysing a few of the key elements of the welfare state which will help me decide whether the welfare state is in crisis. I will then finish with a conclusion with my thoughts and views, verbalised.

The narrow definition of the welfare state comprises two types of government spending; (1) cash benefits to households such as transfers and income insurance and (2) subsidies or direct government provision of human services such as pre-schooling, education, child care, health care and old age care. The broader definition of welfare state includes housing policies, price regulation, job security legislation and environmental policies1. The purpose of the welfare state is to create economic equality or to assure equitable standards of living for all2, to protect British people from unemployment3, and to encourage the provision of the social services on the same basis as the public services such as roads and libraries4. However, there are differing opinions as to whether the objective of the welfare state is a simple one, as John G. Francis states the purpose is to ‘allocate public funds In order to secure certain minimum life support services for those most in need’ and to ”construct a comprehensive set of social and economic policies designed to realize a certain vision of society”.5 Morris Janowitz, on the other hand, paints a more minimal portrait of the welfare state: “the welfare state rests on the political assumption that the well-being of its citizens is enhanced not only by allocations derived from their occupations and the marketplace but also grants regulated by the central government.” He explains that in addition to the government provisions of benefits for its citizens, there are two further elements in his conception of a welfare state: (1) “parliamentary regime determination of resource allocation” and (2) “the recognition of the state’s right to intervene in order to create the conditions under which citizens can pursue their goals.”

The welfare state was developed primarily by William Beveridge. In 1941, the British government commissioned a report into the ways Britain should be rebuilt after the Second World War, mainly how improvements could be made to the system of providing sickness and unemployment insurance. Beveridge was the obvious candidate to compile the blueprints for the welfare state due to his book on ‘Unemployment: A Problem of Industry’ in 1909, in which he argued that full employment could be obtained if industry was not constrained by over regulation.7 In 1942 as the war reached its height, he produced his report ‘The Report on Social Insurance’ and proposed that all people of working age should pay a weekly national insurance contribution where benefits would be paid to the sick, unemployed and retired and thus provide a minimum standard of living for all citizens.8 He also identified five ‘giant evils’ that plagued society and could be tackled:

Want (today we call it poverty) by establishing a comprehensive social security system

Disease by establishing a new health service

Idleness by the state aiming for full employment

Ignorance by reforming the education system

Squalor by a new house building and slum clearance programme9

The first of Beveridge’s proposals came into effect before WW2 ended. In 1944 the Ministry of National Insurance was set up before the Family Allowances Act was passed a year later.11 Reactions to the report were positive:

‘It gave me a feeling there was something to work for and fight for after all and that our efforts might be rewarded by some real social improvement, giving means to the phrase “winning the peace”. (Royal Artillery, male, 29)

‘It’s the goods! All the yearnings, hopes, dreams and theories of socialists for the past half century have been crystallized into a practical economic formula. Equity for the “lowest common denominator” I was staggered by its comprehension’. (Insurance clerk, male, 39, Newport)

‘I am aware of a new feeling of confidence in myself as a member of a democratic society when I see those social reforms which I have considered necessary for such long time actually taking shape’. (Accountant, male, 40, Prestwick) 12

Such positive reaction, though not all positive, led to a landslide victory for Clement Attlee and his Labour Party and he decided to seize upon Beveridge’s proposals as a basis for radical action, and proceeded to implement many social policies, which became known as the Welfare State. Attlee’s hope was to have Beveridge’s plan in force by 1948, but in a time when Britain was suffering from the severe conditions of post-war Britain, it did not have the money to pay flat rate benefits that would keep people out of poverty.13 The National Assistance act which was passed in 1948 played a bigger role in improving poverty than Beveridge had planned and because the idea of basing entitlement on contributions through national insurance was flawed, it meant many people, in particular women, were excluded from the system. Another act which passed was the National Health Service Act 1946, which came into effect on 5th of July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales.14 After the landslide victory for Labour in 1945, Aneurin Bevan was appointed minister of health, responsible for establishing the National Health Service. Since there was already a free, compulsory state education service, the people of Britain now probably had the most comprehensive Welfare State system in the world.15

The question of whether the UK welfare is in crisis is one that has been asked before. The welfare state in the 1970s was claimed to be in crisis with oil price shocks and increasing food prices adding pressure on the economy and leading to a rise in unemployment. Though the causes – sharp reductions in output by OPEC and exchange rate fluctuations – were said to be ‘external to the welfare state’ 16, there still continues to be a debate over not just whether the welfare state is in crisis but also if it is sustainable. The first area I will tackle is state benefits. As of September 2009, there were 2.7million people claiming incapacity benefits in the UK17 and with reports stating that ‘less than a third of’ these ‘claimants are legitimate’18, it begs the question that are the standards of the UK health service so inadequate that more people than ever are ‘incapacitated’? The simple answer is the majority of these people are simply work-shy19. Michael Portillo of the Sunday Times pointed out the intentions of the Welfare Stare was to prevent this abuse of the system by the work shy20:

The state “should not stifle incentive, opportunity, responsibility”, wrote Sir William Beveridge in the 1942 report that inspired the post-war welfare state. “In establishing a national minimum it should leave room and encouragement for voluntary action by each individual to provide more than that minimum for himself and his family.

These work shy people are forcing the tax burden on the hard working families and “as a result, taxpayers have spent ?346bn on payments to those out work since Tony Blair entered Downing Street”. He goes onto say “It might have been possible for the state to fine tune benefits when every claimant was known to the local poor law guardians. It is much more difficult today in systems that are nationalised and standardised”, before concluding, “we ought to assume that fit young people are not entitled to anything. If a few young men from sink estates are now heroes in Afghanistan, why should we presume that all the others are capable of nothing useful at all?” Some believe such a centrally planned benefits system is bound to fail because it is not feasible for a planning body to know all the circumstances and facts to able to assess who is in an incapacitated state21.

Another area of benefits that has come under scrutiny is child benefits. This has long been considered untouchable as it has high take-up rates and passionate support across the political sector. However, new goals such as reducing child poverty whilst at the same time cutting spending, it is time the state challenged its status as the sacred cow of the welfare state22. Between 1999 and 2004, 600,000 children managed to escape poverty as result of their guardians/parents finding work. However, this trend reversed when the recession hit when between 2008 and 2009, 160,000 more children were in workless households and, inevitably, in poverty. Kate Stanley of the Institute for Public Policy Research makes the point that the welfare state “must become much more efficient in reaching poor children and child benefit is one of government’s primary tools in ending poverty.”23 She goes onto explain that ”we need to bite the bullet and make it progressively universal so that everyone gets something but poorer families get most”, adding further, ” one option would be to tax child benefit and use the tax to increase the rate of benefit paid to second and subsequent children”. As with any policy change, putting forward such change is unquestionably controversial. However, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that yes, while there is a need for a benefit reform in the UK, does it necessarily mean the welfare state as a whole is in crisis? On this evidence, I can conclude with a wholehearted, no.

British schools have somewhat of a mixed reputation. Quality of state education is known to vary whilst universities and other higher education institutions garner an excellent reputation internationally and take in thousands of foreign students. The state education system in the UK has been changing at a hectic pace in recent decades which has led to a generation of curriculum chaos and crisis caused by a lack of funding, crumbling infrastructure and shortages of books and other equipment24. Many schools have been forced to cut their teaching budgets at a time when they should have been increasing them, and some have had insufficient funds to buy books for the revised national curriculum and other essentials. This is only going to get worse with the recent spending review by The Coalition hinting there may be ‘savage cutsaˆ¦in the education budget’25. The budget for the Department of Education last year was ?66.7bn, rising to an estimated ?68.7bn this year. While Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to protect Sure Start, the government scheme where children’s centres have been built by Labour to provide nursery care, it means other areas such as school buildings and support services are likely to be even harder hit. And it only gets worse: the Audit Commission claims that ‘millions of pounds are still being misspent’. A report last year found ‘schools were sitting on excessive cash reserves of almost ?2bn and ?400m a year could be saved if schools bought desks, equipment and services more sensibly’26. However, it is easy to criticise and easy to forget the positives. The last government claimed the increase in funding produced key successes, including rises in primary and secondary school exam results, a drop in the number of failing schools, an increase in the number of children staying on in education beyond the leaving age and improvements to early years care with the establishment of a network of Sure Start children’s centres. However, this all happened during the last government. With ever more bleak and worrying headlines such as ‘Students to face unlimited fees’, ‘Nearly one in five children aged 16-19 is ‘functionally illiterate” and ‘Schools prepare to cut frontline services’, it is not surprising why many are saying the education system in the UK is in trouble.

A recent programme on BBC illustrated how Toby Young struggled to set up a new school within the state system. The pressing concern was the campaign to stop these schools was endorsed by the National Union of Teachers. The reason why Mr Young was trying to set up these schools was because they were wanted by parents not happy with the existing state schools. There is mass evidence to support their views with reports year on year showing dwindling numbers on the number of pupils that achieve 5 A-C GCSEs. It is about time students are able to realise their full potential instead of facing silly obstacles. It is no wonder private schools attain far higher grades and pass rates than public schools as they receive much more attention in their small class setting. I see no reason at this stage to go against what many people are saying: the UK welfare state is very much in crisis.

The last area I cover is pensions. In the UK there are three major pension routes; (1) occupational final salary pension plans from your employer: (2) the state pension where you may have entitlement to a top-up plan as well as the basic state pension. Those who are not well off may have their retirement earnings boosted by a pension credit: and (3) the money purchase pension scheme either from your employer or from other earnings such as self-employment (these are called personal pensions)27. There are three problems in pension reforms in the UK. The first being whether to continue with the PAYG system or switch to a saving system, though this fight seems to be over as many academics and politicians accept the need to move to a saving or funded system. The second problem is whether, if you opt for the saving system, to make savings voluntary or compulsory, and if compulsory whether or not to give savers a choice of pension providers. The move to a saving or funded system has a great economic advantage in that it builds compound interest into the entitlement. In other words, you invest in the economy and you get the benefit when you retire. Many would like to return to the ideal situation of not wanting to be a burden on your family and the next generation, but as that family obligation ‘myth’ still continues, it is too high a price to pay for the economic costs of the current system29. The question that leads from this is whether to make saving voluntary or compulsory. I would suggest setting a minimum for compulsory savings and let people saving voluntarily for larger pensions. Indeed the government introduced voluntary pension saving in the new world of pensions, but being auto-enrolled into a pension scheme will be compulsory.

The high level of state pension from the age of 65 has been found to cost too much and has steadily declined in relation to average incomes and been replaced by what many call the disastrous means-tested pension credit. With the pension age to rise to 68, this will be a long overdue acceptance of vastly increased longevity30. This demonstrates the slow pace to which the UK responds to changes in reality. The Beveridge report laid the foundations of the post-war welfare state, declaring every citizen who paid his or her contributions should be able to claim “an adequate pension worth more than any means tested benefit”31. As Philip Johnston of the Telegraph puts it, ‘after 100 years in which living standards have quadrupled, a pension designed to prevent the poorest in society enduring a penurious old age has failed in its purpose’. James Bartholomew, in his book ‘The Welfare State We’re In’, posed the question if we would have been better off without the state pension. He answered,

“It seems likely that if the state pension had not been introduced, British people would have saved a great deal more and, overall, would probably now be wealthier in their old age. The late 19th century trend for people to become less benefit dependent would have continued, and it would be normal to have very substantial savings. Old people would have more independence and dignity in retirement”.

In conclusion, I agree with the claim that the UK welfare state is in crisis. During the research for this essay, I found almost no evidence to say otherwise, which was a surprise. I have discovered the welfare state has been a failure and I believe the state should stop funding anything beyond a minimum safety net. As stated before, money is being wasted due to recklessness in its spending and rather than divert (even more) resources from social security to health and education, as the government plans, it should slash taxes and let people pay for their own welfare services. The demand for these two categories rises faster than national income and public spending is unlikely to be able to keep up, thus bringing us back to the perpetual perception that they are “underfunded”. I read an interesting post made by a member of the public on an online forum that made the following comment:

Whenever all of part of the NHS runs out of money, wards are closed or operations are delayed or a cost saving measure is taken, but never are salaries cut back. 154

This illustrates how the government have a strong inclination to protect their staff first, instead of their customers who receive the service. But of course the nurses and doctors and administrators feel like they are under paid and endure difficult conditions, and this is often too. It bottles down to the point that their pay and their pensions are not damaged which otherwise would be if they were not working for the government.

The future on the welfare state itself is uncertain at this point in time. The right are in agreement that unwarranted spending on the welfare state has weakened economic growth and reduced incentives, while the left feel the traditional welfare state has not paid enough attention to significant groups like women and ethnic minorities. Policy reforms have strengthened not just in the UK but also in the continental Europe and the US. The government often deliberates and avoids making tough decisions, such as introducing a compulsory savings scheme or increasing state pensions, which have been needed to deal with the crisis. As Steve Schifferes of the BBC puts it, “though the government wants to seek a political consensus before proceeding with radical reform, time may be running out!”

Introduction & history of the family

“Most people’s idea of a normal household is a married couple with children. Does this longer correspond with the reality of people’s lives? In 2005 only 22 per cent of British households consisted of a couple with dependant children, compared with 35 per cent in 1971.” (Fulcher J, Scott J, 2004 pg 446).

Over several decades, Britain and other Western societies have seen a shift in family patterns and diverse roles, also divorce rate have risen significantly and there has been an increase in ‘Reconstituted families’ formed from second marriages

The family is often regarded as the basis of society; in pre-modern and modern societies alike is seen as the basis in which social organization takes place, for example socialising children, in the 1960’s there was not discussion about the importance of family, at that family life was merely evolving with the modern times, the ‘nuclear family’ which consist of a two generation household of parent and their children, was seen as well adapted to the demands of modern society. A classic definition of the family by George Peter Murdock (1949) “The family is a social group characterized by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. This includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially-approved sexual relationships, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabiting adults”.

Another type of family is the extended family, which includes the family members which extends ‘vertically’ that would include three generations for example; grandparent and grandchildren, it also extends ‘horizontally’ to include at least ‘in laws’ cousins, aunts and uncles, and dependant on the perceptions and the boundaries of the family; determines how far this extends.

From a functional perspective the family purpose is to work as a social institute, and according to (Haralambos & Holborn 2008) the family performs four basic functions in all societies which are termed the ‘sexual’, ‘reproductive’ ‘economic’ and ‘educational’ these are deemed essential for social life because without reproduction there would be no members of society, also without economics there would no provisions for providing food and therefore life would cease to exist, and without education as suggested by George Murdock there would be no culture and he suggests therefore that human society could not function.

However according to Parson (in Parsons & Bales 1956) the family social institution developed to meet two such needs that the family, and only the family, met: the needs for primary socialization and personality stabilization Primary socialisation was the process through which children obtain the basic values of society from the family from an early age.

And adult personality is stabilized through the family to give emotional support through marriage, and to create an opportunity for adults to satisfy childish impulses that they could not do in public, for example playing games with their children.

Parsons suggested that the nuclear family was particularly suited the ‘nuclear family’ because the nuclear family roles were specialized due to one adult earning money through paid work, and the other adult bringing up the children, therefore with there being one ‘breadwinner’ this was quite important factor in the industrial society due to high rates of change, this meant that this type of family were more ‘geographically mobile’ and they would also keep the world of work and family separate, as industrial societies were concerned with ‘achievement ‘and ‘universalism’; this meant that people were rewarded according to achievements and judged according to universal standards of qualifications, and competence, the family however operated on a opposite basis; where the values of ‘ascription’ and ‘particularism; thus, status was ascribed on who one was, for example, husband of, wife of, parents would do their best to advance their children, therefore if this overlapped into the workforce this cause conflict.

Marxist perspective states the capitalist system exploits the free domestic labour of the ‘housewife’ through domestic labour, and that child rearing should be considered as family activities ‘outside’ the operation of the capitalist economy but instead an essential part of it.

This view is taken because the ‘male breadwinner’ can then do longer hours, because the wife is at home tending to children and the domestic work; children were seen as the process of reproduction of ‘labour’ by creating submissive workers.

Due to the male bread winner being put under pressure from the work place to work much harder and faster, and quite often carrying out tedious and repetitive work in very poor conditions, which they would have very little control therefore the family was seen as an outlet for the tension and frustration, and the bullied worker may restore their self-esteem by bullying their family. Although the wife play’s a significant role in the capitalist economy, she would get no pay. Some housewives worked in paid employment at a low wage, and acted as a ‘reserve army’ which could be drawn into work when there was a shortage of labour, and returned back home when demand was low, therefore the nuclear family created an additional supply of ‘cheap labour’.

Some sociologist argue that the family has lost certain functions in modern industrial society, and they suggest that institutions such as political parties and school, and welfare organisations are performing functions of the family, Talcott Parson’s argues that the family has become functionless on the ‘macroscopic’ levels. However not all sociologist agree with this idea, and they actually think the opposite, according to Ronald Fletcher, a British sociologist stated in ‘The Family and Marriage in Britain’ (1966)that the family has retained its functions but also those functions have ‘increased in detail and importance’ and specialised institutions such as schools and hospitals have added to and improved the family functions, rather than suspended them, some example of these changes are the expectations of the parenting role; they are expected to do their best to guide, encourage and support their children through education and their.

Young and Wilmott (1973) claim that the ‘symmetrical family is developing where spouses are sharing domestic, work and leisure activities; these types of relationships are called ‘joint conjugal’ roles as opposed to ‘segregated roles’ which previously meant the marital roles of husband and wife were largely segregated. In the symmetrical family, conjugal roles have become more joined, the wife still has primary responsibility for housework and child rearing, however husbands have become more involved with domestic chores like doing the washing and ironing, and share the decisions that affect the family

The structure of the British family has shifted significantly over the last 50 years, a major influence of this is through the decline of marriage and the rise in cohabitation according to the ‘Office of National statistics 2008’

Due to the changes in marriages, divorce and cohabitation to the growing number of new types of families Two in five of all marriages are now remarriages, which makes step families one of the fastest growing family forms in Britain, currently making up one, in the decade to 2006, the number of single parent families also increased to 2.3 million, making up 14% of all families in ten of all families.18.

Ethnic diversity is on the increase due to the increase of international migration is another source of diversity, for example the structure of Afro-Caribbean and Asian families; looking at the diversity in relation to origin and considerations of how these have changed in the context of British society.

According to (Elliot 1966; Berthound 2000) the lower-class Afro-Caribbean family is centred on the role of the women, and marriages are weakly institutive and low due to the men ‘wandering’; therefore the women commonly head the households, and relationships between mothers and children are much stronger than those between fathers and children, and family life tends to be supported by other women other than the biological mother. African-Caribbean women have been more economically active than women from other ethnic groups, and see paid work as a basis fro financial independence and are more likely to control the use of their earnings than Asian or White women, however this is only made possible by the sharing of the mothering role with other women.

There are considerable cultural difference between south Asian nationalities that have come to Britain, however there are similarities, for instance families from rural areas in South Asia typically have extended forms of family, that include three generations in one household and are organized through a network of males, are bound together through religious beliefs in ‘brotherhood’ and family loyalty. Marriages are arranged and seen as a contrast of two families.

According to young and Willmott the home centred symmetrical family is more typical of the working class than the middle class, they suggest that ‘the working class’ are more fully home-centred because they are less fully work-centred’; and this is due to compensating for uninvolved and boring work, and because little interest is expected at work, and manual workers tend to focus more attention on family life, therefore according to Young and Wilmott see work as a major influence on family

Migration to Britain severely disrupted extended families of this kind and for many women this has left them socially isolated at home and unsupported by the kin. Sikh household have become more focused on couples and women have renegotiated traditional patterns, through greater independence through paid work, however in contrast Pakistani and Bangladeshi cultures have been limited to homework or family business by Islamic prohibition of contact with unrelated men, this has lead to women being exploited as cheap labour and confined to the home.

Many sociologists are concerned about what they see as the decline in marriage and family life, and they see this as a threat to the family, for example Brenda Almond (2006) believes that the family is fragmenting, there is also an increase in the legal and social acceptance of marital breakdown, cohabitation, gay and lesbian relationships and so on.

Colin Gibson (1994) claims through the development of modernity this has increased the likelihood of conflict between spouses due to much emphasis upon the desirability of individual achievement, Gibson believes that people now live in an ‘enterprise and free-market culture of individualism in which the licence of choice dominates

The last 100 years have seen changes in legislation, technology, attitudes and expectations that’ have led to a massive feminisation of the workforce since the second world war, also widespread contraception leading to deferred decisions about the start of families; and divorce, remarriage and cohabitation becoming much more acceptable. A relaxation of societal attitudes towards marriage means it is no longer seen as unusual to be involved in a ‘complicated’ family structure. Families are no longer just made up of married parents living with their children. Although seven in ten households are still headed up by married couples, this proportion has been declining for some time. Families are now a mix of cohabiting parents, stepfamilies, single parent families, those living apart together and civil partnerships, as well as the traditional nuclear family.

The high rise allows one to house huge numbers of people in single edifices, allowing one to treat town-planning on a large-scale. (Aregger & Glaus, 1967, 27). The highrise is “a means of organizing the shambles of a huge city without increasing its spread, of improving living conditions and traffic flow, and creating open spaces for recreation at the same time. (Aregger & Glaus, 1967, 33). Moreover, as suggested by writers such as Dewi Cooke, urban sociability can be promoted by high-rise housing since it encourages meetings with neighbours through the sharing of mutual facilities. (Cooke, 2012).

The residential high-rise building, offers acceptable and suitable accommodation for a certain part of the population: single people, couples and the smaller families. A highrise building is also capable of transforming an older, but well-preserved district into a visual slum. As a result of its height and mass, it tends to overpower its surrounding not only by its size, but all the other aspects of its appearance. (Aregger & Glaus, 1967, p.57). As Earnest F. Burckhardt states due to the height of a high rise, people are relegated to an ant-like existence. The highrise apparently seem less worth fulfilling, and somewhat satanic. Other negative features of this massing include architectural monotony, aggressive exhibitionism vs. traditional horizontal housing that would merge into the landscape. Small towns, in particular, lose a certain ambience of intimacy and modesty. Highrise blocks have something loud and aggressive about them. (Aregger & Glaus, 1967, 58). The high rise is capable of causing tenant isolation and even depression. (Qureshi, 2004).

1.2.1. History and motive

The motive of designing a high rise lies in the tendency to “rise above the self,” it is a fundamental human urge. Building into the sky satisfies a primeval instinct. Acted-out collectively, it signifies the desire to dominate. (Earnest F. Burckhardt, Observations on the question of highrise building). The three most common reasons for building these ostentatious high buildings are known to be: architectural emphasis of a certain place in the city, social distinction of individual, group of nation and demonstration of an abstract or concrete power, which can be summed up to be artistic aesthetic motive, sociological motive and religious motive respectively. (Aregger&Glaus, 1967, 14). In the west architects were interested in neither giving distinction to individuals or groups, nor in demonstrating any power, but simply wanted to create a vertical spatial element which would effectively “articulate and punctuate the historical mass of banal housing” that was rapidly spreading around large cities (Aregger&Glaus, 1967, 15). Furthermore, the originators of European high-rise building, particularly the residential type, had social motives in mind. Starting with the theory that architectural environment influences man’s way of life, they hoped, by means of “differentiated, accentuated building, to promote the re-emergence or strengthening of human values and individuality instated of the growing tendency towards collective behaviour.” They were successful. (Aregger&Glaus, 1967, 15). And in the contemporary period, the constant and increasing growth of today’s major cities results in an ever-growing demand of the high rise building, as is the case in New Delhi, India.

1.3 Massing – horizontal cities and vertical cities
1.3.1. issues related to cities (Jaipur) based on horizontal massing

The traditional cities of India can be studied to understand planned horizontal massed cities. Common problems can be delineated to understand the negative features related to this type of massing in the contemporary world, as described by the Housing and Development Corportation, with particular reference to Rajasthan.

Poor infrastructure is found in most of the towns: katcha houses and non-availability of water, sanitation and basic services to bulk of the rural population (23.1) These areas have no planned drainage systems, management of increasing solid waste is thus becoming an issue in such cities.The restricted areas for defecation, open sewers, lack of clean drinking water, infestation by flies, rats and mosquitoes, cramped living, cooking and sleeping quarters and the exposure to industrial and chemical wastes, all make the basti a risky place to live in. The basti was also a major rubbish sorting depot (outsiders called it the kachraor rubbish basti) which makes it all the more hazardous, especially for young children. (Kumar, McNay. &Castaldo, 2008, p.11)

Many traffic accidents are caused due to unsystematic and mushroom growth of such centres. There are no regular parking areas for trucks which remain parked within the right of the way of the highways. This invariably creates traffic bottlenecks hampering smooth flow of fast highway traffic. (23.7) Maintenance of built heritage is another problem being faced by such cities.

Furthermore, due to migration of people from rural areas there is tremendous pressure on limited urban land and on already strained services. Land cost is escalating every year. Living in cities is thus becoming costlier by the day. At the same time quality of life is deteriorating. Due to the increase in population, ground water resources are depleting. On the other hand, due to migration of village youth to the cities, the village economy is getting adversely affected. Most affected villages are those located near the large cities and valuable agricultural lands are being converted in the name of city development. (23.6)

Slums are an inevitable by product of urbanization. The growth of slums is a sign of people’s inability to afford land and shelter through the normal market mechanism and the failure of the public sector to ensure equitable access of the same to the poor. Slum housing lacks in term of tenure, structure & access to services are which is deprived of civic amenities. These unauthorized colonies are further problematic since they are set up on agricultural land.

1.3.2. issues related to cities based on vertical massing

In the city of Melbourne, with the presence of the heritage buildings and the high rise, from the 71st floor of Melbourne’s tallest building, the Eureka Tower, Melbourne’s centre looks small and uneven. The low-rise heritage buildings contrast markedly with the glass and concrete towers that have sprung up in between. Still, there’s that view – stretching far out to the north and west of the city and curving around the beaches past St Kilda. The vista from the Eureka Tower is vast and beautiful. (Cooke, 2010).

Another example is that of Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis; built as part of the post-war regeneration, it was completed in 1956 but was demolished just fourteen years later after being beset by disrepair, vandalism and crime. For families with children, the high-rise complex did not offer them respite from poverty or crime, but merely gathered the ingredients for it together in one place.

In many cases, the high-rise ideal is progressively changed from “a citadel of modernism to that of a problem estate, a place of poverty, of aliens and illegal immigrants, petty crime, unemployment, with a high incidence of truancy and drug abuse” (Helleman and Wassenberg, 2004, p.6). Against such negativism, it is no surprise that the resultant response was to halt high-rise public housing construction, and even demolition.

1.4 Housing and factors which affect it

India is a country where thousands of people migrate to the city for reasons such as social mobility, job opportunities etc. When the architect designs housing factors such as regional identity, culture and traditions are not a priority of the designer. The architect designs to meet the demands of the city. In doing so, the architect controls the society’s mode of living in accordance to what he thinks is right.

Patterns of housing have constantly changed to accommodate the pressures of land, materials, bye-laws, architectural styles and social cultural values. Human relationships and the associated cultural images are expressed by the built form of various levels, at neighbourhood level by the settlement, at community level by cluster of houses, and at the family level by the house unit. Housing forms a large part of our environment, where physical and infrastructural facilities are shared amongst people. The way housing is built reflects the understanding and attitudes of society with respect to the climate, culture, architecture and the economy. (Ritu. 1992. p. 10).

The prevailing socio-economic order has the final say in the layout and building of housing. “The effect of recognizing this meant a real breakthrough in the theory and practice of town-planning. Until then, town-planning had been in conflict with a society that apparently refused to understand its purpose and thereby made the realization of it impossible.” (Aregger & Glaus, 1967, p.23). The town planners and architects gradually began to see the necessity of coming to terms with society if they were to build cities.

1.5 Housing and present situation in Delhi and NCR

The overall shortage in EWS and LIG housing in India has been estimated at close to 25 million dwelling units by Micro Housing Finance Corporation. With rapid urbanization and increasing labour mobility arising due to the shift from the agrarian economy to the industrialised and service economy emerging in India, this shortfall of residential accommodation is increasing rapidly. With five people to a dwelling unit, the minimum living space required per dwelling unit is about 300 sq ft, which means that approximately 7,500 million sq ft needs to be built. At a conservative cost of Rs 1,000 per sq ft in urban India where most of the demand exists, the overall investment requirement is a staggering Rs 750,000 cr. (Menon, 2009, p.1).

1.6 Social scenario in urban India with respect to housing

With the growth and development of science, technology, trade and commerce there has also been an enormous explosion of human population in modern Indian society. Such a high growth in population in relation to the changes in the life styles of human beings have turned people to be city oriented and agriculture which was previously the main engagement of people has gradually given way to occupations in the fields of industry, trade and commerce. All these factors have made a large section of the populace rushing to the cities creating thereby tremendous and unmanageable space problems. Dwelling space getting scarcer, there is little possibility for horizontal expansion in the cities to facilitate accommodation of such perennial flow of people. As remedial measures, a two-fold planning has been contemplated and is being acted upon. The first way out has been the expansion of city limits and inclusion of the contiguous suburbs within the ambits of the cities. The other remedial measure has been the vertical expansion of the available spaces providing maximum possible accommodation to as many numbers of people as possible through the construction of high rise buildings. In the developed countries of the world like the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, Germany, China , Japan and others construction of high rise buildings started from the early twentieth century while in a developing country like India it began in the later half of that century. (Chatterjee, 2009. p.85).

Through further research and study it shall be explored whether India is a suitable place for the growth of highrise buildings, also known as “skyscrapers.” The highrise shall be studied in the context of housing. It is known that the demand of housing has been escalating in the nation with the increase in urbanization, increase in population and many other factors. It shall be explored if a transition or transformation from horizontal based traditional housing to vertical high rise residential buildings is actually required in the present time. Furthermore, the dissertation would be a critique and analysis, considering the negative and positive perspectives of this transition in residential massing and its effects on the society. The social suitability of the highrise residential building in Delhi and the NCR shall thus be analyzed.

Need of the study

The study is required to create awareness of the consequences of designing vertically. This awareness would be of pertinence, especially today, because constructing high rise residential buildings is the current trend of the city of Delhi. The knowledge of the issues would help a designer to design. The study would also help individuals residing in a high rise by providing options to deal with problems, if any, which may occur due to a high rise. In other words, firstly the difficulties one faces while residing in a vertical massing will have to be recognized. Then these features can be addressed architecturally. Similarly, the positive aspects of living in a high rise will be delineated.

Scope of study

1. The traditional ‘horizontal’ massing and the approach of ‘vertical’ massing

its general positive and negative features with respect to any existing cities

The specific type of massing in study will be housing

The height of a building can be analysed with respect to social aspects. Relationships between the two can be figured out, if any exist.

The particular context chosen for analysis is the area of my current residence, the capital city of India, Delhi. Since this is a place which can be physically experienced and observed firsthand.

Identification of case studies

The housing societies where a survey shall be conducted are:

Low rise housing – four storey building – Sector B-10, Vasant Kunj

Med rise housing – ten storey building – Eligibal CGHS – plot no 38, Sector 10, Dwarka

High rise housing – twenty storey building – Gurgaon

Limitations of study

The analysis, to some extent, is based on the analysis of other writers, architects, sociologist’s etc, since a significant amount of firsthand experience is not available.

In order to analyze human response to a high rise residential building and to understand its effect on the society one should talk to people. But due to the time available this cannot be done extensively, but at a small scale.

Consequently, interviews, questionnaires and surveys would be followed by shortcomings such as:

Sample size: analysis will have to be based on a sample population, which may or may not reflect the social effects of the high rise of the entire region of Delhi accurately

People: a number of subdivisions exist within the sample size, which have to be studies separately, such as male, female, children, the elderly, age groups, generations, classes within the society e.g socio-economic strata etc.

Area, location: particular areas are chosen according to accessibility

Biases, cultural preferences and many other issues may arise

General trends: The subject of study, human response to a high rise is subjective in manner. Conclusions or analysis can be drawn by general trends observed only.

Results: These results may or may not be representative of the entire population in study.

The highrise residential buildings have been a part of other parts of the world for a longer period of time than Delhi. Consequently, the majority of the literature available or critique of the highrise is from a context different from the context in study.

When considering the situations abroad, some arguments may or may not apply to Delhi for reasons such as cultural preferences, lifestyles and differences in social-economic strata.

Research Methodology – Find attached flowchart and Questionnaire

The prepared questionnaire will be carried out in the three housing societies. A minimum number of fifteen people will be interviewed, five people within each age group i.e. < 12, 12-30, 30-60 and > 60.

2. Highrise living
2.1 Human response to tall buildings

High rises have been accused of causing many unpleasant outcomes, including fear, dissatisfaction, stress, behavior problems, suicide, poor social relations, reduced helpfulness, and hindered child development. Early studies and reviews concluded that high-rises are, on balance, not bene¬?cial for residents. At the societal level, they are accused of burdening existing services and infrastructure, worsening tra¬?c problems, and damaging the character of neighbourhoods (Gifford, 2007. p.2).

2.2 Social implications of built form – analysis of different types of spaces

The design of urban development’s, including high-rise buildings, can influence the social capital and sense of social connectedness amongst residents. For instance, Leyden in 2003 completed a study on the relationship between urban design and social capital and found that residents who lived in mixed-use developments with opportunities for walking rather than driving as a mode of transport, had a higher level of social capital and social cohesion than those who lived in developments lacking these features. (Wilson, 2008, p. 6).

Social relations may be divided into two main domains, relationships within a dwelling and relationships among neighbours in the building. One review concluded that high-rise residents have poor social relationships, both among themselves and toward outsiders (Korte & Huismans, 1983). In one within-dwelling study in a building in which residences were equal in floor area and supplied furniture, roommates on higher floors got along with one another better than roommates on lower floors (Schiffenbauer, 1979). However, as reported earlier, Edwards, Booth, and Edwards (1982) concluded that high rises are associated with greater marital discord than low rises. (quoted in Gifford, 2007, p. 9).

An examination of friendship patterns within a high rise showed that proximity is a major determinant of social interaction (Bochner, Duncan, Kennedy & Orr, 1976). Experience suggests that most social interaction occurs among residents of the same floor; if this is so, then buildings with many floors will include a few friends and acquaintances for the typical resident, and many strangers from other floors. Ginsberg & Churchman, in an Israeli study of women who lived in 8- and 20-storey buildings found that 97 % knew at least someone on their own floor, and 67 % knew everyone on their floor; in contrast, 36 % knew over 30 % of all people living in their building (1985). Most women did interact with neighbours, yet reported no problems with privacy. In a large-scale study in Toronto, Michelson found that high-rise apartment dwellers tended to choose friends outside the building, from school or work (1977). These residents viewed their neighbours negatively and as dissimilar to themselves, except that they were approximate financial equals. In Hong Kong, a high-rise, high-density city, interview results suggest that the overall sense of residential community is low and that where respondents had a very strong sense of neighbourhood, their interactions were often work- or school-based, with colleagues or schoolmates living in the same area (Forrest, La Grange & Ngai-Ming, 2002). (quoted in Gifford, 2007, p. 9).

Studies that compare housing forms suggest that high-rise dwellers may have more respondents reported knowing about twice as many families as those in low rises (Williamson, 1978). However, knowing more neighbours did not translate to close relations; the German high-rise residents reported less visiting and borrowing among their neighbours, and that their closest friends were more likely to be colleagues at work than neighbours. Both the German and Italian respondents said that they would like to have more friends among their neighbours, and that they believed they would have more friends if they lived in a smaller building. Outdoor socializing was examined in a study of three housing types in a low-income neighborhood: an old ghetto neighbourhood of low-rise tenement houses, a traditional high-rise housing project and an innovative high-rise housing project, where a creative outdoor design had been added to encourage outdoor use (Holahan, 1976). The old neighborhood and the innovative project showed higher levels of outdoor socializing than did the traditional project, which suggests that high-rises will discourage social interaction in their vicinity but that this can be overcome by setting aside an area designed to encourage social interaction. Nature also seems to facilitate social interaction. Researchers observed the presence and location of trees and the presence and location of youth and adults near a high-rise and a low-rise public housing development (Coley, Kuo & Sullivan, 1997). Spaces with trees attracted larger and more mixed groups of people than did spaces without natural elements.

High-rise residents may have more acquaintances but fewer friends because residents of high rises simply encounter a larger number of people in their building than residents of low rises (Churchman & Ginsberg, 1984). More of these people are strangers, too, but one gets to know some of the strangers, over time, at least superficially.

Consistent with the notion that lower levels are associated with more friendships, garden apartment residents reported having three times as many friends in the building as did high-rise residents (Boyd, Morris & Peel, 1965). Similar results were reported in another study: three-quarters of low-rise residents reported they had made good friendships within their project, but only half of the residents of a high rise could make the same claim (Stevenson, Martin & O’Neil, 1967).

Friendship formation depends on multiple factors, however, differences between the low- and high-rises in the friendship-related attitudes can be found. High-rises were experienced as lower in involvement, support, order and organization, but higher on independence. (Gifford, 2007, p. 10).

Research is unanimous in the finding that rates of helping others are lower in high-rise buildings. The nature of most high rises supports anonymity and depersonalization of one’s neighbours, so that living in a high rise tends to have both the advantages, such as greater privacy and freedom from unwanted social interaction and disadvantages, less intimate social interaction and less caring about anonymous others as large cities. (Gifford, 2007, p. 12).

The gist of the evidence about social relations is that residents of high rises encounter many more other residents, know of or about more others, but have fewer friendships in the building, per capita, than residents of low rises. Social interaction is more difficult for residents to regulate. This can lead to withdrawal, which can lead to loss of community and social support.

The structure of high rises usually is such that one is not likely to meet residents of other floors except in elevators and lobbies, which are barely more personal than the street. Thus, one lives physically close to many others, but in practice is limited to those on one’s floor for the sort of encounters that might lead to friendship, such as borrowing food or talking while children play. Male-female differences may moderate friendship formation in high versus low rises. (quoted in Gifford, 2007, p. 12)

2.3 The impact of high rise housing on neighbourhood livability

Residents of public high-rise housing estates are likely to perceive different aspects of their housing and neighbourhood in different ways, dependent on their sense of belonging. Some residents may explain stigma in reference to the irresponsible behaviour of fellow residents (Hastings, 2004).

Others may not feel connected to their neighbourhood and may not use community facilities (Hastings, 2004). Forrest and Kearns (2001) suggested that communication between residents shapes the image of their neighbourhood and stated: “neighbourhoods seem to acquire their identity through an on-going commentary between themselves and this continuous dialogue between different groups and agencies shapes the cognitive map of the city and establishes good and bad reputations” (p.2135) (quoted in Wilson, 2008, p. 5).

However, the social connectedness of urban high-rise developments may influence residential satisfaction. Halpern (1995) suggested that if people are in frequent contact with their neighbours, then the objective quality of their house makes little difference to their level of residential satisfaction. On the other hand, Halpern (1995) asserted that if people are not in frequent contact with their neighbours then consequently, the objective quality of their house has a large impact on their satisfaction. In other words, “residents who are involved in their local community tend to be happy with where they live regardless of the physical quality of their homes” (Halpern, 1995, p.113). (quoted in Wilson, 2008, p. 6).

Baum and Palmer (2002) found, from their study of residents’ perceptions of the influence of place on levels of social capital, that there exists a direct link between urban infrastructure and social capital. These authors concluded that higher levels of social capital are likely to occur in neighbourhoods where residents have a positive image of their environment and where their environments are green with open spaces Additionally, natural features and open spaces were found to facilitate a sense of community in new urbanist communities. (quoted in Wilson, 2008, p. 6).

As well as green spaces contributing to urban neighbourhood’s social connectedness, pets have been found to facilitate social capital too. A study completed by Wood, Giles-Corti and Bulsara (2005) investigated the role that pets can play in promoting social capital, by surveying a random sample of 339 Australian residents. These authors found that pets promote opportunities for their owners to have social contact with other pet owners, neighbours and members of their community. Furthermore, pets were found to motivate owners to participate in community events and to make use of community facilities (Wood, 2005). (quoted in Wilson, 2008, p. 7).

2.4 The family in highrise housing
2.5 Children in highrise housing

Innumerable studies suggest that children have problems in high-rises. It is known “for…families with small children, the evidence demonstrates that high-rise living is an unsuitable form of accommodation” (Conway & Adams, 1977, p. 595.) Another study concludes that “high-rise housing does not provide an appropriate living environment for preschool or school-age children because too few of the attributes of a single-family house have been accounted for…” (Cooper Marcus & Hogue, 1976, p. 34. This has not seemed to change with time. Children under 8 are usually not allowed to go downstairs by themselves, and if they were allowed to go down, parents found it difficult to supervise their play.

The problems range from fundamental child development issues to everyday activities such as play. For example, a Japanese investigation (Oda, Taniguchi, Wen & Higurashi, 1989) concluded that the development of infants raised above the fifth floor in

high-rise buildings is delayed, compared to those raised below the fifth floor. The development of numerous skills, such as dressing, helping and appropriate urination was slower. Children who live on higher floors also go outside to play less often (Nitta, 1980, in Oda et al., 1989). A study in India recognized that children’s difficulties are not solely a function of living in high rises (Oke, Khattar, Pant & Saraswathi, 1999).

Learning to read may be affected by the floor level on which children live (Cohen, Glass & Singer, 1973). The researchers measured sound levels, ability to discriminate auditory stimuli, and reading skills in children who lived in high rises built above a major highway in New York. Children in lower-level apartments, Gifford 10 discriminate sounds and had poorer reading skills, than children who lived in higher floors. Apparently, where traffic noise is a considerable factor, high rises may be good for children who live higher up in high rises.

Children’s play clearly is affected, as parents in high rises either keep their children indoors more often, which means close protection or over-protection in an indoor environment, or allow them outside, many floors away, which can result in under supervision. One outcome is that children in high rises, on balance, spend more time playing alone and in restricted play (Gittus, 1976). Perhaps this is why there is evidence that high-rise raised children have lower levels of motor ability than children reared in single-family dwellings (Crawford & Virgin, 1971; cited in Michelson, 1977). (quoted in Gifford, 2007, p. 11).

2.6 The elderly in highrise housing

A study by Kweon, Sullivan and Wiley (1998) found that elderly public highrise housing residents’ sense of community was stronger when they spent time in outdoor green common spaces, areas with trees and grass. (quoted in Wilson, 2008, p. 6).

Welfare and the types of living arrangement for the elderly are also gaining wider attention. The aged should be supported by their families, the government and the community, to live and be integrated into the mainstream community for as long as possible (National Council of Social Services, 1996). Hence, planning and designing of housing with essential supporting services should be carried out for this group of people who are more at risk and deserving of care and consideration.

2.7 Secondary studies done on residential responses on high rise living
3. Primary study – Case studies done in Delhi and NCR
3.1 Methodology

A questionnaire based survey is conducted in housing societies of varying heights (sample questionnaire attached). The questionnaire aims to find social implications with respect to heights of residential buildings.

The same number of people are surveyed in all the case studies i.e 15 people, further divided equally in the age groups: teenager, adult and elderly.

Data is further analysed to understand the topic in study.

3.2 Selection criteria of case studies

Distinct variation in height (4 storey, 10 storey, 20 storey)

Within Delhi or NCR

3.3 Data collection through Questionnaire

3.3.1. Low rise housing, Vasant Kunj – Not done yet

3.3.2. Med rise housing, Dwarka

Elligible Co-operative Group Housing society (10 storey building)

Address: Plot no 38, Sector 10, Dwarka

3.3.3. High rise housing, Gurgaon – Not done yet

4. Analysis of Data
5. Findings

According to the case study done in Dwarka, a pattern can be observed between the liking of a particular type of housing i.e low, medium, high and the generation. It is found that teenagers, today’s generation prefer the highrise. Adults prefer medium rise housing – walk ups. While the elderly prefer the bungalow system, the idea where one can say this particular piece of land is ‘the property of my family and me.’ A highrise, however, stresses on community land or space, then the unit or apartment becomes the property of the individual owner. The finding exemplifies how one becomes accustomed to particular conditions during their years of development and seems to become their preferred style of living.

It is also found that there are a number of spaces where people interact such as the community hall, gym, badminton court, children play area, the road which runs along the periphery of the society – which acts a

Migration influences the social, political, economic life of the people of a country which has higher immigrants. In India, migration either domestic or international, has a major effect on country’s economy. International migration has become an important feature in globalized markets influencing the economic growth. The impact of the migration is complex for both the immigrants and the countries involved.

This paper includes the “push and pull” factors that can lead to migration of people. It also includes the social and economic impacts of migration on different communities in a country. Also, it includes various reasons that leads to domestic and international migration of people. There has been concern about international migration in different services for some years now, but recently the situation has become more acute for a number of reasons, mostly reflected in severe staff and skill shortages in the different systems of many countries. While industrialized countries, in addressing the problem of staff shortages, become “recipient” countries and actively recruit migrants abroad, the emigration of qualified workers in a number of “donor” countries may undermine the functioning of their activities.

INTRODUCTION:-

Migration basically means the movement of people from one place to another. Migration is generally categorized as internal known as “immigration” or it can be external “emigration”. Voluntary migration is when people choose to move for a new job or a better education and forced migration is when they feel they have no choice but to move because their life is threatened or in danger or it may be due to famine, war or persecution. There have been various issues that are linked to migration that have come to limelight through series of workshops, conferences, panels, film screenings, cultural and artistic activities like human right aspects, living conditions, migrant workers’ rights, human trafficking, etc. All these issues have a great impact on migrant people as well as the locals. Rachel Sabates-Wheeler and Ian MacAuslan- the two socialists, argue that it is in the interests of migrants and both host and source country governments to investigate and fully understand the implications of legal, physical and political access structures to social protection.

ISSUES RELATED TO MIGRATION:-

Policy debates about immigration generally focus on two broad themes: the impact of immigration upon the economy, and its soaial and cultural impact. The immigrants are seen taking the various resources, making it more difficult to unite the societies and undermining a sense of national identity. So, there is a need for these policy makers or the governing bodies to balance the economic need for migrants against the social problems they create.

1) Human Rights vs Migrants Rights:-

It is imperative to focus on the respect of human rights and right of access to justice. Migrants rights are also as important as human rights. There should be a legislation that should refer to the economic, social and cultural contribution of migrants and Diaspora.

2) Trafficking of Persons mainly Children:-

There have been many problems like difficult living conditions of “minor” migrant children between 9 and 18 years of age. In search of jobs in order to support their families, they often fall into the trap of adults who bring them in other countries and exploiting them mentally and sexually. There is an African Organization that is working with various organizations in ECOWAS region that aims at helping these children.

3) Forced Migration due to Physical Factors:-

Climatic changes, temperature, lack of water supply, droughts, floods, etc. are also a major reason for emigration. So, there is a need for respective countries to revisit this phenomenon. The emigration of these people often exposes them to the risks of being trafficked, slavery or prostitution of women.

4) Migration to Access Descent Living Conditions:-

Migration from rural areas to urban cities that can provide better living opportunities. There are many problems that are encountered like unemployment, hunger, disease and economic conditions that prevails in the rural areas. For this government has to take up some steps to help the people facing these hardships.

5) Diaspora to Local Development:-

It can play a number of important roles in helping development of the home company. The primary route is no doubt by remitting to the home country. In addition, however, technology transfer and encouragement to trade and capital flows can be important in some settings, with highly skilled migrants playing a more visible role.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF MIGRATION:-

The effects of migration on sending countries depend critically on the magnitudes, composition and nature of the migration streams, as well as upon the specific context from which migrants are drawn. The departure of migrants involves a decline in the supply of labour and usually implies a fall in output unless there is a large pool of unemployed or underutilized labour.

In the case of skilled emigration, productivity declines as well. Because of the departure of labour, changes in the composition of output are likely to occur depending on the sectoral employment of emigrants. Moreover, intra-household inequality may increase and family roles may also change as a result.

As emigration continues and more people leave the country, output continues to fall. On the other hand, however, continuing migration improves the information flow and thus reduces the information and transaction costs related to migration. This reduced cost of migration encourages family members to accompany initial migrants; households start

using migration as a livelihood strategy.

Furthermore, the possibility of migration might also encourage those left behind to start investing in skills required to leave the country and seek improved prospects abroad. At this stage, the home country’s economy starts adjusting to migration. This may take the form of increased labour force participation by certain groups of the

There are certain key aspects in relation to this:-

Unskilled Labour Supply Flows:-

Situations in which labour markets in the country of origin are tight, so that unemployment spells are brief and infrequent and underemployment rare. In such context, emigration of workers requires employers to raise wage offers to fill the resultant vacancies. The other one is in which the migrant workers are replaced at little or no wages to the employers where ‘surplus labour’ exists. Costs imposed on employers are minimal and overall output is hardly be affected. Much of the emigration of low skilled labour occurs from poorly performing economies. Surplus labour conditions can be expected to prevail in among high emigration countries.

Brain Drain:-

The process of brain drain is considered as one of the negative impacts of international migration. The trained officials like engineers, doctors, scientists and others who are the future of their country, contribute to innovation, technological advancement and development of a country, migrate to other countries for jobs and other facilities. They cause a negative impact from the perspective of home country’s development.

SOCIAL EFFECTS OF MIGRATION:-

Although the economic effects of migration have been extensively studied, the social

effects have received less attention. However, they are very important and often closely linked with the much more studied economic effects of migration. Migration may impact on social life in several ways and the impact will be different for different types of migration.

The social effects of migration consist of changes in family composition, in gender roles,

child outcomes in terms of labour, health and education, cultural effects and issues related to crime. Moreover migration may cause a shift in adolescents’ orientation, in the sense that children may consider migration as their ultimate goal and decide to pursue further education in order to increase their migration prospects. Apart from education, migration may impact on children’s health.

Migration may have an important impact on migrants’ household lives in terms of family

roles and gender roles within the family. In particular the selection of migrants within the

household (whether it is the father, the mother or older children who migrate) will have an impact on the family members who stay behind and their roles within the household after migration has started. Most importantly the role of women in the household and subsequently in the society may change. The women whose husbands migrate, the outcome of migration depend on existing cultural practices and the flexibility of gender roles and family organization. Further the people who leave their birth place and flee to other countries are deprived of their cultures, languages, traditions, and other social activities that are also considered as a part of one’s identity.

“As of now-a-days we are seeing in India, there have been many threats to the migrants from Assam who have settled in Bangalore are facing threats due to impending attack related to the communal violence in home state due to which students and workers flee back. The violence has spilled over to other states where Bodos and other ethnic tribal members from the impoverished north-east have migrated in search of jobs. Violence has also been reported in Hyderabad, western cities of Pune and Nashik affecting the migrants.”
MIGRATION IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES:-

India as a nation has seen high migration rate in recent years. In 90’s around 98 million people migrated from one place to another. Apart from women, migrating due to marriage, employment is the biggest factor for migration. The number of job seekers have increased by 45% over the previous decade. Nearly 14 million people migrated in search for jobs out of which 12 million was men. Migrants have created pressure on others who are in same job market.

Most people migrate because of a combination of push and pull factors. Lack of rural employment, fragmentation of land holdings and declining public investment in agriculture create a crisis for rural Indians. Urban areas and some rural areas with industrial development or high agricultural production offer better prospects for jobs or self-employment.

No of Migrants (in million)

1951-61

66

1961-71

68.2

1971-81

81

1981-91

80.9

1991-2001

98.3

The onset of mass immigration from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean in the late 1940s and the 1950s coincided with the dismantling of the British Empire, and the decline of Britain’s global status. Immigration became the focus for the debate about these broader shifts. The perception that immigrants were alien to the British way of life ensured that the relationship between immigrants and the British state was defined largely by hostility, racism and confrontation. Not only was immigration policy driven by the desire specifically to keep out non-whites, but the state also viewed non-white immigrants settled in Britain as undesirables. Immigrants were the problem, and that problem had to be policed. This led both to discrimination against blacks and Asians in every sphere of social life, including housing, education and employment, and to confrontations with the police, confrontations that came to an explosive climax in a series of major riots in Britain’s inner cities in the late 1970s and the early 1980s.

Nearly eight million immigrants entered the United States from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other five-year period in the nation’s history, 3.7 million of them entered illegally. Since 1986 Congress has passed seven amnesties for illegal immigrants. In 1986 president Ronald Reagan signed immigration reform that gave amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants in the country. Hispanic immigrants were among the first victims of the late-2000s recession, but since the recession’s end in June 2009, immigrants posted a net gain of 656,000 jobs. Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011.

Interest in social balance and mixed communities has arisen as a response to both increased management issues in social housing and to concepts of the underclass and social exclusion. The identification of significant and persistent inequalities between areas at the ward and neighbourhood level in recent research (e.g. Meen et al., 2005) has triggered a shift in housing strategy and policy. Social balance is now entrenched within English housing and planning policy where it provides a correction to the housing markets natural tendency to segregate (Goodchild and Cole, 2001). Although this state interventionist approach has come under-fire from academics such as Cheshire (2007), who argue that spatial policy cannot correct deep-rooted social and economic forces and that the focus of policy should be to reduce income inequality in society not just treat the consequences of it, social mixing has gained popular support in urban policy.

This literature review outlines the mixed community approach to urban gentrification in urban policy by discussing its latest iteration, the MCI. The MCI’s place in UK policy discourse is then analysed as a way of exploring its conceptual and theoretical ideologies for area regeneration. Finally, an in depth review of the literature is conducted which reengages with

‘Mixed Communities’ as an approach to area regeneration

Since 2005, the mixed communities approach to gentrification and the renewal of disadvantaged neighbourhoods has become firmly embedded in the UKs housing and planning policy. The approach was first announced in January 2005 in the ‘Mixed Communities Initiative’ (MCI) which formed part of New Labour’s five year plan for the delivery of ‘sustainable communities’. The MCI has four core components (Lupton et al., 2009);

A commitment to the transformation of areas with concentrated poverty, to provide a better housing environment, higher employment, better education, less crime and higher educational achievements.

To achieve these through changes in the housing stock and attraction of new populations, whilst improving opportunities for existing populations.

Finance development by recognising the value of publicly owned land and other public assets.

Integrate government policies to produce a holistic approach which is sustainable through mainstream funding.

Initially the MCI was delivered through twelve demonstration projects situated in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. However, more recently the concepts behind the mixed community approach have grown beyond these projects and are now advocated by planning authorities in a diverse range of areas. Consequently, mixed community developments are emerging without demonstration project status and as such ‘mixed communities’ have become an approach to area regeneration in addition to being a government policy initiative (Silverman et al., 2006).

In response to this policy development the purpose of this literature review is two-fold. Firstly, through analysis of the theories of poverty, place and gentrification in policy discourse it is possible to gain an understanding of the rationale behind the mixed communities conception of the causes place poverty. Review Secondly…

Theories of Poverty and Place in Urban Policy

Any form of urban regeneration reflects a specific theoretical understanding of the causes of place poverty. Throughout the 20th Century UK urban policy has undergone a transformation in its understanding of the causes of place poverty and consequently the approach to urban regeneration has altered.

A broad distinction can be made in the UKs approaches to regeneration; between early regeneration by the Keynesian welfare state and that advocated by conservative governments. The former looked to correct the crisis of the neighbourhood through ‘neighbourhood improvement’. This approach understands the problems of declining areas as a product of the economic structures which cause spatial and social inequality (Katz, 2004). In response they looked to improve living conditions and try to equalise life chances through redistributive social welfare programmes.

In contrast to ‘neighbourhood improvement’ is the ‘neighbourhood transformation’ approach, a discernibly neoliberal approach advocated by conservative governments. Here the problems of disadvantaged neighbourhoods are understood as the product of market failures rather than underlying economic structures. The creation of mass social housing estates and overly generous benefit regimes are some of the market failures which reportedly ‘trap’ the disadvantaged in social cultures of dependency (Goetz, 2003). In the neighbourhood improvement approach these areas are seen as a barrier to market forces; occupying inner city areas with good commercial and residential property investment potential. According to Lupton and Fuller (2009:1016) the ‘neighbourhood improvement’ approach understands the solution to be:

“not simply the amelioration of conditions in these neighbourhoods for the benefit of their current residents, but the restoration of market functionality through the physical change and transformation of the position of the neighbourhood in the urban hierarchy”

Perhaps the best example of this is the role of Urban Development Corporations which brought about the transformation of the London Docklands in the 1980s. Their presence instigated a fundamental change in the role of the state in urban development, from a regulator of the market to an agent within the market. The state was now responsible for fostering the economic conditions under which the economic productivity of areas and communities could be improved.

In 1997 New Labour’s urban regeneration policy was hailed as a divorce from this transformational approach and a return to the improvement approach. The government pioneered an array of new, enhanced public services under the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal. Included was the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and the New Deal for Communities (NDC) which facilitated interaction between local agents on neighbourhood improvement. Whilst this strategy had the appearance of a strong local focus which prioritised residents, other elements of New Labour’s policies were characteristically neoliberal. As Fuller and Geddes (2008) remark, Labour’s urban interventions focus on an ‘equality of opportunity’ agenda which aspires to greater social cohesion and inclusion by devolving responsibility to local citizens. However, by not matching these responsibilities with appropriate state powers within the NRU and NDC there has been little support for local citizens except to merely compensate the individuals and places put at risk by market forces. As such New Labour’s initiatives have failed to deliver major redistributional interventions which relinquish local state agents from neoliberal targets, cultures and forms of control (Jessop, 1990).

Neoliberal theories of poverty and place within the MCI

Within this policy discourse the MCI exists as a more characteristically neoliberal initiative. It is clear in its understanding of the problem, concentrated poverty, and the solution, de-concentration through gentrification and neighbourhood transformation. By doing this the MCI subscribes to a policy discourse which understands concentrated poverty as a ‘spatial metaphor’ (Crump, 2002). This metaphor inherently undermines complex economic, social and political processes and uses the individual failings of the poor within concentrated spaces to justify their dilution or removal.

The concentrated poverty thesis originated from the US (e.g. The Hope VI Urban Revitalisation Programme) where it provides legitimacy to policies which alter cities spatial structures through market forces. Such influences have encouraged British policy makers to adopt a more ‘radical’ approach to urban regeneration and advocate extensive demolition and gentrification to restore functioning housing markets, imposing a neoliberal agenda on struggling housing environments (Imbroscio, 2008).

The MCIs focus on market restoration is clearly articulated:

“the aim is that success measures should be choice. Reputation, choice of staying and that people want to move in – it’s about market choice” (Senior CLG official in Lupton et al., 2009:36)

The government realises that while public service improvements will help create this market, it is not enough alone – physical change is required to enhance people’s attraction to the neighbourhood and its market. The state’s role is therefore not just to invest directly but improve and diversify the housing stock whilst decreasing public housing ratios with the explicit goal of stimulating market processes. However, a further consequence of this is the re-population of

The mixed communities approach requires the state to fund the improvement of services, in many cases to attract better-off residents, and sell or gift land to the private sector. The removal of social housing through its gift to the private sector inherently creates a ‘spatial fix for poverty’ and incentivises the development of mixed-income housing developments. In such a situation there is potential for the private sector to change social housing in co-ordinance with market dynamics and consequently complex and marginal developments will be neglected (Adair et al., 2003).

CONCLUDE and develop a little mention gentrifiction

Impact of Mixed Communities

As long as 30 years ago, Holcomb and Beauregard (1981) were critical of the way it was assumed that benefits of urban revitalisation through social mixing would ‘trickle down’ to the poor. Despite the consequential academic debate, which disputed whether gentrification leads to social exclusion, segregation and displacement, it has become increasingly popular in urban policy where it is assumed that its application leads to a more socially mixed, integrated, and sustainable urban environment. The following review will explore the literature which questions whether moving middle-income populations into low-income neighbourhoods or vice versa has a positive impact on resident’s urban experience. – link to mixed communities

Schoon (2001) identifies three rationales behind social mixing in policy debates. Firstly, there is an assumption that the middle-class are more likely to attract public resources and as such the lower-income household will fare better in socially mixed communities. Secondly, mixed income developments are in a better position to support a local economy than areas of concentrated poverty. Finally and most controversially, the networks and contacts argument advocated by Putnam (1995) poses that socially mixed neighbourhoods create an environment which improves the bridging and bonding of social capital between social classes. Consequently, lower-income residents have more opportunities to network and break out of poverty than they would in areas of concentrated deprivation. The Social Exclusion Unit (1998:53) expands on this:

“[socially mixed neighbourhoods] often brings people into contact with those outside their normal circle, broadening horizons and raising expectations, and can link people into informal networks through which work is more easily found.”

These three arguments are the cornerstone of a global policy discourse which has received very little critique in the UK. One of the reasons for this is the way it is framed. The social mixing agenda which has been prominent in western efforts to decentralise poverty is a discourse which actively avoids the word ‘gentrification’. Instead it uses terms like ‘urban revitalisation’, ‘urban regeneration’, and ‘urban sustainability’ to redefine itself as a moral discourse which helps the poor (Slater, 2005; 2006). By doing this the discourse deflects from the class restructuring processes which define its implementation.

Previous Studies

As of yet there is little consensus around the ability of gentrification to achieve the goals asked of it, neither is it clear what type of social mix is most desirable or the outcomes of different mixes (Walks and Maaranen, 2008). For instance, Tunstall and Fenton (2006) who claim to amass the best UK research on social mix conclude that although knowledge gaps exist the founding arguments for mixed communities remains valid. Yet, in contrast, Doherty et al. (2006) undertook quantitative analysis of the UK census and Scottish Longitudinal Study and concluded that there is little evidence to support the mixing of housing tenures in developments with the premise of improving social well-being. Purpose sentence

Randolph and Wood (2003) note that much of the research conducted so far has concentrated on social mixing in public housing estates (Atkinson and Kintrea, 2000; Cole and Shayer, 1998) and there has been little exploration of the social mixing occurring in new build developments.

Does Gentrification bring about social mixing?

Contrary to the assumptions which link gentrification to improved social mixing, most research suggests that gentrification is likely to reduce social mixing at the neighbourhood level. Interviews conducted by Butler (1997), and Butler and Robson (2001; 2003) suggest that local middle-income gentrifiers engaged in little social interaction with lower-income residents. Their research found that gentrifiers generally sought out people with similar cultural and political interests which often lead to little interaction between middle and low-income residents. Accordingly, they found that interaction was greatest in areas where gentrification had homogenised an area and pushed out other groups. In areas where this had not occurred, Butler and Robson (2001) reported that, the difference between tenants resulted in ‘tectonic juxtapositions’ which polarised social groups rather than integrating them. In their later research, Butler and Robson (2003) not only reinforced their earlier findings but found that children formed a key facilitator in resident integration:

“there was no evidence that the children played outside these middle class networks, our fieldwork strongly suggests that the middle class preschool clubs were highly exclusionary of non-middle class children” (Butler and Robson, 2003:128)

Although Butler and Robson’s research rightly questions the role of gentrification in a policy discourse which looks to foster a sustainable urban environment it does so primarily through the experiences of the gentrifier. Davidson’s (under review) research of new build, middle income development on the River Thames, London engaged with both gentrifier and non-gentrifier to reinforce scepticism over the ability of housing type to influence class relations. Davidson found no evidence to suggest that any of the development’s desired outcomes had been achieved through the introduction of a middle class population. Both the temporary nature of new build residents and the spatially segregated nature of the development itself meant the development fostered little integration between low and middle income residents who do not work in the same place, use the same transport or frequent same restaurants or pubs.

In a similar study Freeman (2006) researched two black gentrifying neighbourhoods in New York City. Like Davidson, Freeman found that social networks rarely crossed and that gentrifiers and longer term residents generally moved in different spaces. Additionally, Freeman experienced that residents were hesitant to pass comment on social mixing, they rarely expressed their opinions in overly positive or negative tones.

In accordance with this literature it seems unrealistic to assume that different social groups will integrate when living together. As some of the authors have highlighted, increased neighbourhood diversity does not correlate with increased social interaction and can in some cases promote social conflict as much as it does social harmony.

Mention how it’s all based on a class representation of society

The mixed communities policy agenda has been used to help improve inequality in social housing (estates managed by local authorities, housing associations, and other non-profit housing agencies) and more controversially to regenerate social housing. This concentration on social housing comes out of a

Since its conception social housing in the UK has experienced slow ‘residualisation’ – a tendency to house only certain types of household; the poor, unemployed, those in debt, with a history of mental illness and experiencing a relationship breakdown (Cole and Furbey, 1994). For much of social housing’s history this process has been ignored and consequently has been accompanied by a sorting process forcing the most vulnerable households into the most unattractive housing (Willmott and Murie, 1988). MIXED COMMUNITIES

DEFINE EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE – what is encapsulated within this?
Social interactionaˆ¦
Previous Studies

There are three studies which are relevant to this research. They examine the impact of mixed community housing on social interaction:

Atkinson and Kintrea (2000) conducted an exploratory study which analysed diaries made by 38 households. The research suggested that patterns of social life vary by tenure and as such little interaction occurred between residents of owner occupied housing and social housing tenants. The neighbourhood was seen as a focus of interaction for social housing residents only.

Cole and Shaver’s (1998b) survey of 52 residents in a new build, mixed-tenure redevelopment in Sheffield again found ‘only weakly developed social networks’.

Jupp’s (1999:10-11) analysis of interviews with over 1,000 residents living in ten-mixed-tenure estates in England, concluded that ‘the street’ is a more significant social unit than the estate. The case studies analysed often had social and private housing located on different streets and consequently there was little mixing reported between the two groups. Jupp reported that fostering social interaction would extremely difficult because of the overwhelming belief between residents: they ‘do not think that they share many common interests with their neighbours’.

Individually these studies offer little scope, but taken together they provide a consistent view that mixed tenure developments foster little social interaction between residents of different social backgrounds. However, it must be realised that these studies only examine the ‘grass-roots’ neighbourhood, that is to say that they often ignore the way external perceptions have defining role in the development’s success. Atkinson and Kintrea (2000) identify it as a key area for future research when they report that residents welcomed the influx of higher income residents because they improve the ‘reputation and appearance’ of the area.

There is one fundamental understanding that underpins urban policy in the UK; as stated in the foreword of the Urban White Paper: “How we live our lives is shaped by where we live our lives

Body image dissatisfaction refers to a person’s negative perception of his or her own physical appearance. Historically, people have associated body image dissatisfaction with women; women who have body image dissatisfaction take extreme diets to reduce the dissatisfaction which as a result, suffer from eating disorders. Also, some women even undergo surgical operations to rebuild their body shapes and appearances. Plastic surgery puts their lives at risks since the operation is not 100 percent safe, as well as having several undesired side effects. However, body image dissatisfaction is no longer just a phenomenon that affects women; men now suffer from it as well. Some men are obsessed with the ideal body image and go through extreme measures to attain it. Body image dissatisfaction is increasingly common among men because of the media. The media reinforces the concept of masculinity among men, and as a result men start to be concerned about their body image which eventually leads them to use life-threatening methods to attain the “perfect body”.

The media strongly influences the way society perceive certain ideas, including how men perceive their own bodies by promoting the “ideal male body image”. The exposure of these “perfect body” images in the media affects some men’s perceptions of the perfect body shape, and creates a new form of social standard. Male bodies are commonly used in the media now. For example, images of the male body have been increasingly used as a way to sell products in advertisement, and as a result, “The proportion of undressed men has skyrocketed- from as little as 3% of ads in the 1950s to as high as 35 % in the 1990s” (Olivardia 211). Due to the increase of images of male bodies shown in the media, men feel more insecure about their body images by comparing themselves and, “judging themselves by the ideal projected in the media” (Neimark 70). This eventually increases their obsession with attaining the ideal body image; men are now more concerned about their body image because of the media’s exposure.

Muscularity becomes a main concern for men and their views of body image dissatisfaction have become rather negative. Unlike women, men want all body parts bigger rather than only losing weight only. Men focus more on their weight and muscle mass, height, size of penis, and amount of hair because they want to be muscular and manly. According a survey about men’s bodies by Pertschuk and Trisdorfer, about 63% of male participants would like to lose some weight and about 19% wanted additional muscle mass (Neimark 36). Muscularity is important for men because they believe that it symbolizes health and power, and it can increase their physical attractiveness. The male penis is another focus of concern for some men; it is the most significant body part that symbolizes manliness and sexual power within a man’s gender role (Neimark 70). Men generally believe that their penis is too small; therefore, they try to increase the size of their penis through surgical operations (Honigman and Castle 35). Moreover, body hair is important for men too. Interestingly, the survey of men’s bodies also indicated that men are most worried about hair loss, and that “38 percent indicated they would be ‘very upset’ if they discovered they were rapidly losing hair” (Neimark 39). Hair generally represents youth and energy (Neimark 39); therefore, hair loss means that men are getting older and losing power, and thus, becomes a major concern for men. There is also another minor concern for men – height. Most men believe that taller men are attractive to women (Neimark 39); thus, shorter men feel inferior and are ashamed of their body height. Furthermore, men have psychological difficulties to talk about their body image dissatisfaction. Most men think that body image dissatisfaction is a stereotype reserved only for women. It is difficult for men to admit they have this “feminine” problem and fail seek help, because “males face additional shame and/or stigma for acknowledging that they suffer from a disorder that is perceived to be a women’s problem” (Greenberg and Schoen 465). For example, a man who suffers from an eating disorder says that he would never talk about his disorder with anyone because “It’s a girl’s disease” (Hill 5). Unlike women, male body dissatisfaction is related to men’s perceptions of masculinity, and they are less likely to admit it.

Besides the influence of the media, historical evidences show that the male body image is not a new phenomenon, but rather a reoccurring problem that has gotten worse. Although historical factors do not affect male body image dissatisfaction directly, it shows that men have been concerned about their appearance throughout history. For example, men started to focus on their appearances since ancient Greece, where men wore fine clothes; during the Renaissance, men were portrayed beautifully and in the Elizabethan period, noblemen were always dressed up with tights, silks, stains, and jeweled codpieces (Neimark 37). Another historical example is when men used makeup and wore beautiful clothes and jewelry, depicted in ancient Egyptian paintings, because they symbolize wealth and power (Honigman and Castle 33). Male body image is nothing close to new, as history shows the pioneer of its development.

Additionally, the changing of social standards and gender roles contribute to the development of male body image dissatisfaction. Evidently, socials standard toward muscularity have changed. Corson and Andersen, the authors of “Body Image Issues among Boys and Men”, found that the toy body figures are increasingly more muscular from 1990 compared with 1960s, “If the former were 5 feet 10 inches tall, his ‘chest’ would measure 44 inches and his biceps would measure 12 inces; the latter, however, would have a 55-inch chest and 15-inch bicepsaˆ¦ thereby setting the stage for muscle dysmorphia in males” (193). Therefore, boys come to misunderstand that those toy figures represent the social standard, and try to attain those bodies in an attempt to achieve manhood. Furthermore, gender roles play an important role for men to seek for a more muscular body. Nowadays, men feel less secure toward their gender role because as “women are achieving more power and financial independence, they can be more selective in the mates they choose” (Olivardia 210). Men believe that being muscular can help retain their traditional male role; therefore, men start to aim for bigger and more body muscle mass. The change in social standards set the early stage for body dissatisfaction in men, and the concern of gene role urges men to attain a more muscular body.

Peer pressure and partnership are interpersonal factors that contribute to male body image dissatisfaction. In social situations, men tend to compete with others. Men believe that by having a good physical appearance, they can attain higher authority than others and become more successful. “Participants at boys’ camps select the ‘best looking, most athletic boy who shows the most mature physique’ as pack leader” (Corson and Andersen 194). As a result, men try to look good in order to achieve superiority in society. However, some men are afraid of competing with others; they always see themselves as less handsome, less attractive and look smaller. They feel pressure in competitions because they cannot achieve social standards due to looking different from others. An interview by Grogan and Richards, authors of “Body Image – Focus Groups with Boys and Men”, indicated that some interviewees agree that peer pressure negatively affects their perceptions of body images: “Tobias: Yeah, I need to be a bit bigger because my brothers are like six foot and I’m a couple of inches shorter than all my friends as well and I feel pressure” (229). As long as men feel inferior, their body image dissatisfaction increases, which directly influences men’s confidence in a negative manner. Moreover, men believe that physical appearance becomes one of the categories that women seek for a man. Men think that a muscular body can catch women’s attention easier because “[Men] are socialized to believe muscular men are more masculine and attractive than less muscular men” (Greenberg and Schoen 465). Therefore, in order to gain women’s preference, men want to be more muscular. Interpersonal competition and women’s preference become factors that affect male body image dissatisfaction.

Men use inappropriate methods to reduce their body image dissatisfaction that are life- threatening and damaging to them. In order to reduce body image dissatisfaction, some men hide themselves to avoid exposing their body in public, and most men use extreme diets, exercise, and medicine, or even plastic surgery to retain and improve their body shape. Interestingly, the minority of men try to resolve their body image dissatisfaction by hiding their bodies from public. “Such individuals may wear baggy sweatpants and sweatshirts, or layers of clothes, even in summer” (Pope 550). By avoiding exposure in public, men can feel more confident because no one can see their bodies and condemn judgment on it. Avoiding public exposure is the least harmful method in solving body image dissatisfaction; however, most men instead try to gain muscle by eating special body-building suppliments and weight-lifting (Honigman and Castle 38), because they think they are not muscular enough, or are too thin. In contrast, some men think that they are too fat so they stop eating outside, and eat less for each meal. Some even vomit after eating to purge themselves (Pope 551). Eventually, those men suffer from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) such as muscle dysmorphia, where person becomes obsessed with the idea that he is not muscular enough (Olivardia 213), and eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia nervosa. They can also be compulsive and debilitated with doing overloaded weight-lifting (Corson and Andersen 196). These strict diets and extreme exercises are detrimental to men’s health. For example, a man spends 6 days a week and at least 4 hours a day lifting weights, and he also forces himself to eat because he fears that not eating will result in a decrease in muscularity. The result is that he has panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (Pope 554). Furthermore, according to Olivardia, author of “Body Image and Muscularity”, some men even use anabolic steroids to stimulate and speed up the development of muscle. In his study, he concluded that “males in these studies disclosed that they used steroids purely for body appearance ideals rather than for athletic ideals or goals” (214). Olivardia also says that anabolic steroids is a physically damaging drug, or it can cause side effects such a acne, breast enlargement, liver cancer, arteriosclerosis (a chronic disease), mood disturbance, psychotic symptoms, and severe aggressiveness (214). Also, the numbers of men who have undergone plastic surgery to reduce body image dissatisfaction has increased rapidly. Davis, author of “‘A Dubious Equality’: Men, Women and Cosmetic Surgery”, found that “as of 1998, about 10 percent of the 2.8 million cosmetic surgery procedures in the U.S. were performed on men – that’s 5 percent more than in 1992” (50). However, it is not a good way for men to resolve their body image dissatisfaction because it is life-threatening due to surgical failures, and men “are notoriously less satisfied with the results of the operations” (Davis 57). Men use a variety of compulsive methods to reduce their body image dissatisfaction which are harmful and put themselves at risk.

However, mental therapy by mental health professionals and medical management can help men who have body image dissatisfaction reduce their problems. Greenberg, a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology at the University of Iowa, and Schoen, a senior staff psychologist at the University of Iowa Counseling Services, suggest that men who suffer from body image dissatisfaction should refer themselves to a mental health professional, who “can help males with eating disorders feel more understood and less isolated in a society” (465) Also, mental health professionals can inform the client about realistic body images, proper nutrition, and educate them on the dangers of steroids (Olivardia 216). For muscle dysmorphia patients, since it is a form of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), the treatments for other forms of BDD can be effective. An example of mental therapy is cognitive-behavioral therapy, which helps to re-educate people to build up a positive value of their self-perception. A man called Steve has benefited from cognitive-behavioral therapy. After 4 months of treatment, he reconfigured his life and set new goals for himself that were unrelated to physical and dietary changes. He decided to spend more time with his family and friends rather than spending time in the gymnasium. Moreover, medical management is recommended for men who have eating disorders (Corson and Andersen 197). It helps clients to have a balanced diet and retain their mental health. There are many ways to help men reduce their body image dissatisfaction; thus, men should not hesitate to seek for help.

In conclusion, body image dissatisfaction is not a phenomenon for women only; it is a disease that also affects men, and is being promoted by the media. Men with body image dissatisfaction are mainly concerned about their body shape, height, weight, amount of hair, and penis size whilst having a negative attitude towards body image dissatisfaction. Throughout history, men have been concerned about their appearance, and social standards have changed. Men are under peer pressure now, and while men try to resolve their body image dissatisfaction by engaging in excessive exercises and extreme diets, these methods increase their mental health risks. However, there are some useful therapies that help resolve body image dissatisfaction, like seeking help from mental health professionals and medicinal control. Body image dissatisfaction is becoming a serious condition among men; men should stop being obsessed with muscularity and should review their life as well as set new goals for themselves.

Number of Words: 2275

Number of Pages: 10

Work Cited

Corson, Patrica and Arnold, Andersen. “Body Image Issues among Boys and Men.”. Body Image: A handbook of Theory, Research & Clinical Practice. Ed. Thomas F. Cash and Thomas Pruzinsky. Guilford: New York, 2002. 192-199.

Davis, Kathy. “‘A Dubious Equality’: Men, Women and Cosmetic Surgery.” Body & Society 8 (2002): 49-65. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 Oct. 2009.

Greenberg, Stefaine and Eva, Schoen. “Males and Eating Disorders: Gender-Based Therapy for Eating Disorder Recovery.” Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 39.4 (2008): 464-471. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Oct. 2009.

Grogan, Sarah and Helen, Richards. “Body Image – Focus Groups with Boys and Men” Men and Masculinities 4.3 (2002): 219-232. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Oct. 2009.

Hill, Michael. “Male eating disorders rise amid more focus on body image” Tulsa World 13 May 2004: 1-6. Print.

Neimark, Jill. “Eating Disorders: Men Have Body Image Problems Too.” Healthy Place America’s Mental Health Channel. 13 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2009.

NeiMark, Jill. “The beefcaking of America.” Psychology Today 27:6 (1994): 32-29, 70, 78. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Oct. 2009.

Olivardia, Roberto. “Body Image and Muscularity.” Body Image: A handbook of Theory, Research & Clinical Practice. Ed. Thomas F. Cash and Thomas Pruzinsky. Guilford: New York, 2002. 210-218

Pope, Harrison., et al. “Muscle Dysmorphia – An Underrecognized Form of Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” Psychosomatics 38 (1997): 548-557. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Oct. 2009.

Honigman , Roberta and David, J. Castle. “Living With Your Looks” University of Western Australia Press. Crawley, Western Australia. 2007. 1-10, 32-41. Print.

Introduction

The following discussion will look around on the subject of equality in Jamaica using the experiences of an interviewee who is a female 63 year old British citizen that was born in Hanover in Jamaica on the 14^th of March 1951 to draw out conclusions. She lived with family guardians as her mum died when she was 5 and her dad lived in the UK, but she had many brothers and sisters. She was loosely home schooled in Jamaica until she was 12 when she finally went to a Jamaican senior school called Mount Hannah. She had very a restricted education as her guardians wanted her to carry out manual work at home rather than pursuing an education. This resulted in here not having a structured education regime as even when she started to go to school she was forced into taking days off to look after her younger siblings or carry out manual tasks at home. Her childhood was in the middle of the creation of the Ministry of Education in 1953 (Ennew Et Al , 1982) and Jamaica’s transition to independence that was pushed by Caribbean nationalists from after the Second World War (Mawby, 2012) to come to pass finally in 1962 (Welsh, 2012) . During this period there was educational reform especially in the early 60s with a big push to increase the number of schools since in the 1950s secondary school education in Jamaica was very limited (Miller 1990).

There were 25 children in her school year and their average school day was from 9-3. Her class had only one teacher that taught them all English and mathematics. She finished school when she was 15 years old without any major qualifications and then continued to carry out more rigorous labour work full time. Work ranged from doing house work and babysitting to working on their house farm where she done tasks like carrying the water and the food to their home across long distances.

The interviewee was 16 in 1967 she came to live in Coventry in England with her step mum, dad and younger sisters and brothers. During this time she dreamed of becoming a nurse as she enjoyed looking after her younger siblings. She eventually got the opportunity to take a test to become a nurse but she unfortunately failed the test due to a lack of knowledge in the key areas that was essential to know.

After this she decided to go straight to work to help her family as a machinist as it was one of the few options that she had with her education. After a year she decided to move out and change job, but again the easier job for her to find with her experiences was as a machinist. In 1970 she had a daughter so took time off work for one and a half years to look after her. Afterwards she then went back to work for the same company but as a cable former but she also started to work as a barmaid at a pub during the weekends.

As she enjoyed bar work and with it being more flexible for her to look after her daughter she continued her career as a barmaid by moving to work full time at a bar in 1974. She however had an area of unemployment from 1976-1979 but she then began to work as a barmaid again for 4 years and then later worked in a wide range of bars and bingos and casino’s behind the bar. During the late 80s she done various training courses as they became much more available in computing and shorthand writing with the hopes of becoming a receptionist, but in 1991 she became pregnant again had a baby Boy. For the rest of her life she brought up her son as a single parent and done voluntary work at various charity shops and carried out a few cleaning part time jobs. Since 2013 she has become a pensioner and is no longer pursuing work.

Gender

Gender was an identify factor that effected the interviewee’s education. The interviewee said that apart from the “major subjects” they had two extracurricular activities that they could do. It was compulsory for girls to do sewing and for boys to do gardening for the school garden. The interviewee said that when telling the teacher that she “wanted to go and do the gardening with the boys” he said “no” and when she refused she “went into the school and hide” because she “didn’t want to do sewing”. Because of this a teacher found her and said that if she didn’t do the sewing she would be “expelled” so she went back in and do the sewing. However as a punishment she was hit by the headmaster as she says “he gave me the cane on my hand and told me to go and do sewing, he hit me twice, and then said sit down and do the sewing” goes on to say that she “hated him after that”.

This would affect girls and boy’s life chances because it would lower the possibility for boys to get the chance to be interested in sewing and the chance for women to be interested in gardening and thus meaning that their future career aspirations would be influenced away from either career paths.

This is also a sexist approach as it implies that women should do the sewing which is more of a house wife job, whereas men should do more hands on jobs such as gardening. This could potentially precondition how children think about themselves and then lead them into believing sexist stereotypes. However if the children had the choice of what activity they wanted to do it would have been fairer and would have gave everyone the same equal opportunities. However when asked if she felt like there was less opportunity for girls than boys in the core subjects she replied “no we all had the same classes and same subjects” meaning that at least for code subjects there wasn’t the same level of gender discrimination.

Social class

Social class has been a major factor to the participant’s educational background as she found that coming from a very poor background highly influenced her education into making an impact on some of her life chances.

If the interviewee had a different social upbringing then her family could have afforded the money for her to go to school from a young age instead of giving her house jobs to do. This was not a unique case in Jamaica during this period though as high adult unemployment contributed into generating households without male breadwinners thus meaning that children were expected to fend for themselves and to contribute in the household from a young age (Ennew Et Al, 1982). This resulted in many children dropping out of school around the age of 10 or 12 years, to earn money by working (Ennew Et Al, 1982). Because of this it directly affected her life chances as with little education it gave her the minimal opportunities to fully fulfil her potential in school. Education was compulsory in Jamaica back in the 50s but it wasn’t enforced, if parents were punished for children not going to school then this would have meant that the interviewee would have been in education from beginning to end. This is partially due to the policies like the Education Act to define the functions, roles, rights, and powers of the Boards, the Minister, principals, teachers, and students to not being fully developed until 1965 (Ennew Et Al, 1982).

One positive however was when the interviewee said “everyone wore uniform” which showed an effort was made to make everyone feel equal. However as The interviewee’s family was poor she didn’t have shoes to wear to school unlike other children. She did however say that people didn’t look down on others for not having much money and that “I go to school without any shoes, I didn’t have shoes, and they didn’t bully me. They didn’t laugh at me or anything”. This was a positive aspect of her schooling; as they didn’t judge her for it even though it would have identified that she was from a low class background.

When asked if children that were richer at school, had better job opportunities when they left school, The interviewee replied “yes “ as it directly affected her opportunity to get O levels. She said that when she was fourteen the headmaster asked her to “write to your dad” and “make him give you five pounds for books” so she could take her O levels but as “he didn’t send the money” for the books she couldn’t take her O levels. She goes on to say that “all the others took their O levels because they had the money to buy books”. Her life chances were affected by this as it could have helped her get a wider range of job and educational opportunities, but children with money would have had a better chance in life. Costs for books, uniforms, lunch, and transport deterred some families from sending their children to school altogether (1987, Meditz S) so for allot of parents any extras costs to school would be looked down upon.

She goes on to say that she “needed” O levels to be able to go into college which could have been a place where she could have strongly expanded on her education and increased her chances in getting a job she desired. After the interviewee left school at fifteen she had a year of carrying out manual jobs for her family ,she said ‘if id stayed in Jamaica maybe I would have ended up been a cleaner or something like that, because I didn’t have the qualifications to get a decent job’. This shows that by her not being able to carry out her O Levels that social class and wealth affected what the interviewee was able to do as a job after she left school.

Disability

The interviewee said that in school “everybody was the same” when asked if there were any students with disabilities meaning that for our participant didn’t get much visibility of any inequality that people with disabilities faced. This shows that everyone was treated equally but this doesn’t mean that there weren’t any issues out there for people with special needs.

Before the 1970s Jamaica’s had very limited capabilities in being able to identify and manage learning disabilities in children. Because of this Jamaica’s educational system was unable to deal with the special education needs of physically and mentally exceptional children. It took until 1974 for the government to provide special education services, until then it was provided by voluntary organisations.

This would have resulted in students with disability’s not getting the appropriate help and support that they would have needed to get the most out of the educational system.

Even though this didn’t necessarily directly affect our participant it was clear that extra support wasn’t available to her if it was needed as In Jamaica the late 1960s only about 50 per cent of Grade 6 students reached the functional literacy standard.(Miller, E, 2011). With more additional help and support for those who needed it this could have been vastly improved and could have helped the likes of our interviewee to get more out of education. This would have had an impact on children’s life chances as by not having an education that is adapted to children’s needs

Conclusion

These topics all affected the interviewee in their own individual way during her life. Gender effected the interviewee because the extra-curricular activities that she could partake in was solely based on her gender and not her personal preference, this meant that for these circumstances her education was different dependant on her gender and not on her personal choices meaning that she was not getting everything out of education that she would have wanted .Social equality effected our participant as it meant that she didn’t have a good quality of education because of it due to not being able to be in school as much as others and not being able to get a qualification due to her dad not being able to afford books for her to take her exams. This resulted in her not being able to have an adequate degree of knowledge to pass her nursing exam that she could have gained through taking her O levels and going to college. Disability inequality affected her to a lesser extent but special support wasn’t there for her even though she didn’t go to school until she was 12 year old, and this would have strongly impacted on the potential achievements she could have obtained.

These issues relate to each-other because they have all limited the scope of what was possible for the interviewee to achieve. Due to a substandard education with different elements of inequality she was not able to live up to her full potential. She instead for most of her life she carried out minimum wage jobs as she didn’t have many options with potential jobs that she could do with her skillset or even opportunities for her to go into education part time while earning a living. Sadly by being limited to only doing these kinds of jobs it made her not able to gain a diverse enough experience at work to be able to expand skills that could help her in other roles. This created cycles that lead her into carrying out minimum wage jobs for the rest of her life.

Bibliography

Ennew.J. (1982). Family structures, unemployment, and child labour in Jamaica.

Ennew.J. (1989) Milne, Brian, The next generation: lives of their world children.

Mawby S (2012) Ordering Independence: The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947-69.PP 33

Miller, E (1990) Jamaican society and high schooling. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Social and economic research

Miller, E. (July 7, 2011). The State of Jamaican Education and its Greatest Challenge. Available: http://www.jta.org.jm/article/state-jamaican-education-and-its-greatest-challenge. Last accessed 6th Dec 2014.

Sandra W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty, editors.Caribbean Islands: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987.

State University. (2006). Jamaica – Preprimary & Primary Education. Available: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/728/Jamaica-PREPRIMARY-PRIMARY-EDUCATION.html. Last accessed 5th Dec 2014.

Welsh. R (2012). Overcoming Smallness through Education Development: A Comparative Analysis of Jamaica and Singapore Current Issues in Comparative Education 15(1):114-131.

Appendix
Transcription

Did you enjoy senior school?

Yeah I did

What kind of classes did you do?

Classes? When I was at school I went till I was 14, and then I was in a mixed class with boys and girls. And I just do maths and English.

Did you do science?

Dint do science, just two subjects.

Where about did you grow up

in Jamaica, Mantana.

Did you go to school here afterwards.

No just in Jamaica.

Did you feel like your schooling was limited because you only did maths and English?

Yeah very.

Would you say there was rich and poor people at your schoolaˆ‹?

was rich and poor, I was one of the poor ones

Did people wear different uniform, if they were rich would they wear better clothes?

No we all wear uniform.

Did you feel like anyone was horrible to the poorer people?

No no everybody got on, just there to learn, everybody was interested in learning, no time for any bullying or anything like that. I go to school without any shoes, I didn’t have shoes, and they didn’t bully me. They didn’t laugh at me or anything.

Did you feel like race mattered at school?

No no no race nobody knew about race until she came to England. Because everybody is black, some was white and some were black, but nobody knew about it, didn’t have things like that.

Did anyone at your school have disabilities, extra help?

No everybody was the same; all seem to be on same wave length.

Did you have more than one teacher?

For me was just one, the headmaster, in our class, before we went to the sixth form we had another interviewee teacher. So when I went to school was in normal, then sixth form, and in sixth form he was the teacher, the headmaster

So you didn’t feel like anyone looked down on each other where you lived, looked down on people for being poor?

No no,

Did you feel like children that were richer, they got better jobs when they left school?

Yeah because when I was 14 headmaster said to me, write to your dad and let him give you 5 pound for books, so you can take your o levels, and I waited and he didn’t send it you see, so I couldn’t take my O levels, because I didn’t have any books, but all the others took their O levels because they had the money to buy books.

What did you do when you left school?

I left at 15 for a year helping round house, then came to England at 16.

Did you feel like school effected what u did after school?

If id stayed there in Jamaica maybe I would have ended up been like a cleaner or something like that, because I didn’t have the qualifications to get a decent job.

The people who did the O levels what did they do?

They went to a higher school, like a college, you call it college here they went to the higher school, learned short hand typing. If I was there I wouldn’t have been able to go because I wouldn’t have me o levels, needed them to go there. Was lucky to come to England.

Did you feel like more men went and got jobs than women did?

Well I didn’t know what boys did, but girls went to the higher school. But with boys and girls even though we were in the same class, we didn’t speak for some reason, everybody just quiet only one who spoke to us was headmaster. everyone seemed to ignore each other. was weird really.

Did you feel like you had less opportunities than boys did at school did they have extra classes?

No all had same class, and same subject. I don’t know if they had extra, if they did I didn’t know about it. When I was in school they had two things to do, girls do sewing and boys do gardening. Cos they had a school garden, so I said to them once a week they used to do that. So the teacher said I should go sewing, but I told him I wanted to go and do the gardening with the boys, and he said no. so I went into the school and hide because I didn’t want to do sewing. And sent someone to come and get me, and they said if I didn’t come and do the sewing I would be expelled. So I had to go back in and do the sewing.

So did any one bully people?

Well no after school only twice I had name calling because I was flat chested, used to call me pigeon chest. And when I had mumps jaw was really bigmouth called me barrel jaw. But that wasn’t in school that was out of school. When they saw me on the street. Was the same as was in my class at school; it was another school the next town away, another school next town away.

So were all the schools quite spaced out really?

Yeah.

Did you ever get hit by any of the teachers?

The head master, that was that day when I didn’t do sewing he give me the cane, and tell me to go and do sewing on my hand, hit me twice with cane in my hand, and said now sit down and do sewing. Horrible man. I hated him after that.