Author: Andre Coleman

Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone (Putnam 2000) cites an obscure rural educator, Lyda J Hanifan, as the first use of the term “social capital” in an 1916 essay about the development of schools as community centres. Putnam’s genealogy has become the canonical one, cited in much of the subsequent literature, but in a recent article, conceptual historian James Farr has shown the limitations of Putnam’s research (Farr 2004). Farr demonstrates that the term “social capital” was in much wider use in the period, importantly by John Dewey who was a leader in the movement of which Hanifan was a part. Farr surmises that Hanifan drew the term from Dewey’s work. As well, he traces other uses of the term, including by Marx, and another contemporary sense of the term in relation to collective ownership of property, and the collective profit from labour. Farr’s exploration of the history of the concept adds significantly to our understanding of social capital, as it shows that the conjunction of social benefit and economic language was more widespread earlier than attributed by other theorists, as well as placing Dewey’s critical pragmatism into the family tree of the concept.

The inspiring theorist of these movements was John Dewey, who was himself extensively involved in some of them. Dewey himself used the term (see quote p 10) and his conceptual framework and language drew upon and developed the idea of work together creating common bonds (of sympathy and cooperation) which were a resource for people in communities. Farr draws out three important points about Dewey’s use of social capital: firstly, that criticism must be balanced with construction, second, the importance of sympathy, third, the combination of “social” and “capital” for rhetorical effect. Dewey focussed on the relationship of school and society, and the potential contribution of education to enable rather than fetter social capital. Balancing criticism and construction is at the heart of critical pragmatism – (p10) crisis gives rise to critical reflection which creates ideas to guide action to address the crisis. Sympathy “entailed the ordinary sense of feeling concern or compassion for others, especially those denied or deprived life’s essentials, including social capital”, but also the capacity of imagination that allows people to relate to and appreciate commonalities with others in different circumstances ( p11).

In schools – “aˆ¦.each individual gets an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which he was born, and come into contact with a broader environment.” (Democracy and Education, 1916, p20) (See also JS Mill) – Prefigures discussion of Bonding and Bridging social capital.

Farr shows Dewey’s use of economic terminology as a “terminological strategy” of critical pragmatism (12), citing other examples like that of “unused talent” as “wasted capital”.

The Dewey/ Hanifan use of “social capital” is very close to Putnam’s, idealising as it does particular forms of social interaction and community life, the interaction between institutions (of education and of governance) with citizens both individually and collectively, and the potential re-shaping of these institutions to meet collective needs.

I will skim over the “middle period” of social capital’s development. Between the 1920s and 1980s the term was used by assorted sociologists and others – notably Glen Loury and Jane Jacobs(Jacobs 1964). None of these writers had a particular interest in education. Another important development in the period however was the development and increased currency of the term “human capital”. Gary Becker is credited with developing the theory of expenditures on education, training, health etc as investments in human capital, with a logic of returns similar to that of physical capital. (Becker 1964). This was an important precursor to the work of Coleman in particular.

2. Coleman and Bourdieu

The two major strands of thought on social capital were developed in the late 1980s, by sociologists of education Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman. Bourdieu’s most detailed discussion of social capital appeared in his 1986 essay “The Forms of Capital” which was translated by Richard Nice and published in an English language anthology (Bourdieu 1986).Coleman’s article, “Social capital in the creation of human capital”, was published three years later in the American Journal of Sociology (Coleman 1989). Although they co-organised a conference in 1989 in Chicago and co-edited its proceedings (Bourdieu and Coleman 1991), the development of the two conceptions has happened independently and without reference to the work of the other. Indeed, a striking aspect of the literature is how comprehensively the two strands have ignored each other, particularly to the neglect of Bourdieu (Fine 2001; Field 2003). The result of this is that the Coleman tradition constitutes the largest part of the social capital literature since the 1990s, largely because of Coleman’s influence on Robert Putnam but also because of the continuing influence of Coleman’s original studies, as discussed below. Although Field (Field 2003) categorises Putnam’s work as a third strand to that of Bourdieu and Coleman, I would argue that Putnam follows on directly from Coleman in his concerns with neighbourhood influences and voluntary associations, as well as his conflation of the sources and benefits of social capital.

Definitions

Bourdieu’s and Coleman’s definitions of social capital are similar in that they both emphasise the functional value of social relations as resources available to agents. In Bourdieu’s words:

“Social capital is the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition – or in other words – to membership in a group – which provides each of its members with the backing of the collectivity-owned capital, a “credential” which entitles them to credit, in the various senses of the word.” (Bourdieu 1986)

Similarly, Coleman defines social capital as connections – “social capital inheres in the structure of relations between and among actors” (p98) – and its use value:

Social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities, with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they facilitate certain actions of actors – whether personal or corporate actors – within the structure. (p 98). (Coleman 1989)

Later iterations (for example Woolcock, OECD, Foley and Edwards) have sharpened these definitions, distinguishing more clearly networks and the norms which create reciprocity as the two elements of social capital. Portes has emphasised the need to separate membership of a network or group as the source of social capital and the benefits which may be gained from this membership (Portes 1998). Going one step further, Foley and Edwards offer the formula “Social capital is best conceived as access (networks) plus resources.” ((Foley and Edwards 1999) p 166). Putnam argues for the inclusion of trust – social capital as networks, norms and trust. (Putnam 2000), but Woolcock prefers an even sharper definition, defining trust as a product rather than a constitutent part of social capital (Woolcock 1998).

Fungibility

Both Coleman and Bourdieu have an instrumentalist view of social capital as a resource, inherent in social relationships, which can be used by individuals and institutional agents to various ends. Both see social capital as interacting with and transactable for other forms of capital, although this Bourdieu elaborates the dynamics of this interaction in far more detail.

Coleman is particularly concerned with the interaction between social capital and human capital, although he acknowledges that these transactions may be limited: “like physical capital and human capital, social capital is not completely fungible but may be specific to certain activities. A given form of social capital that is valuable in facilitating certain actions may be useless or even harmful for others.” (p 98). Coleman shows that social capital is not just a property of the elite, and to some degree compensate for the lack of other forms of capital.

Coleman uses the framework of rational action, although “without the assumption of atomistic elements stripped of social relationships” (Coleman 1989). His view of social capital emphasises the importance of network closure (ie that your friends know your other friends, and in particular that you are friends with parents of your children’s schoolmates). Coleman identifies three key aspects of social capital: obligations and expectations (which depend on the trustworthiness of the social environment), the information-flow capability of the social structure, and the presence of norms accompanied by sanctions. The classic example he offers is that of diamond traders in New York, where a dense network enables the operation of collective norms and effective sanctions so that the market operates with a high degree of trust. Thus the context of relationships creates incentives and sanctions which guide individual rational behaviour.

In contrast to Bourdieu’s interest in class groupings, Coleman is concerned primarily with the family and neighbourhood. For Coleman it is the presence of effective norms and sanctions within the immediate family that is most important for educational attainment. He emphasises the role of mothers in particular in fostering this environment. Coleman argues for a differentiation between “primordial” – “social organization that has its origins in the relationships established by childbirth” (p 1) – and “constructed” social structures – those which are constructed for either a single purpose or a narrow range of purposes” (p 3) (Bourdieu and Coleman 1991). Unsurprisingly, Coleman’s work has been subject to feminist critiques (eg Morrow) arguing that his view of the family is highly patriarchal. Other critics have questioned Coleman’s valorisation at close (bonding) ties rather than weak (bridging) ties (Portes, Stanton-Salazar).

In Bourdieu’s schema, social capital interacts with economic and cultural capital. In fact, social capital is a less important aspect of Bourdieu’s theory of social structure than cultural capital. In Bourdieu’s terms, actors compete for capital within “fields” of activity. Complex societies are composed of a number of fields, each with their own specific logic (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992). Although some fields may have dominance (eg the economic field in capitalist economies) (p 109) and the State has a role in regulating the operation of all fields, they are never entirely reducible to one dynamic (p 97). These fields are configurations of relationships in which positions are defined by the distribution of capital in different forms across the actors (individual or institutional) in a field (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992). Some actors have more capital and so are dominant over those with less; others may have equal but different compositions of capital at their disposal which puts them in a different relationship to other actors and the field itself. The actor’s position is historically determined: that stock of capital has been accumulated or reduced over time through exchanges which are shaped by the existing relationships and by the “rules of the game” – the relative value of different forms of capital and the ability to convert capital from one type to another.

Differences: agency, boundaries

The key differences between Bourdieu’s and Coleman’s conception of social capital stem largely from their philosophical stances. Bourdieu emphasises access to institutional resources; Coleman emphasises norms (Dika and Singh 2002). As outlined above, Bourdieu conceptualises social capital as operating in a social field which is hierarchically structured. Like other forms of capital, social capital is held disproportionately by elites. The tendency is for the existing power relations to reproduce themselves; there is little sense in Bourdieu that the existing structure can be challenged (Jenkins 1992)

An interesting difference between the two is the extent to which development of social capital is a deliberate strategy (Baron, Field et al. 2001). Coleman sees social capital as a by product “a largely unintentional process” (Baron, Field et al. 2001)p 7), as individuals are primarily concerned with advancing their own interests. He gives the example of a mother returning to work, and as a result relinquishing her active role in school activities. Even though the action is rational in relation to her own and her family’s interests, it causes a net loss of social capital for the other families associated with the school.

Bourdieu sees “an endless effort at institution” – “the network of relationships is the product of investment strategies, individual or collective, consciously or unconsciously aimed at establishing or reproducing social relationships that are directly usable in the short or long term”. (Bourdieu 1986) 249. Bourdieu emphasises the non-conscious aspects of the transmission of cultural capital – that children in cultural capital-rich environments tend to absorb the advantages unknowingly. He sees the education system as about the transmission of cultural capital – examinations etc are “collective magic” making cultural capital visible and validated. He argues that the education system increases in importance when social hierarchies based on descent are challenged.

Bourdieu is highly critical of rational action theory (RAT), the tradition of which Coleman is a part, although Jenkins argues that some of the accusations Bourdieu makes can be turned back on him (Jenkins 1992). Bourdieu argues that RAT substitutes an arbitrary rationality/ interest for a culturally/ historically located one. In so doing, RAT substitutes its analytical model for reality and locates the dynamic of social life in “pure” individual and conscious decision-making rather than in the individual and collective histories that generate social reality. This prevents a theoretical apprehension of relations between individuals and between individuals and their environment. (Jenkins 1992) However, Jenkins argues that in totally rejecting RAT Bourdieu creates a problem for his theory, because he denies that conscious decision-making does have a role – people do form plans and try to implement them. (Jenkins 1992)

Jenkins is somewhat unfair – Bourdieu’s theory of interest is more sophisticated than that.

Similarly, Bourdieu is suspicious of coherent groupings, emphasising how groups gate-keep and exclude, whatever the internal benefits to those on the inside.

This is key difference between the two – Coleman wants more social capital; Bourdieu questions what sort and for whom.

3. How “social capital” has been taken up in the educational literature

Baron, Field and Schuller offer a three-way typology of how social capital has been used in the literature: analysis, prescription, and heuristic (Baron, Field et al. 2001). I will use this framework to analyse the recent literature on social capital and education, drawing in particular on Dika and Singh’s excellent survey of journal articles on education and social capital in the period 1990 to 2001 (Dika and Singh 2002).

Analysis

A large amount of the social capital and education literature has been devoted to largely re-running Coleman’s studies (Dika and Singh). There has been particular interest in different migrant populations in the USA. Like Coleman’s original work, these studies have used large US datasets not originally designed to capture social capital aspects. The indicators used by Coleman are: (within family) parents’ presence, number of siblings, mother’s expectation for child’s education and (outside family) number of moves (proxy for intergenerational closure). Coleman’s work on the differential performance of students in Catholic and other religious schools has also been replicated (Coleman 1989; Coleman 1990). As recently as two months ago the Catholic Education Office in Victoria has published similar work on the relative effectiveness of Catholic schools (Sheehan 2004).

In contrast to Coleman’s focus on “bonding” social capital, Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch studied educational attainment and social capital considering students’ own social networks and their “bridging” access to information-related support including personal advice about academic decisions, future educational and occupational plans and access to legal, health and employment services (Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch 1995). They found a more complex picture, in which bilingualism and associated cultural capital was a key factor in students’ access to sources of information and to institutional resources (p132) Grades were positively related to three different informational network variables: number of school-based weak ties, number of non-kin weak ties, and proportion of non-Mexican origin members. Dika and Singh point to the work of Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch as an example of how Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and the interplay between cultural and social capital can be used to illuminate institutional aspects of social capital formation (Dika and Singh 2002).

Prescription

Social capital is a concept of great interest to policymakers – even being described as the “missing link” (Grootaert and Van Bastelaer 2002) – and it has been enthusiastically embraced by organisations like the World Bank and the OECD. The use of social capital in policy development, particularly by the World Bank has been trenchantly criticised (Fine 2001; Harriss 2002). Some like Field have warned that social capital can only act as means to leverage existing resources, not create new ones (Field 2003). Despite this, Harriss argues that social capital theory has led to a programmatic emphasis on local development and “self-help”:

“even though this sometimes looks rather like expecting the most disadvantaged people to pull themselves up by their own boot straps, in a way which is remarkably convenient for those who wish to implement large-scale public expenditure cuts.” (Harriss 2002).

There has not been a similar strenous reaction against the policy prescriptions of the OECD in social capital and education. There is a substantial OECD literature on social capital and human capital, notably from the Quebec symposium of 2000 (Helliwell 2001). This literature is stimulated by the idea that education is one of the few intervention points for the creation of social capital (Schuller 2001). This tradition follows very much in the footsteps of Dewey and Hanifan, advocating education as a central aspect of social renewal. School as an intervention point – but risk of overburdening schools (Pamela Munn p 181).

Heuristic

Social capital has been seized on as a way of reinstating different forms of education into the debate, in particular continuing, adult, informal and vocational education (Winch 2000; Balatti and Falk 2001; Kearns 2004). For example, in a review of Christopher Winch’s book on vocational education and social capital, Richard Barrett writes that Winch achieves his aim of making vocational education a subject to be “given its deserved seriousness by philosophers of education” through his arguments about the civic aspects of vocational preparation (Barrett 2004). Schuller et al’s synthesis of their longitudinal research on the benefits of learning includes both “taught” and “non-taught” learning (Schuller 2004).

There have been fewer studies of the institutional implications of social capital. Barry Golding’s work on networks in ACE is an exception (Golding?), as is Persell & Wenglinsky’s study of the civic engagement of students at different types of colleges (reference). Barry Golding has examined the value of using network mapping in adult education and learning community settings to conceptualise discontinuities in relationships between communities and organisations in a particular region (Golding?). Persell and Weglinsky found that type of institution attended had an impact on civic engagement, with students attending for-profits less likely to vote or participate in political processes than community college students.

4. Directions for further investigation

Taking the definition of social capital as networks and norms, clearly education has a role in the creation of both. The relationships formed at school and through other forms of education are important for immediate social support and for linking to institutional resources. At the same time, the educational process forms ideology, habits, behaviours and models of cooperation and conflict.

I would suggest a number of directions for further investigation of the relationship between education and social capital.

Further exploration of Dewey’s work and its relationship to social capital, in particular Bourdieu. There is an interesting link between Bourdieu and Dewey. (Perhaps also tracking back to Durkheim).

Extension to other sectors of education. Bourdieu has written extensively on universities eg (Bourdieu and Collier 1988), but this work is begging to be updated in light the perceived “crisis” in the higher education field.

More scope for Bourdieuvian analysis using field theory- perhaps taking the lead from media studies in considering the boundaries between fields and meta-capital.

Questioning of the dark side of social capital in education – focus away from the “problems” of lack of social capital to the problems associated with too much of it in the wrong hands. Related to this, the idea of sympathy – mutual understanding (taking up Farr’s suggestion)

More investigation of institutional properties which help/hinder social capital.

My interest: extending bourdieu’s work by looking at the interplay of cultural capital and social capital in the field of higher education, and the potential for HE to create links and openings to other fields – “bridging” rather than “bonding” social capital.

This is where we return to the current day Lyda Hanifans seeking to remake education to serve social ends.

Balatti, J. and I. Falk (2001). Socioeconomic Contributions of Adult Learning to Community: A social capital perspective. Wider Benefits of Learning: Understanding and monitoring the consequences of adult learning, Lisbon, Portugal, European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA).

Baron, S., J. Field, et al. (2001). Social capital : critical perspectives. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Barrett, R. (2004). “A review of Christopher Winch, 2000, Education, work and social capital: towards a new conception of vocational education, London: Routledge.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 23(23): 61-71.

Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital; a theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. New York,, National Bureau of Economic Research; distributed by Columbia University Press.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education, Greenwood Press.

Bourdieu, P. and J. S. Coleman (1991). Social theory for a changing society. Boulder

New York, Westview Press ;

Russell Sage Foundation.

Bourdieu, P. and P. Collier (1988). Homo academicus. Cambridge, Polity Press in association with Basil Blackwell.

Bourdieu, P. and L. J. D. Wacquant (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Coleman, J. (1989). “Social capital in the creation of human capital.” American Journal of Sociology 94(Supplement): S95-S120.

Coleman, J. S. (1990). Equality and achievement in education. Boulder, Westview Press.

Dika, S. L. and K. Singh (2002). “Applications of social capital in educational literature: a critical synthesis.” Review of Educational Research 72(1): 31-60.

Farr, J. (2004). ” Social Capital: A Conceptual History.” Political Theory 32(1): 6-33.

Field, J. (2003). Social capital. London, Routledge.

Fine, B. (2001). Social capital versus social theory : political economy and social science at the turn of the millenium. London, Routledge.

Foley, M. W. and B. Edwards (1999). “Is it time to disinvest in social capital?” Journal of Public Policy 19(2): 141 (33).

Golding, B. (?). “The applicability of networks to Australian adult and vocational learning research.”

Grootaert, C. and T. Van Bastelaer (2002). The role of social capital in development : an empirical assessment. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Harriss, J. (2002). Depoliticizing development : the World Bank and social capital. London, Anthem.

Helliwell, J. F. (2001). The Contribution of Human and Social Capital to Sustained Economic Growth and Well-Being, Quebec, Canada, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).

Jacobs, J. (1964). The death and life of great American cities. Harmondsworth, Penguin in association with Cape.

Jenkins, R. (1992). Pierre Bourdieu. London ; New York, Routledge.

Kearns, P. (2004). VET and social capital: A paper on the contribution of the VET sector to social capital in communities. Adelaide, National Centre for Vocational Education Research: 45.

Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology, Annual reviews Inc. 24: 1-24.

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone : the collapse and revival of American community. New York, Simon & Schuster.

Schuller, T. (2001). The Complementary Roles of Human and Social Capital. J. F. Helliwell.

Schuller, T. (2004). The benefits of learning : the impact of education on health, family life, and social capital. New York, NY, RoutledgeFalmer.

Sheehan, P. (2004). The contribution of Catholic schools to the Victorian economy and community: a report to the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria. Melbourne, Catholic Education Commission of Victoria: 72.

Stanton-Salazar, R. D. and S. M. Dornbusch (1995). “Social capital and the reproduction of inequality: information networks among Mexican-origin high school students.” Sociology of Education 68(2): 116-135.

Winch, C. (2000). Education, Work and Social Capital: Towards a New Conception of Vocational Education, Routledge.

Woolcock, M. (1998). “Social Capital and Economic Development:Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework.” Theory and Society 27(2): 151-208.

Gender equality is also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality. It is the goal of the equality of the genders. Gender equality is defined by the world bodies as related to human rights, especially women’s rights and economic development. UNICEF defines gender equality as “leveling the playing field for girls and women by ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to develop their talents.” (UNICEF, 2006) While according to the United Nations Population Fund, gender equality is defined as a human right. (http://www.unfpa.org/gender/) Thus, promoting gender equality is viewed as an encouragement to greater economic growth. According to a survey carried out during this investigative study, many people nowadays do understand what gender equality is regardless of their own gender. This is shown in the bar chart below.

Figure 1: Question asked: Do you understand what gender equality is?

Definition of Gender Inequality

Gender inequality refers to the obvious or hidden difference between genders. Gender inequality occurs when men, women, boys and/or girls have limited or no access to services and resources, live in fear of violence, and/or are unable to control their own destinies due to perceived gender differences and discrimination between and amongst males and females. It is also one of the effects of cultural beliefs as well as societal biasness. The world of business particularly in the workplace is a common ground to gender inequality. There are indeed so many issues concerning inequality between co-workers especially women existing in the workplace. (www.genderqualityinbusiness.com/women-and-their-workplace.php, 2010)

Differences between the roles of males and females

In a research carried out regarding the differences between the roles of males and females has shown that girls do have advantages in verbal capabilities (grammar, spelling and writing) while on the other hand, boys appear to be more advanced in their visual-spatial abilities than girls. No sex differences in math concepts have been supported (Bannon, 2004). This appears to affect their career choices as there is a bigger portion of men in jobs such as police-officers, doctors, and more women in nurturing type vocations such as nurses as well as teachers. There are plentiful theories on why sex differences exist but most can be categorized in supporting either a nature or nurture theory. Those who support biological factors claim that people behave as what their biological nature is. On the other hand, those that support the nurture methodology believe that social-environmental factors as influencing behaviour and argue that biological sex does not really affect how people behave.

2.0 Causes of Gender Equality
2.1 Education System in the Country

Many years ago, girls did not have the chance to have education. As years pass by, the situation has improved slightly. However, most girls still stopped attending school after elementary school. Usually around age ten, a girl would be taken out of school to begin work at her mother’s side while her brothers often continued in school- even going on to college. Take the Americans as an example. Only a century ago, most American women were raised to expect a life geared towards managing a home and family, where a higher education would be useless. Many people of the time argued that it must even be detrimental in encouraging women to abandon hearth and home. (Mass, 1998)

2.2 Sex Discrimination

There are several ways in which gender discrimination takes place in the workplace. First of all, there is the Direct Discrimination. Many people, particularly women, at some stage in their working lives, receive unwelcome sexual attention from colleagues. Sexual harassment covers a whole range of issues, from rude remarks to leering and unwanted physical contact. (TheSite.org, 2009) Direct discrimination also includes acts like difference in salary based on gender although both are doing the same job, or promoting someone because they are single instead of an equally qualified person. Secondly, there is indirect discrimination. For instance, people who are indirectly discriminated against include examples where a certain set of rules or laws are made which indirectly imply that people of a certain gender cannot qualify those laws or rules. Next, there is harassment as work. This type of discrimination is perhaps the worst of the lot since it not only discriminates but causes emotional as well as psychological trauma for the employee who is discriminated against. Sexual or verbal harassment or inferior treatment owing to gender is included under this category. Lastly, there is victimization. This is an unfair or biased treatment based on the employee’s gender translates into victimization at work. This is also a form of employee discrimination based on gender. (Uttara Manohar, 2009)

2.3 Culture Background

Until today, the cycle of gender inequality in the world goes round and round and is never broken. This is mainly due to the culture background of the people in the society nowadays. Women and girls make up 70% percent of the billion people in the world who live in poverty. In much of the world, women are either not allowed to work at all, leaving them at the mercy of husbands or male relatives, or are unable to secure anything other than low-paying jobs. Parents would not allow their daughters to be educated. Their primary concern about their daughters would be to find them a husband. And when they get married, they are expected to manage their home and family. In this case, women will definitely miss out many opportunities for them in the society. (Mass, 2000)

Status of Women in the Workplace Today
Gender Discrimination

Throughout ages women have faced gruesome atrocities. As years pass by, women exploitation has changed from visible to invisible. However, the brutality and extent is unchanged. In the past, women were forbidden from pursuing education. Until today, the condition is still the same as it is in the past as educated women are now being exploited at home and at their workplaces. In rural areas of a country, physical exploitation of women has it’s own standing while in urban areas, women not only face mental torture, but even sometimes to the extend of physical torment. Although modern educated women are now more independent than before, at the same time, their responsibilities have increased. Apart from providing income, a woman has to be responsible in supporting the family too. During marriage, a woman’s family background and possession still play a major role for getting hold of a good agreement. Hence, it is said that women nowadays have become the scapegoats to new kinds of exploitation. It is certainly undeniable that education does alert us of our rights but at the same time, we have to accept that social conditioning makes us believe the unacceptable customs of the society to be our responsibilities. (Diptygharat, 2009)

Wage Gap

According to a study by the Commission on the Status of Women, which is created by John F. Kennedy and is chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, issued a report that showed ever since 1963, women faced discrimination in the workplace in many areas, including unequal pay. Employers did not pay men and women equally for comparable work. For example, white women earned 73.4% of what white men earned in 2001; in the same year, black women earned 84.8% of what black men earned. (Source: US Census Bureau) This is shown in the bar chart below.

Figure 2

Glass-ceiling Effect

The term ‘glass ceiling’ refers to gender discrimination that limits a woman at a lower statues and thus, makes them struggling to survive in the ruthless society today. It is the accepted authority that is usually practiced by a conventional society that causes a woman to be weaker not only physically but mentally as well. Sexism and gender discrimination are concepts that are then classified into glass ceiling. It is a barrier for gender minority groups, specifically working women to further progress and improve themselves. Feminism is the new idea of glass ceiling. It uses the hierarchical distribution of work based on conventional differences between males and females. (Satwase, 2010) According to a survey that is conducted in 1992, even though women today account for nearly half the workforce, they hold only between 3 and 5 percent of the senior management-level positions, and only compose 0.5 percent of the boards of directors of the top US corporations. However, ever since year 1992 till 2009, the number of top female executives in the US largest one thousand companies only increased by 4.5 percent, but female vice presidents rose 9 percent, which shows that women are slowly moving up the ranks. Still, according to the researchers, “If women continue to move into top business ranks at the current rate, the numbers of male and female senior managers will not be equal until the year 2470.” (Mass, 2009)

Year 1992

Year 2009

Figure 3: Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau

Ways to Achieve Gender Equality
Education
4.11 Sex Education

Sex education, which is also regarded as sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of obtaining information and forming positive way and thinking and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, and also intimate relationships. Everyone should be taught about sex since young. Sex education is also about developing everyone’s skills, not only for young people, so that they are able to make informed choices about their behaviour, feel confident and competent in making the right decisions for themselves. Through this, they will be able to learn to respect the opposite gender. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education. Sex education aims to educate the teens especially the boys to respect and understand the girls, as well as to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour. Young people can be exposed to a wide range of attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. Effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs, coupled with skills development that enables a positive mindset to be instilled in the young people. In short, sex education is said to be able to allow gender equality in the society today to be achieved. (Avert.org) Therefore, it ought to be implemented in our country, Malaysia’s education syllabus.

4.1.2 Moral Education

Gender equality through moral education is best to be started at home. In order to bring the issue of gender inequality to an end, moral education about equity should be started at their own homes. If it works at home, then inequality in the workplace and anywhere in society will definitely be able to be prevented. Gender inequality always starts with insensitivity. No one should regard themselves to be better than the others in terms of gender, unless the person is uneducated. Therefore, moral education and cultural consciousness is one of the vital key to promoting gender equality and ending gender inequality in the workplace especially among women. (genderequalityinbusiness.com, 2009)

4.2 Providing Equal Employment Opportunities

Equal employment opportunities means making sure all workplaces are free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment. In the past, many women were actually greatly affected by the disadvantages in employment. They were more likely to be seen as unemployed or working in lower paid jobs. In fact, women should be given equal opportunities as men, as what is obtained from the survey carried out. In the survey, 29 out of 30 participants stated that women ought to be given equal opportunities as men as they claimed that gender differences will not necessary affect one’s work performance. (Refer to Figure 4 and 5) Hence, in order to achieve gender equality in the workplace, fair practices and behaviour are the two most important factors. In this case, the recruitment, selection and promotion practices must be open, competitive as well as based on merit. Merit assessed by clearly defined, job-related criteria, not by considering one’s gender ensures that the best applicant is selected for the job. When this is achieved, women will then be able to work in a fair environment that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment.

Figure 4: Question asked: Should women be given equal opportunities as men?

Figure 5: Question asked: Do you agree that men are definitely more outstanding than women?

Successful Females in the World Today

In the world today, it is tremendously obvious that women have come a long way as successful professionals. Life in the workplace has been widely broadened that the increase in number of women has made their existence felt in most of the industries and professions. Throughout the years, many women have stood up proudly in the society, showing everyone that the female working squad has expanded with exponential strength, and thus have their dire significance in the professional world. In short, this shows that men are not necessarily more outstanding than women. This can be further proven from the survey carried out during this investigative study in which out of 30 participants, 23 responded that they do not agree that men are definitely more outstanding than women. Apart from that, most of them agree with the statement in which stated that women do play in important role in the society nowadays.

This is now an example of one of the most successful females in today’s world.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey, who symbolizes the American dream, is commonly known as a woman with a heart of gold, she was the one who rose from poverty to become the first African-American woman billionaire. She speaks to the world through television, movies, books, and radio. She is even called “the most influential woman in the world” by CNN and Time. The role she has been playing is so dominant that she is able to influence almost every woman around the world through book recommendations, philanthropic activities, human rights awareness, and political activity. However, her career’s journey has not been without controversy. For instance, she did receive criticism for not asking tough questions of guests she seems to like personally. Despite all the criticisms she received, however, it is undeniable that Oprah is one of the most influential women in the world.

6.0 Conclusion

According to various researches and surveys, the overwhelming finding was that achieving gender equality in the workplace today is definitely not impossible. Based on the survey distributed out, many actually agreed that males are not necessarily more outstanding than females. Besides, it is also shown in the survey that females should be given the same opportunities as what are given to males, particularly in the workplace where women should be paid the same as men for doing comparable jobs. Apart from that, as years pass by, it is shown in the report that the number of females that are, and are entering the workforce is increasing rapidly. Although some of them may face workplace discrimination, evidence actually shows that the middle and upper-class women are prospering exponentially. Based on all these evidences, the possible result of this Investigative Study would be, it is certainly possible for gender equality in the workplace to be achieved so long as the differences between males and females can be accepted.

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Consensus is a concept of society in which the absence of conflict is seen as the equilibrium state of society based on a general or widespread agreement among all members of a particular society. The consensus ideology proposes that society consists of social institutions which are all dependent of each other and are vital for maintaining social order. The consensus theory highlights harmony, integration and stability. Functionalists argue that the main institutional groupings play a tremendous role in determining the culture of society. These, as example include economic, politics, family and kinship, as well as media. Economic growth plays a role as well because it affects the way certain societies think and how they run their everyday lives.

The functionalist perspective is rooted in the work of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and gives the view of society as an organism in which each part functions in a certain way to ensure the stability of the whole. Though society is something which exists on its own it has a structure of parts that maintains it. The parts are institutions like the family or the church, which are “useful” or “functional” in some way, but if the institution was no longer functional it would disappear and be replaced like a passing fashion. People involved in these institutions may not be aware of their function, but because the institution exists certain effects follow. Institutions are long lasting so therefore functional.

The foundations of functionalism explain how social inequality is necessary to motivate the more talented members of society to train to fulfil the demands of social positions which are functionally more important than others. They list the rank order of positions as religion, government, wealth and technical knowledge and point out that only a limited number of people have the talents which can be turned into the skills needed for these positions. This takes training which means social and financial sacrifices are made, so in order to encourage people to undergo this training, and to endure the demands of the future position itself, they are given certain privileges. This may include access to scarce resources such as property, power and prestige. This access to scarce resources produces stratification but also inequality in the amount of resources allocated to different people. This inequality is both functional and inevitable.

Functionalist theories state that education meets the needs of the industrial society as well as the cultural society and has the important role of socialising the individual to fit into, and continue, the social system. Individuals are born into a society that already has an identity of its own and education has the function of passing on shared values and skills.

Where functionalism uses consensus, shared norms and values and concepts such as order, harmony, cohesion and integration, Marxism takes a different view.

Marx argues that that economic inequality is at the heart of all societies. Conflict is a disagreement or clash between opposing ideas, principles, or people-this can be a covert or overt conflict. The conflict perspective is based on many conflict approaches. In spite of their inconsequential differences, they all have a model of society as a whole and they collectively share the view of the structural approach. Additionally, all perspectives, in some form or another, share the notion that sociological groups have different interests. As a result, they propose that conflicts are always probable since that when different groups advocate their own individual interests, it tends to cause disagreement and in certain situations, resentment. Arguably, the two most prestigious standpoints within the approach are the Marxist and feminist conflict theories. A major difference between functionalism and the conflict perspective is that the conflict approach accentuates the existence of competing groups whilst functionalism views groups as being fully cooperative.

Conflict theorists emphasise conflict and contradiction whereas consensus theorists maintain that society’s institutions work within functional unity. The conflict paradigm (particular Marxists), conversely, holds that society has an infrastructure and a superstructure that work independently. The ideology considers value as being the mechanisms for keeping society together. Conflict theorists reject the assertion and claim that values are imposed by the powerful groups in society. Conflict theory, proposes that conflict, struggle and change are more prevailing within society. Marxism sees human history as a class struggle, with oppressor and oppressed wrestling for control. The dominant class controls and owns the means of production or wealth generation, and the working class in therefore controlled by them.

Welfare is a result of the strength of working-class resistance to exploitation, a concession the dominant class must make to maintain social order. Programmes such as welfare and pensions help to legitimise the capitalist system with the working class. Welfare then becomes another vehicle for power and control by the dominant class. Its purpose is to placate rather than empower the poor, and seeks to reduce the individual to a state of dependency on those in power. According to Marxist theory, society has unfolded in a series of ever-progressing and better structures, as defined by their economic development and modes of production, from the primitive communal to slave-based to feudal to capitalist. The final stage was communism. This was predicted to be the best possible means of governance and structure of society, one that would erase inequalities and allow individuals to achieve their full potential and value within their community.

Marxism viewed the individual as part of a collective organism, society. Inequalities in society resulted from distinction in classes, not particular individual decisions or behaviours. Conflict was between these classes, and rooted in struggle for power.

Marxism assumes the individual can and will contribute to the greater community as much as they are able, and will be motivated by the common good. When society has evolved or elevated itself to this place, inequalities will be dealt with appropriately The problem with broad application of Marxist theory is that individuals do take advantage.

As Wes Sharrock 1977 puts it: The conflict view is founded upon the assumption that society may provide extraordinarily good lives for some usually only possible because the great majority are oppressed and degraded. Difference of interest are therefore as important to society as agreements upon riles and values, and most societies are so organised that they not only provide greater benefits for some than for others

Social conflict differs from consensus because it is interested in the way unenequal distribution of advantage in a society structures behaviour and is interested in the conflict inherent in such a society.

The Marxist perspective concentrates on the differences between groups and concepts such as control, conflict, power, domination and exploitation. This is the theory based on the work of Karl Marx (1818-1833) Marx felt that social class was the main form of inequality and saw only two significant social classes. He maintained that it was capitalist industrialisation that led to this “two class” society, the bourgeoisie who owned the means of production (e.g. factories) and the proletariat who became the wage labourers (working in the factories).

“What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, is its own grave diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.” (Marx and Engels. 1848)

Is social stratification socially constructed.

Throughout the ages there has always been evidence in stratification and how it is socially moulded into almost everything. It can be seen In families, the workforce, in politics and international from one country to another, male against female, ages from young to the old and from the rich to the poor. It is even seen in the animal kingdom and it appears to be a natural instinctive survival mechanism but one that is unfair. It seems to happen when one or more people having a belief in something which in turn over powers the next therefore creating a layer with a low medium and high for example the class system of the poor and the bourgeoisie It depends on the individuals definition of social stratification however one may understand it as a form of hierarchy which is displayed almost in everything and everywhere we are only free when we are first born from then on in we belong to a class starting within the family union through to a much bigger ranking within local to international society.

FOUR SECTIONS : RACE GENDER SEX AND AGE

There are two reports which have been commissioned by the government to try and find some evidence of variations in health and illness. These are The Black Report (1980) chaired by Sir Douglas Black and The Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health by Sir Donald Acheson (1998).

Firstly, in The Black Report inequalities in human health take a number of distinctive forms. Most attention is given to differences in health as measured over the years between the social (or more strictly occupational) classes. When comparing rates of mortality among men and women in each of the 5 classes. Taking the 2 extremes as a point of comparison it can be seen that for both men and women the risk of death before retirement is two-and-a-half times as great in class 5 (unskilled manua1 workers and their wives), as it is in class 1 (professional men and their wives).

One of the most distinctive features of human health in the advanced societies is the gap in life expectancy between men and women. This phenomenon carries important implications for all spheres of social policy but especially health, since old age is a time when demand for health care is at its greatest and the dominant pattern of premature male mortality has added the exacerbating problem of isolation to the situation of elderly women who frequently survive their partners by many years. The imbalance in the ratio of males to females in old age is the cumulative product of health inequalities between the sexes during the whole lifetime. These inequalities are found in every occupational class demonstrating that gender and class exert highly significant and different influences on the quality and duration of life in modern society.

Rates of age-specific mortality vary considerably between the regions which make up the United Kingdom. Using mortality as an indicator of health the healthiest part of Britain appears to be the southern belt (below a line drawn across the country from the Wash to the Bristol Channel). This part of the country has not always exhibited the low rates of mortality that are found there today. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the South East of England recorded comparatively high rates of death, while other regions like Wales and the far North had a rather healthier profile. The fluctuation in the distribution of mortality over the years suggests that social (including industrial and occupational) as much as “natural” factors must be at work in creating the pattern of regional health inequalities.

One of the most important dimensions of inequality in contemporary Britain is race. Immigrants to this country from the so-called new Commonwealth, whose ethnic identity is clearly visible in the colour of their skin, are known to experience greater difficulty in finding work and adequate housing (Smith, 1976). Given, for example, these social and economic disabilities it is to be expected that they might also record rather high than average rates of mortality and morbidity.

Class differences in mortality are a constant feature of the entire human lifetime. They are found at birth, during the first year of life, in childhood, adolescence and in adult life. In general they are more marked the start of life and in early adulthood. Average life expectancy provides a useful summary of the cumulative impact of these advantages and disadvantages throughout life. A child born to professional parents, if he or she is not socially mobile, can expect to spend over 5 years more as a living person than a child born to an unskilled manual household.

At birth and during the first month of life the risk of death in class 5 is double the risk in class 1. When the fortunes of babies born to skilled manual fathers are compared with those who enter the world as the offspring of professional workers the risk of mortality is one and half times as great. From the end of the first month to the end of the first year, class differentials in infant mortality reach a peak of disadvantage.

For the death of every one male infant in class 1, we can expect almost 4 deaths in class 5.

In adult life, class differences in mortality are found for many different causes. As in childhood the rate of accidental death and infectious disease forms a steep gradient especially among men; moreover an extraordinary variety of causes of deaths such as cancer, heart and respiratory disease also differentiate between the classes.

The duration of the human lifetime is one of the best means of approximating the lifelong pattern of health of individuals and whole populations. As we have seen, the risk of premature death in Britain today is systematically related to socioeconomic variables. This association is not new or unusual. Death rates have always been relatively high among the underprivileged and materially deprived sections of communities. Why this should continue to be so in an era characterised by new patterns of disease, increased purchasing power, and state provision of free medical care is more perplexing. In infancy and childhood where the class gradients are steep, the major causes of death are in many ways directly linked to poverty and to environmental risk. In adulthood the relationship between health and class becomes more complex and in old age social and economic deprivation becomes a common experience.

Both Cartwright and O’Brien (1976) and Buchan and Richardson (1973) have studied GP consultations in depth. Both investigations showed that middle class patients tended to have longer consultations than did working class ones. More problems were discussed at consultations with middle class patients than with working class ones. Cartwright and O’Brien also found that middle class patients were, in a sense, able to make better use of the consultation time, as measured by the number of items of information communicated and the number of questions asked. Moreover even though working class patients tended to have been with the same practice for longer, the doctors seemed to have more knowledge of the personal and domestic circumstances of their middle class patients. In an earlier study Cartwright had found that middle class patients were more likely to be visited by their GP when in hospital than were working class patients (Cartwright, 1964). For cultural reasons then, and also because there is a tendency for the ‘better’ doctors to work in middle class areas, the suggestion is that middle class patients receive a better service when they do present themselves than do working class patients.

In the case of family planning and maternity services substantial evidence shows that those social groups in greatest need make least use of services and (in the case of antenatal care) are least likely to come early to the notice of the service. Cartwright (1970) found clear class gradients in the proportion of mothers having an antenatal examination, attending a family planning clinic, and discussing birth control with their GP. Unintended pregnancies were more common among working class women. Bone (1973) also found that women from the non-manua1 classes make more use of family planning services than those from the manual classes. This was true both for married and for unmarried women. Similar differences have been found in presentation for post-natal examination (Douglas and Rowntree, 1949) and (by Gordon, 1951) immunisation, ante-natal and post natal supervision and uptake of vitamin foods. The National Child Development Study (1958 birth cohort) found substantial differences in immunisation rates in children aged 7, as well as in attendance at the dentist. Among women, it has been found that those in classes 4 and 5 are much less likely to be screened for cervical cancers even though mortality from this condition is much higher in these classes than in the non-manual classes.

In the Acheson report, the findings were much the same as The Black Report. The Acheson Report has also shown that health was improving but more for the higher than lower social classes. Premature mortality, that is death before age 65, is higher among people who are unskilled. If all men in this age group had the same death rates as those in classes I and II, it is estimated that there would have been over 17,000 fewer deaths each year from 1991 to 1993. Deaths from accidents and suicide occur at relatively young ages and each contribute nearly as much to overall years of working life lost as coronary heart disease. Death rates from all three causes are higher among those in the lower social classes, and markedly so among those in class V (Office for National Statistics and Blane & Drever 1998).

In adulthood, being overweight is a measure of possible ill health, with obesity a risk factor for many chronic diseases. There is a marked social class gradient in obesity which is greater among women than among men. (Colhoun and Prescott-Clarke, 1996), (Prescott-Clarke and Primatesta 1997), (Prescott-Clarke and Primatesta 1998). In 1996, 25 per cent of women in class V were classified as obese compared to 14 per cent of women in class I.

Another indicator of poor health is raised blood pressure. There is a clear social class differential among women, with those in higher classes being less likely than those in the manual classes to have hypertension. In 1996, 17 per cent of women in class I and 24 per cent in class V had hypertension. There was no such difference for men where the comparable proportions were 20 per cent and 21 per cent respectively (Prescott-Clarke and Primatesta 1997).

Across different ethnic groups, there are very different rates of unemployment. Those from minority ethnic groups have higher rates than the white population. Black men have particularly high unemployment rates as do Pakistani and Bangladeshi women (Office for National Statistics 1998).

Between 1982 and 1992, there was a steep increase in the number of households accepted by Local Authorities as homeless. Since then, there has been a decrease of about a quarter. Of the 166,000 households classified as homeless in 1997, over 103,000 were accepted by local authorities to be unintentionally homeless and in priority need. Over half of households accepted by local authorities as homeless had dependent children and a further tenth had a pregnant household member (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions 1997 and 1998).

There is a clear social class gradient for both men and women in the proportion who smoke. In 1996, this ranged from 12 per cent of professional men to 41 per cent of men in unskilled manual occupations and from 11 per cent to 36 per cent for women (Office for National Statistics 1998). In spite of the major class differences in dependence on alcohol in men (Meltzer et al 1995), there are very small differences in the reported quantities consumed. This is not the case among women where higher consumption is related to higher social class (Office for National Statistics 1998).

People in lower socioeconomic groups tend to eat less fruit and vegetables, and less food which is rich in dietary fibre. As a consequence, they have lower intakes of anti-oxidant and other vitamins, and some minerals, than those in higher socioeconomic groups (Colhoun and Prescott-Clarke 1996), (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1996), (Department of Health 1989), (Gregory et al 1990), (Gregory et al 1995).

One aspect of dietary behaviour that affects the health of infants is the incidence of breastfeeding. Six weeks after birth, almost three quarters of babies in class I households are still breastfed. This declines with class to less than one quarter of babies in class V. The differences between classes in rates of breastfeeding at six weeks has narrowed slightly between 1985 and 1995 (Foster et al 1997).

Class inequalities in health have been accounted for in a number of different ways. The report of the DHSS Inequalities in Health Working Group ‘The Black Report’ lists four types of explanation. These are inequality as an artefact, inequality as natural selection, inequality as material deprivation and inequality as cultural deprivation.

The artefact explanation argues that inequalities in health are not real but artificial. They are an effect produced in the attempt to measure something which is more complicated than the tools of measurement can appreciate. It is argued that changes in the occupational structure are likely to combine with age to confound any attempt to measure inequality in mortality even at one point in time. It is suggested that the age structure of social class 5 is likely to be biased towards older workers because younger recruits to the labour force will have entered better paid, more skilled occupations, that have expanded since the war. Since the mortality risk increases with the age, this effect is likely to enlarge the rate of social class 5 as a whole. If so, the observed gradient is really caused by the skewed age structure of the unskilled manual class rather than by the poorer health of its members.

The most persuasive attempt to explain health inequalities as the outcome of a process natural selection, has been put forward by the statistician, Jon Stern. He argues that those people with better health move up the social class ladder and those with poorer health move down the social class ladder (Stern 1983). Stern defines health as a fixed or genetic property of individuals largely independent of their immediate social and economic environment. His argument rests on the assumption that health itself increases the probability of social mobility and that the class structure permits movement up and down. This means that no matter how deprived the social background, a genetic potentiality for good health will enable a person to overcome material disadvantage and climb out of poverty.

Material deprivation means a shortage of the material resources on which healthy human existence depends. This means that health is directly affected by the material circumstances in which people live. In less developed societies (poor housing) its effects may appear in very high death rates from diseases primarily caused by malnutrition and exposure. People in poverty may not be able to afford or access healthy foods to stay healthy or they may become ill more often because of poorly heated homes.

Health inequality as cultural deprivation means that the poor have a self destructive culture which leads them to become ill because of the lifestyles and personal habits in which they engage, for example, smoking, alcohol, poor diet and lack of exercise, but these poor health behaviours are also a strategy to cope with the persistent material deprivation they experience.

The psycho social explanation suggests that long term chronic stresses are unevenly distributed in society, basically in line with class position (structural inequalities). The impact of stresses depends on how individuals view them, subjectively, and deal with them. This, in turn, depends on the buffering resources we have in terms of personality, social background, location in the social structure, education, financial resources, and the supportiveness of the social environment.

The social environment and the social location can generate self efficacy which is a feeling of personal control, mastery over one’s life, instrumentalism (opposite concept to fatalism, powerlessness, learned helplessness). Self efficacy is the extent to which individuals see themselves in control of the forces which have a significant influence on their lives.

Self efficacy is linked to self esteem, self concept, social support and individuals coping style. In other words, the psycho-social approach forges a link between class position and vulnerability to social stresses.

Wilkinson et al (1990) discuss a social cohesion approach and argue that social and power inequalities (i.e. authoritarian hierarchies and non democratic social organisations, and potential status inequalities such as gender and ethnicity) will affect the quality of social relationships. Where inequalities produce anger, frustration, fear insecurity and negative emotion, social relations will suffer.

Better health is linked to better social relations, through trust, more security, more social support, more self esteem, self respect, a sense of belonging and less financial and material disadvantage. Thus democratic and participatory styles of social organisation – from the family to political organisations – have a health enhancing effect.

A life course theory regards health as reflecting the patterns of social, psychological and biological advantages and disadvantages experienced by the individual over time. A life course theory of health inequality regards these patterns as being profoundly affected by the position of individuals and families in social and economic structures and hierarchies of status. However, these links themselves depend on the political and cultural environment, which means that there is a need for a life course political economy of health, which examines the ways in which economic and social policies influence the accumulation of material and psycho social risk. The ways in which advantages and disadvantages combine over the life course influence both how long each individual may spend in good health, and also what form of illness they may acquire.

In conclusion, there are many inequalities in health and all the findings from The Black Report in 1980 are still around today, which was shown in The Acheson Report.

The table below shows the standardised mortality rates (SMRs) for ten equal-sized geographical areas in terms of population (or deciles). SMRs which are greater than 100 indicate higher chances of mortality, all relative to the national average. The table demonstrates a continuing polarisation in mortality rates. People living in the best areas have an improving life expectancy, whilst those in the worst areas face a decline, to such an extent that by 1998, those in the worst areas were twice as likely to die by the age of 65 as those in the best areasgraph showing Standardised mortality ratios for deaths under 65 in Britain by deciles of population, 1950-1998

graph showing Health inequalities in infant mortality (by social class for sole registrations)

During the nineteenth century the founding fathers of Sociology such as Marx, Comte and Durkheim, wanted to accomplish their political objectives by using scientific methods. They wanted people to be convinced of the validity of their views and felt that the best way to achieve this would be to go about this in the most effective way by means of natural science and research methods. Sociologists thus tried to explain how the social system worked. One of the main areas within a social system is education. All children between the ages of five and Sixteen are obliged to attend school, and during term time school children spend over half their waking hours in the classroom. Education in Britain is free and is provided by the welfare state, it is also compulsory, parents who do not send their child to school are breaking the law. According to sociologists in order to have a fully functioning society the members would ideally have to be educated to carry out their role within that society, or society may ‘fall apart’. This essay will include a brief look at the history of education and how it has developed into the system we now have today. This essay will also look at two sociological theories on education; Functionalist and Marxist,. Within each of these theories this essay will also highlight three main perspectives; social class, gender and ethnicity.

The 1944 Education Act was a significant piece of social and welfare legislation, it required Local Education Authorities to provide state-funded education for pupils, up to the age of 15, that incorporated, to quote, “instruction and training as may be desirable in view of their different ages, abilities and aptitudes”. The act was devised by Conservative MP Rab Butler (1902-1982), from this came the introduction of the tripartite system which comprised of; Grammar schools for the more academic pupil, Secondary Modern schools for a more practical, non-academic style of education and Technical schools for specialist practical education. Pupils had to take an examination called the 11-Plus and the result of this indicated which type of school the child would be allocated to. Secondary education now became free for all and the school-leaving age rose to 15. The tripartite system could be seen as a way of dividing classes, as it was usually the children from more affluent families that passed the 11-plus examination. (Bell, 2004; MOC; Murray, 2009).

In 1965 comprehensive schooling was recommended by the Labour Government in document called the Circular 10/65. The new comprehensive system suited children of all abilities in contrast to the tripartite system. The school leaving age was raised to 16 in 1973. The comprehensive system aimed to eradicate the class divide from the British education system. (Bell, 2004; MOC; Murray, 2009).

The 1988 Education Act saw the introduction to the National Curriculum. All education in state funded school was to be made the same and made sure that all school children received the same level of education. Compulsory subjects were introduced which included maths, English, science and religious education. The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) was introduced to replace O-levels and the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE). This was another way of trying to make state education classless. (Bell, 2004; MOC; Murray, 2009).

Over the years theories of education have been in and out of fashion this was mostly due to which political party was in power at the time and the state of the economy as the two are very much linked. During the 1950aa‚¬a„?s Functionalism was the dominant force within sociology. During the war the education system had been neglected and was seen as been in a pretty poor state. By the 1970s, structural tensions, inflation, economic stagnation and unemployment, meant that Marxism and other critical theories like Feminism and anti-authoritarian Liberals became far more influential. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

The education system was undemocratic, unequal and unfair. Marxists like Raymond Boudon argued that positional theory determined educational success or failure, he is well-known for his studies into of the role of education on social mobility. It was your position in the class structure that gave you an advantage, or a disadvantage, in the competitive world of education. However for Pierre Bourdieu, the working class lacked what he referred to as cultural capital; without which they were doomed to failure. Cultural capital included the valuable cultural experiences of foreign travel, museums, theatre and the possession of a sophisticated register and middle class norms and values. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

The functionalist perspective was the dominant theoretical approach in the sociology of education until the 1960’s. When considering education functionalists usually ask questions such as; What are the functions of education? What part does it play in maintaining society? What are the relationships between education and other elements of our social system?

A typical functionalist response to such questions sees education as transmitting society’s norms and values, for example a child that learns to respect the rules at school he will learn to respect society’s rules as an adult. Functionalists believe that various parts of society work together for the mutual benefit of society as a whole so therefore education and the economy go hand in hand and school is preparation for the world of work. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope, 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

Emile Durkheim was one of the founding fathers of sociology and provided the basic framework for functionalist view of education. He believed that for society to operate efficiently individuals must develop a sense of belonging to something wider than their immediate situation. The education system plays an important part of this process. In particular, the teaching of history enables children to see the link between themselves and the wider society. Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who further developed Durkheim’s ideas. He argued that in modern industrial societies education performs an important socialising function. Education helps to ensure the continuity of norms and values through transmitting the culture of society to new generations. Parsons saw the school as a bridge between the family and the wider society. Within the family the child’s status is fixed at birth but in wider society new status is achieved through work, friendships and relationships. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

Parson’s also saw that schools prepared children for their roles in adult society through the selection process. Students are assessed and sorted in terms of their abilities and this helps to allocate them to appropriate occupations. Students are also allocated certain occupations in relation to what sex they are, typically girls would be seen as going into more stereotypically ‘feminine’ roles such as secretaries, hairdressers, beauticians, nurses /care givers or homemakers; whereas boys would be seen as going into more stereotypically ‘masculine’ roles such as doctors, builders, mechanics, plumbers or firemen. Boys are also seen as being more scientific than girls. However many of these roles are now being integrated by both sexes. Conversely the roles of being care-givers and homemakers are still seen as being innate in females. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

The Marxist perspective on education differs from that of the functionalist. In Marx’s words the ruling class ‘rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas’. These ideas justify their position, conceal their true source of their power and disguise their exploitation of the subject class. A French Marxist philosopher called Louis Althusser argued that no class can hold power for long simply by the use of force. The use of ideas provide a much more useful means of control. He also argued that the education system in modern times has taken over the role of the church as the main agency for ideological control. In the past people accepted their status in life and saw it as being God’s will. Nowadays however people tend to accept their status and role within society from the way in which they have been educated. The upper and middle classes are primed to become the ruling class and the owners of industry, the lower classes are primed to become the workforce. They are taught to accept their future exploitation. Althusser argues that ideology in capitalist society is fundamental to social control. He sees the educational process as essentially ideological. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

For Bowles and Gintis, the education system propagated a hidden curriculum where the working classes learnt to know their place, to obey rules and were also socialised to accept that inequality was natural and inevitable. They also claim that education legitimates social inequality by broadcasting the myth that it offers everyone an equal chance. It follows that people who achieve high qualifications deserve their success. So in other words education is seen as a reward system, those who work hard and gain a good education will have access to the top jobs. Bowles and Gintis stated that ‘Education reproduces inequality by justifying privilege and attributing poverty to personal failure.’ (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

Both Marxists and functionalists have been criticised for seeing people as being nothing more than creatures of the social system, thus Bowles and Gintis see teachers as the agents of capital the students as its victims and their situations being shaped by factors which are out of their control. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

In modern day Britain there is a general consensus of opinion that education should be based on equal opportunities. Everyone should have an equal right to develop their abilities to the full regardless of their age, class, ethnicity or gender. However there is clear evidence that in educational terms those who have certain social characteristics are more likely to achieve better results than others, so this shows that there is a distinct relationship between social class and educational attainment. Throughout the twentieth century there is evidence to show that the higher an individual’s social class, the more likely they are to have a greater number and higher level of educational qualifications. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

Gender has always been an issue in education. Should both sexes take the same subjects? Do both sexes have the same abilities and aptitude? The introduction of the 1944 Education Act was concerned with enabling free and equal education for all. However there is still a worry that discrimination against girls still takes place throughout the educational system. To feminists this is a reflection of the patriarchal nature of modern industrial society. The school curriculum has become increasingly similar for boys and girls. However, where choice is available, there is still a tendency for girls to choose some subjects and boy’s others. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

There is no concrete evidence within the education system to prove whether a student’s ethnicity has any effect on their examination results. Statistics on school leavers and their examination results are a snapshot at one point in time. Individuals may want to ‘catch up’ on their education once leaving school by attending local colleges. There is evidence to show that ethnic minorities are likely to do this. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

“The Swann Report (1985), officially called ‘Education for All’, was a government report advocating a multicultural education system for all schools, regardless of institutions, location, age-range or ethnicity for staff/pupils. The report provided clear data on ethnicity and educational attainment, discovering that racism had a causal effect on the educational experiences of black children in the UK.”

(Griffiths and Hope, 2000).

The statistics shown in the Swann Report were drawn from local authorities with a high ethnic concentration. So therefore it could be said that they weren’t a true depiction of ethnic educational attainment throughout the whole of the country. However due to mass immigration into this country in the last five years some children who come from different ethnic backgrounds are at a disadvantage due to cultural language barriers. (Browne, K, 2005; Griffiths & Hope , 2000; Haralambus & Holburn, 2008)

This essay included a brief look at the history of education and how it has developed into the system we now have today. It also looked at two sociological theories on education; Functionalist and Marxist. The feminist perspective was touched upon when relating education to gender. Within each of these theories essay highlighted three main perspectives; social class, gender and ethnicity. To conclude there are still many barriers to gaining a good education for some of the children in this country due to their class, social stratification, gender or ethnicity. The rich are more likely to get better grades and job opportunities. However some children / young adults may cross the divide and become better educated and move to a high class as an educated adult.

Social disorganization is described as the lack of ability of the community members to unite their values or to solve problems that they experience together and as a community. In the past couple of decades, the themes of social disorganization theory have been more clearly explained and improved upon by Sampson and Groves in year 1989. Sampson and Groves traced social disorganization to conditions that were common and widespread to the urban areas that were the only places the newly arriving poor could afford to live in, in particular, a high rate of turnover in the population which caused residential instability and a wide mix of people from different cultural backgrounds (ethnic diversity). Sampson and Groves’ analyses about the delinquency rates to these places allowed them to derive key facts about the community where crime and delinquency are linked together where when one goes up the other goes up, and when one goes down the other goes down. Their work remains useful today as a guide for efforts to address crime and delinquency at the community level.

Current versions of social disorganization theory assume that strong networks of social relationships prevent crime and delinquency this was pointed out by Sampson and Groves in 1989. When most community or neighborhood members are familiar with each other and are on good terms with one another, a large portion of the adult population has the potential to influence the children and teenagers in their neighborhoods. The bigger the network of acquaintances or contacts, the bigger the community’s ability to monitor itself and perform informal surveillance (because residents are able to tell each other apart from outsiders), for supervision (because people who know each other are willing to get involved and interfered when children and juveniles behave unacceptably), and for shaping children’s values and interests. According to the Sampson and Groves, the community’s characteristics such as poverty and ethnic diversity lead to higher delinquency rates because they interfere with community members’ abilities to work together, for the good of the community.

Just like in urban areas, systems of relationships are related to crime and delinquency in small towns and rural communities. The only feature of the theory that is related to urban areas is the explanation of why social disorganization happens in some geographic locations and not in others.

Rural sociologists concerned with the negative effects of quick population growth provide some evidence that the processes of social disorganization apply in rural settings. Groves and Sampson, for example, argued that the “boomtown” phenomenon brings high rates of crime and other unacceptable behaviors but does not produce alienation or mental health difficulties. Also Sampson and Groves explained these negative effects by the same method as social disorganization theory which states that rapid growth greatly reduces the proportion of people who know one another, which in turn interferes with surveillance and socialization of the young this was originally states by Freudenberg in 1986.

Sampson and Groves theory specified that several variables-residential instability, ethnic diversity, family disruption, economic status, population size or density, and proximity to urban areas-play a huge role in a community’s capacity to develop and maintain strong systems of social relationships.

Based on their research in urban settings, Sampson and Groves expected that rates of juvenile violence in rural communities would increase as rates of residential instability increased. When the population of an area is constantly changing, the residents have fewer opportunities to develop strong, personal ties to one another and to participate in community organizations. This assumption has been central to research on social disorganization since its beginning. Massive population change is the main variable when looking at this theory. They highlighted four important points in their research;

Ethnic diversity: According to social Sampson and Groves, it could be expected that, as in urban areas, rates of juvenile violence would be higher in rural communities with greater ethnic diversity. Ethnic diversity interferes with communication among adults. Effective communication is less likely in the face of ethnic diversity because differences in customs and a lack of shared experiences may breed fear and mistrust. It is important to distinguish this hypothesis about heterogeneity from simple ethnic differences. In other words, this hypothesis sees crime as arising from relations between ethnic groups, not from some groups being more crime-prone than others.

Family disruption: Research in urban areas has found that delinquency rates are higher in communities with greater levels of family disruption, and they expected that this also would be true in rural areas. Sampson and Groves argued that unshared parenting strains parents’ resources of time, money, and energy, which interferes with their ability to supervise their children and communicate with other adults in the neighborhood. Furthermore, the smaller the number of parents in a community relative to the number of children, the more limited the amount of adult supervision will be for all the children.

Economic status: Although rates of juvenile violence are higher in urban areas with lower economic status, it was not clear that this relationship should apply in rural settings. The role of economic status in their theory is based on patterns of growth in urban areas. In many major urban areas, growth leads to the physical, economic, and social decline of the residential areas closest to the central business district. These areas then become most readily available to the poor and to groups who migrate to the area. As a result, areas with the lowest average socioeconomic status will also have the greatest residential instability and ethnic diversity, which in turn will create social disorganization. Therefore, many studies have found that urban neighborhoods with high rates of poverty also have greater rates of delinquency.

The processes that link poverty with population turnover are specific to urban settings. In nonmetropolitan settings, poor populations may be stable and ethnically consistent.

Population density: Population density is rather different from the other community factors for two reasons. First, evidence of a relationship between population density and urban crime and delinquency is inconsistent. Second, the meaning of density becomes quite different for nonurban communities, where, in the least dense areas, one must travel several miles to have significant contact with people outside of one’s immediate family. The original reason for the urban perspective was that high population density creates problems by producing anonymity that interferes with accountability to neighbors. In the least dense rural areas, it may be social isolation, instead, that limits social support to monitor children and respond to problem behavior. Sampson and Groves suggested that density might be more important in terms of opportunities for offending than in terms of social disorganization. The comparative isolation of living in a sparsely populated area may reduce opportunities for offending because of greater distance from targets and from potential companions in crime. Victimization rates are lowest in communities with the smallest populations, but only for populations of 25,000 or less. In larger communities, the rates were essentially unrelated to population size.

Proximity to urban areas: This final community variable, which moves away from the themes of current social disorganization theory, considers an issue specific to rural settings and to the linkages among communities. As Sampson and Groves have argued, it is important to look beyond the internal dynamics of communities and consider ways in which rates of delinquency might be influenced by relationships between neighboring communities. Various rural and suburban communities have very different relationships with urban communities, and this is an important theme of research on rural settings. Sampson and Groves suggested that “less delinquent groups of youths are being socialized into more sophisticated types of criminal behavior by youths in adjoining areas”. Because average crime rates are higher in communities with larger populations, this phenomenon would produce higher rates of delinquency in rural communities that are adjacent to metropolitan areas. Previous research has not addressed this topic, however, so it is not clear whether such diffusion actually occurs and, if it does, whether it is strong enough to produce higher rates of juvenile violence in counties adjacent to urban areas.

Summary of Sampson and Groves

Sampson and Groves’s theory revolved around the characteristics of communities with high crime rates. They explained that economically deprived, large sizes, multiunit housing apartments (where a lot of people move in and out) and a high rate of divorce and single parents reduces direct control over the neighborhood and reduces the supervision of young people.

Lack of supervision of young people causes a lack of socialization of children against crime; they don’t do well in school and don’t have the connections to secure a good job, since they don’t have close ties with their neighbors.

Because people don’t know their neighbors they are less likely to interfere with neighborhood problems such as crime or monitoring people’s behaviors.

Most residents have no attachment to their neighborhood and as soon as they have enough money they will leave to somewhere better, this reduces the amount of investments they make in their area and how much the care about their surroundings.

Robert Sampson

Growing up in the small, industrial city of Utica, NY, in the 1960s, Sampson witnessed firsthand the changing patterns within his city. Once a bustling city, his hometown was hit with hard times as industries left and almost half of the town’s population went with them. ”I witnessed those changes growing up and was fascinated-why are some communities declining and people leaving, and why are others thriving?” he asks. From a young age, Sampson was a keen observer of community and city life. The self-described ”upstate New York kid” did not stray far from home for college or graduate school, choosing to attend the State University of New York (SUNY).

As an undergraduate at SUNY-Buffalo, Sampson discovered the tools of psychology and sociology. He graduated in 1977 with a degree in sociology. In the late 1970s, Sampson entered graduate school at SUNY-Albany, where he refined his focus on the study of society. There he worked with some of the most influential sociologists of the time, including Peter Blau and Travis Hirschi.

Hirschi, who later became Sampson’s dissertation advisor, had written what Sampson describes as probably the most cited and influential study of crime in the 20th century, called Causes of Delinquency, which helped launch Sampson’s research on crime. ”It was a very exciting time, very intense. I became interested in the study of crime from a social-ecological perspective,”

Sampson says. During graduate school, he also was introduced to a group of sociologists that have influenced his entire career. ”I was taken by the classical work that was done in what’s known as the Chicago School of Urban Sociology,” Sampson recalls. The group used the rapidly growing population of Chicago in the early 1900s as a sort of ”sociology laboratory” in which to study how social structures and the urban environment influenced human social behavior, particularly crime and delinquency. ”They were studying the massive changes that were occurring based on the waves of immigration coming from Europe,”

Sampson migrated to the home of his ”intellectual mentors” in Chicago, first to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984 to take his first faculty position in the sociology department, and in 1991 to the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL), where he became involved in a massive effort to study community-level social processes in urban neighborhoods. In 1994, Sampson became the scientific director of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods; he is now the head of the Sociology department at Harvard University.

Functionalists believe that crime and deviance are inevitable and necessary for a society. Crime shows other member of the society what is right and wrong. Social consensus decides how right and wrong is determined. Crime can lead to social change, say the functionalists, because the existence of crime proves to the people in society that the government does not overly control the citizens. Crime can also help the economy of a society by creating jobs for law enforcement officers, psychiatrists, probation officers and the like. Even in the functionalist society, too much crime can be bad for the group, causing it to lose the standard harmony and eventually causing the society to collapse. (www.criminology.fsu.edu)

Conflict theory is based upon the view that the fundamental causes of crime are the social and economic forces operating within society. The criminal justice system and criminal law are thought to be operating on behalf of rich and powerful social elites, with resulting policies aimed at controlling the poor. The criminal justice establishment aims at imposing standards of morality and good behavior created by the powerful on the whole of society. Focus is on separating the powerful from have nots who would steal from others and protecting themselves from physical attacks. In the process, the legal rights of poor folks might be ignored. The middle class are also co-opted; they side with the elites rather the poor, thinking they might themselves rise to the top by supporting the status quo.

Sociological Perspectives 5

Thus, street crimes, even minor monetary ones are routinely punished quite severely, while large-scale financial and business crimes are treated much more leniently. Theft of a television might receive a longer sentence than stealing millions through illegal business practices. William Chambliss, in a classic essay “The Saints and the Roughnecks,” compared the outcomes for two groups of adolescent misbehavers. The first, a lower class group of boys, was hounded by the local police and labeled by teachers as delinquents and future criminals, while the upper-middle class boys were equally deviant, but their actions were written off as youthful indiscretions and learning experiences. (http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/conflict.htm)

Crime-Symbolic Interactionist Theory

The theoretical perspective following on from this particular epistemological choice is

symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionists believe it is through engagement, or

interaction, with the world that a sense of meaning and reality is constructed. It is

contingent upon the notion of people ‘being in their world,’ or a part of their world,

that meaning and reality get imbued with ‘social meaning and reality.’ Being ‘in the

world’ and making sense of it relies on interaction with others, and constructing

meaning and reality through the use of ‘symbolic tools’ and their communication

(Crotty 1998). Interpretation is the other vital ingredient in the construction of social meaning, and, along with interaction, forms the core principles of symbolic interactionism (Bessant and Watts 2002; Wallace and Wolf 1999).

Sociological Perspectives 6

Sociologist, Herbert Blumer, therefore calls on the researcher who incorporates a

symbolic interactionist perspective to get closer to the worlds of those being

researched; to see it from the perspectives of those they encounter: “noting their

problems and observing how they handle them, being party to their conversations,

and watching their lives as they flow along” (Blumer 1969: 87, cited in Wallace and

Wolfe 1999). It challenges us to see life from the other’s point of view, or, in other

words, to put oneself into the shoes of the ‘other.’

Sociological Perspectives 7

Conclusion

In my conclusion, I have to agree with the symbolic Interactionist theory to look at society as it really is and not how we want it to be. If we look at society how it really is then and only then can we start changing the way we all view each other.

Sociological Perspectives 8

This gender issue has been excited topic to our society. Arguments have been hovering over people on whom between men and women are the great and should receive credit. Rationally, looking the issue in a brighter perspective men and women has their own separate traits and attributes that can be positively assessed in our society. The politically-correct aim for ‘equality’ between ‘men’ and ‘women’ is not achievable. It is utterly impossible. It will never be found. It will never be discovered. The search for ‘equality’ between ‘men’ and ‘women’ is a never-ending war between ‘men’ and ‘women. The more forceful and active the irrational search for equality between men and women, the more aggressive and energetic will be the war between two genders. Both genders claim that they are better than the other. Different views, different opinions actually set off their individuality

Nowadays capabilities of women cannot be hindered. We should honor their hard work and achievements that had taken almost two centuries to achieve and a life time to be granted the acceptance of men. They are starting to beat men in terms of leadership; such evidence is those female presidents from other countries. Women who have achieved great importance in government, industry, sports, and the media and have become a well-known sight and yet, it appears that there is no clear public understanding of the realities of women’s and girls’ lives in this earth. Women declare that they are equal to men and curiously enough when asked in what way are they equal they mention that they can do all that men do; they can be doctors, lawyers and so on and that because of these factors they are equal or should be considered equal .In short what they are saying is that the criteria that should be used to judge their equality is their ability to perform in male activities and to imitate men in terms of mind duo.

In our present society today, considering the Arabic culture women are definitely submissive to men, would it be an exemption to what other feminist organization are trying to fight for? That women and men should received equal opportunities in the society. The Teachings of Islam diminish the theoretical belief of discrimination between men and women as human beings. It also diminish any discrimination between them before the law and in social rights, and Islam meant that men and women be equal in that respect seems to be one of the primary factors these days in discrimination against women and putting men into predominance. Fewer women work and head up households which inspires men to do well in his job. In a way or so, religions, cultures and traditions may somehow affect this issue. Equality may be given or manifested in a different way. Women inspire men, while men turns into a good provider having a good wife beneath his wings.

Numerous studies and statistics show that even though the situation for women has improved during the last century, discrimination is still widespread: women earn less than men, occupy lower-ranking job positions than men, and do most of the housekeeping work. Stereotype belief that men in nature have strong disposition in life and have the word of honor to keep. They are good on strategic planning and very decisive which makes the crowd patronize on giving their votes.

But let us not have a bias view on this issue, let us view this from a genetics and reproductive systems point of view, for one may argue that this whole rivalry between men and women can be partially blamed on the differences in genetics. For instance sexual dimorphism which happens to exists because of differences in genetics that cause men and women to have different traits, such as physical height or muscle mass. For example the phrase “Fire-Fighters” has been put in order to implement an idea that women are capable of performing the job, but let us face the true facts here, one a firefighter has to be big and strong to be able to aid himself and other people mainly in times of distress, a job certainly that cannot be done by a high-percentage of women, therefore if you check most fire departments you can clearly see what a none to low amount of women exist in this line of duty.

Also the differences between men and women should be seen from the differences of the man and woman’s brain structure because certainly there is a great difference that cannot be disregarded. The Cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain that deals with complex analysis and critical thinking, which is connected to the Corpus callosum which connects the two halves of our brains together. Now the main issue here is Corpus callosum is larger with women, which means that women are better at using both sides of their brains at once, no questions asked, unlike men who is so bad at multi-tasking that he can watch television and may forget to listen to anything but the television, this may show why women can do many things at once without growing tired. The Structural differences cause each gender also to have differences in emotions and thinking. In theory men are more focused when it comes to things they need, but women are not, for the sake of clearing things up consider a man and a woman each in need of a new shirt, a man will go to the shop get a shirt and go back home instantly, but a female will go to the shop buy a shirt and get distracted and see other things that she does need and possibly buy it. This may explain why men are better at math and science or well focusing on one issue and why they are more likely to get better results while doing any job that requires extreme focus on one issue, since this genetic build may be seen as a flaw in a woman, but again there are many factors that may be choosen to evaluate differences between men and women.

Gender role theory posits that boys and girls learn the appropriate behavior and attitudes from the family and overall culture they grow up with, and such acquired traits are their manifest their functions in our society.

Equality when it comes to gender, on my point of view is not an issue. The stereotype that man is favored most than women maybe somehow true if we look on the trends with our society. But feminism may have their right to insist that they can do better than men. For me the main issue is how are we people contributes to be a good citizen in our society. Are we using our talents and education in a proper manner or are we part of the juvenile delinquency. Equality on men and women would still be an issue till the next generation, and arguments would still be on discussed by all people. The search for ‘equality’ between ‘men’ and ‘women’ is like a dog chasing its own tail. It will always be out of reach. And the very act of chasing it is costing us a great deal and causing tremendous damage to us.

The solution that we need to seek is not ‘equality’ – because it will never be found. The best that can be hoped for is that people are happy with what is happening. Finally, neither men nor women need to be ‘equal’ to each other in order to be happy with each other

The idea of reflecting on what I have learned thus far is at times a trying struggle for me due to the fact that I habitually contend that I have learned little. Regardless in the end, I am fully aware that I have learned several things about myself and others, the impact of social forces on everyday life, because I have experienced new thoughts, ideas, and insight to new experiences. This paper is a reflection paper from a sociological point of view.

Discussion

According to ( ), sociology is the study of the society and sociologists focus on three primary areas: what holds the society together, what are we, and why there is inequality in the society and its consequences. In the beginning of this course, I had a preconceived notion that people make up society, however, through the course, I discerned that a person cannot survive without socializing, thus, people need society as part of their lives. What I discovered while undertaking this course that absolutely blew my mind about culture was that culture is practiced by a group of individuals who share the same views, beliefs, and so on, and pass it to their generations, and it is not only connected with race. A significant notion that appealed to me since the start of the course was sociological imagination. Before starting the course, I did not even know that such a word existed; however, understanding sociological imagination notably changed my views.

Mills ( ) asserts that sociological imagination is the capacity to see and understand the effect of social factors and changes on the private and public lives of people. Sociological imagination plays a crucial role in the life of a sociologist, because it is only when we have the capacity to look beyond and view the world with a different view, then do we have the power to destroy or escape our traps. In simple words, sociological imagination is the ability, a capacity, a quality of mind, which allows a person to connect and understand his/her life with the social forces and dynamics that affect or impact it. We simply do not view the changes in our lives as being part of the bigger picture; instead we tend to view them as our individual private troubles. Sociological imagination has allowed me to reflect on my life with what surrounds me, and this has made me able to embrace my society and its ways while putting aside my personal problems or issues. Sociological imagination does two tasks fundamentally: differentiating personal problems from public problems, and understanding the intersection of social structure, biography, and history. I acknowledge that as a person, I apply sociological imagination to myself and numerous other elements of my life such as: my socioeconomic status, the structure of my family, gender, and minority status.

Mills ( ) states that individuals are seldom aware of the social forces behind life’s ups and downs. People fail to connect their lives to this bigger picture frequently falling short of coming to the realization that shaping their lives also shapes the society they are in, and it also resolves the historical changes occurring. Just like the way a butterfly flapping its wings can affect the weather, any changes in our lives are liable for historical changes no matter how small they are. Sociological imagination has allowed me to take a critical look at what I have assumed to be true or what I have constantly taken for granted, observe the infinite range of human diversity, and understand the opportunities and constraints that affect my life and to see the strange in the familiar. The latter basically means that we should not restrict ourselves to seeing only what we identify or recognize, however, we should observe what else is present and debunk the situation ( ).

When people see something they are not familiar with, then it should not be observed in a manner as if it was something that they knew, by doing so, people would be able to understand and relate to it instead of simply overlooking the situation. When I initially started my course, I was a bit skeptical and did not expect to understand some of the concepts, but as I continued with my classes, I was able to relate my experiences with the experiences of other people, instead of just focusing on my issues. By doing so, I was able to see the issues the society at large faced and I discerned how I related to me personally and also other people around me.

In order to have an active social imagination, an individual should have the capacity to think from a broader viewpoint and think of how it might affect the society. Looking back, I realize that I have often used the phrase ‘why me’ whenever I am experiencing life’s challenges. However, rather than feeling hopeless whenever things do not go the way I want them to, I have learned to reflect on the factors, which may have led to problem or issue. Without a doubt, things can affect our life’s experiences and we are all aware that the world has changed and undergone several stages.

Therefore, each time is different to the one previously and the one coming after and each time comes with its own elements, which affect our lives in that particular time. It is also important to consider the society that we live in: are the individuals in our society the same as people in an African or Indian society? Do individuals have the same social values, norms, and opinions in each part of the world? It is normally social norms, which affect our personal lives and behavior the most because we all reside in communities, which are part of the society as a whole.

Before embarking on this course, I had a notion in mind entailing the connectedness between individuals all around the globe. And it was quite interesting to have that confirmation that the way we connect in extremely important in our lives today. Connecting to individuals all over the globe through the exportation and importation of products and foods is a way of connection, however, in present contemporary times, people from all over are connected on a more personal level ( ). The internet and technology has given us the capacity to empathize and sympathize with individuals all around the globe. That capacity to connect to others around the world has personally helped me to relate with other people from different cultures than mine, and to relate to their personal problems. In addition to this, when individuals are able of empathy due to global sociological imagination, instrumental changes are more probable.

Personally, I have had numerous preconceived ideas in relation to global sociological imagination and these notions were mutual to the theory. Of course, initially, I was not aware of the concept of sociological imagination and was merely hoping that individuals felt or at times reacted in the same way I reacted to situations. I have found it rather comforting to think of the degree of connections to other people everywhere can help us solve problems, merely due to the connection forged between personal problems and issues.

The first time I experienced racism, I felt that it was a personal issue and as most individuals, I kept pondering on the question ‘why me’, however after reading and comprehending Mill’s theory on sociological imagination, I actually forced myself to think afar and understand the issue in a bigger perspective. Even though it is quite easy to tell a person to think from another person’s viewpoint or to have a social imagination, in reality, it is very challenging to achieve this because, as human beings, we are all born with the penchant of pitying or feeling sorry for ourselves. The result of this is that it holds us down or prevents us from looking at things at a broader perspective; still, as I have learned, it is important to push ourselves so as to attain social imagination.

Looking at the issue of racism that I experienced from a broader perspective, I have come to the realization that because of the harsh times we are all living in, racism is sort of like an inbuilt element in individuals because of the numerous factors like the media, and the manner in which it influences our minds. I have also realized that racism is common in the society because most individuals have been brought up in a way, which teaches them to look down on others or people from other ethnicities. Although grasping this might not have a significant effect on the society as a whole, on a personal level, it has made me feel less trapped and made me understand that being racists was once considered a social norm for some individuals.

Furthermore, I have learned that the way a person views his/her personal troubles affects his/her everyday life. Reflecting back on my life this far, I have realized that the way I handle my personal problems also affects those close to me. Mills ( ) discovered the fact that people function in their personal lives as actresses and actors who make choices about their friends, groups, family, school, work, and other issues within their control. In my earlier days in University, I used to party four nights in a week, at times I rarely attended class and this made me have personal problems, which obviously interfered with my studies. However, making a turn-a-round was easy after I realized the negative effects of these habits, and this made me become a better person and student.

Conclusion

Sociological imagination plays an instrumental role in life, and it is only through it that we have the capacity to look beyond and view everything with a different perspective. Reflecting on my journey since I began the course, I must say that everything that I have learned about sociological imagination has enabled me to have a different view on everything that I personally come across, and whenever I judge a situation, I now attempt to look beyond and try to understand the other side of a problem, before, coming to a conclusion.

The criminal behaviour of Robert Pickton can be examined through the sociological feminist perspective. There are numerous factors throughout Pickton’s life that could have served significantly towards his deviant behaviour. The feeling of male dominance could have led the man to express his anger and superiority on the opposite sex. As a result, this unacceptable behaviour raises confliction between the two genders; this exemplifies a feminist theory of female oppression. Throughout his youthful year, Pickton may have encountered neglect from a female figure, which could have played an influence on the behaviourism of this serial killer. For example, hostile affection from a mother may have caused Pickton to bottle up his anger to the point where he used criminal acts as a release in his elder years. These later acts could be a mirror reflection to the actions of his mother therefore causing him to avenge his past experiences by murdering as many other women as possible.

Taking a look at the Marxist Feminism theory can also serve in sociologically analyzing the behaviour of Robert Pickton. This theory examines the lack of balance in terms of men and women in an economic outlook. Stereotypical roles and class hierarchies divide the two sexes; for example, women are to take on the “housewives” roles whereas men are more of the working money makers. Pickton may have based his attacks on a lower class level than he assumed himself to be in. He was a farmer who produced and well as distributed food to others, yet due to the fact that “many of the women were prostitutes and drug addicts” (CBC News), Pickton clearly picked on this class for a reason. Perhaps he felt that this specific target group was helpless, and had a negative effect on the world. The imbalanced regard to class groups may have numbed Pickton’s feelings of guilt or awareness to the fact that he was murdering countless women uncontrollably. Robert Pickton’s choice of targeting a specific group of women, let alone women in general, goes to show the sociological perspective of feminism in this case.

Psychological Perspective: Psychoanalysis

Thorough psychological analysis of his thinking process, consisting of both his conscious and unconscious mind, can help with focusing on the psychoanalysis of Pickton’s behaviour. The Id, according to Freud, is driven solely by impulses. In the case of Pickton, the impulse was sexual, seeing as the women he murdered were all sex workers. It is only fair to assume that he resorted to these specific women for a specific reason, to satisfy his needs. His sexual impulses led to his Id satisfying them. There is also a chance that Pickton was experiencing internal conflict which led to the outcomes of his decided behaviour. The Id has no care for reality, or the needs of anyone else, merely its own satisfaction.

To continue the analysis of Pickton’s behaviour, we must now take a look at his ego. Considering an ego develops through experience, it is possible that Pickton’s uncontrollable urge to kill women was a result from being neglected in his early years by a motherly figure. Being motivated by unconscious conflicts, Pickton’s ego weakened as his unresolved mental struggle in regards to hatred of an important motherly figure from his youth may have caused his murderous acts. He may have been battling for acceptance or love and lost, hence why afterwards he probably felt in need of retribution against his mother’s rejection. The feeling of betrayal or rejection by a female likely outsourced Pickton’s jealous rage.

Pickton’s super-ego, alike to his ego, can also be seen as weak. This murderer’s conscious had to have been aware that his acts were wrong and socially unacceptable; he chose to disregard the difference between right and wrong as still act out in a poor manner. Additionally, Pickton’s sense of childhood rejection may have caused him to lose trust and view the world as an undependably hopeless place. This mistrust has a direct correlation and affect to his social interaction and his personality. His criminal acts were a mean of expressing the unconscious conflicts that have not been resolved. His superego’s failure to develop is largely due to his inability to identify with his parental figure as well as lack of internalization of parental and social norms, values and morals. Without a fully developed superego, Pickton was missing his conscience and had no empathy for others. The id’s domination of his superego caused it to weaken and easily influence him toward urging violent criminal behaviour. Freudians would characterize Pickton’s behaviour by having a weak ego, absent super-ego and a strong id.

Anthropologic Perspective: Sociocultural Anthropology

Inside on Robert Pickton’s social life can give us an anthropological insight in terms of his behaviour. Going back a few years, it seems as though Robert’s relationships and social interaction were not fully developed. Being rejected in an attempt to build social interactions could definitely have caused Pickton to feel inferior. As this feeling of rejection continued, it developed into anger which he then chose to release through attacking the initial source of it all, women. Due to the women’s clear inability to defend themselves, Pickton matured a sense of superiority which built motivation to continue his attacks.

Growing up, Pickton may have been exposed to excessive amounts of media violence which may have played a toll on his later behaviour. Media has become one of the most powerful weapons in the world. Since society as a whole is our means of expression, Pickton probably became a victim of conformity. The battle of conformity may seem impossible to conquer; it is a battle that will murder an individual’s qualities, and the only way to triumph it is through conscious awareness of its outcome. It is evident that this man is not intact with his conscious, meaning he is either prone to making bad decisions by disregarding their consequences or he was never given taught any better.

Examining Pickton’s targets, female prostitutes, may correlate with his values, morals and also the economic inequalities of women in the society he grew up in. Seeing as his outlook of women was already poor, prostitution may have been another concern of his. Pickton worked on his farm, meaning he performed physical labour in order to earn his living. On the other hand, prostitution in the view of Pickton may have been a career that earned a living off of pleasure rather than pain; this might have been an unfair and morally unacceptable way to earn a living in the eyes of this murderer. From this, the man may have not felt any sympathy for these women, so he decided to indulge his guilt-free attitude in the killing of a specifically characterized group of targets.

Hypothesis for Research of a Serial Killer

To understand the reason for a serial killer’s motives, we must investigate the conscious and unconscious mind by taking a look at the id, ego, and superego. This will help to determine the driving principle of the criminal, the pleasure they were seeking, their ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and the power and development of the id, ego and superego.

Feminists would examine the perspective of women and their rights within a society, particularly one dominated by men. Social systems, structures and issues in relevance to women will be put to the grand focus.

Structural functionalists regard crime as a necessary and constant part of society. In a given society, the majority of people identify, acknowledge and adhere to a shared set of moral guidelines and rules through legal punishment and public offense. Crime is crucial to society because it sets the legal system and develops a shared set of moral guidelines. A drastic increase in criminal behaviour loses people’s trust and cohesion. Yet, unusual decreases in crime sets the impression that people have no individuality or freedom, as well as do not share moral guidelines to differentiate between right and wrong. Therefore, the stability of a crime rate has a direct relation to the health of a society. We must also take a look at the survival of society and how criminals become outcasts to the structural norms. One’s inability to recognize their place in society, creating an uncertain status, may cause them to deviate from what is acceptable socially.

When conducting research on a serial killer, one must explore and gain insight on the psychoanalytic, feminist, and functionalist perspectives. The collaboration of these perspectives will allow for a thorough understanding in terms of a criminals urge for multiple killings.

The social facts surround us everywhere and affect our lives. To begin with, the social fact is a single, socially significant event or a set of homogeneous events that are typical for some areas of social life, or specific to certain social processes. The main attributes of the social facts are their independence, objective existence, and their coercive nature, i.e. an ability to exert the external pressure on the individual. It is a collective representation of the facts or a collective consciousness. The social facts are a course of actions, ways of thinking and feeling that exist outside the individual (i.e. objectively). These factors possess the normative coercive power in relation to him/her. Into the acknowledgement of the above stated information about social facts it is necessary to add that according to Faraganis (2000), “by a social fact, Durkheim (as a person who defined the social fact in sociology) is referring to facts, concepts, expectations that come not from individual responses and preferences, but that come from the social community which socializes each of its members. Although we might embrace the normative community behavior and share its values, we are constrained by its very existence.”

The main purpose of this work is to reveal a sociological explanation about a social fact. Among different social facts, it is possible to emphasize the pathological social fact associated with the social problems, which is called suicide. The term suicide is related to the social fact because it is a single public event, typically for one or another sphere of real life. The suicide rate is one of the most important sociological exponents of the society’s well-being. Global science has been already established that the act of suicide accumulated a number of the factors: social, economic, political, philosophical, psychological, and religious.

The rate of suicide in Canada is historically similar to or slightly higher than in the USA. Around 3800 suicides occur in Canada each year.

Suicide is a deliberate act of removal from life under the influence of acute traumatic situations in which life itself loses its meaning for humans. Suicidal can be called any external or internal activity, sent by a desire to take his/her own life. People who commit suicide usually suffer from a severe mental pain or are under stress and a sense of inability to cope with their problems. They often suffer from mental illness, especially major depression, and look ahead without any hope.

Suicidal behavior is the suicidal activity’s manifestation that includes the suicide attacks, attempts and manifestations.

Thus, a situation when death is caused by people who may not be aware of their actions or control them, and as a result of a person’s negligence are not related to suicide, but to the accidents.

There are three main types of suicidal behavior: true suicide, demonstrative suicide and hidden suicide.

The true suicide is never spontaneous, though sometimes it looks quite unexpected. Such a suicide is always preceded by depressed mood, depression, or just thinking about leaving this life. Sometimes, even the closest people do not notice this person’s condition (especially if you frankly do not want it). It is obvious that in many cases true suicide is a result of prolonged depression. And any depression is characterized by a focus on past, not the future. The man on the verge of true suicide somehow appeals to the past, clinging to it, but cannot find the picture of own future. Therefore, the “risk group” for suicides includes teenagers and old people.

The main part of the suicides is nothing but an attempt to engage in dialogue: only, of course, that’s so unique and totally unsuitable for this method. Most suicides usually do not want to die, but they kill themselves only in order to reach out to someone, pay attention to their problems, to call for help. The psychiatrists often call this phenomenon “demonstrative suicide.” Researchers stated that propensity to demonstrative suicide sometimes seen as a specific way of manipulation.

The hidden suicide is the destiny of those who understand that suicide is not the most dignified way to solve the problem, but nevertheless other way again cannot be found. These people do not choose an open withdrawal from life on their own, but they choose so-called “due to suicidal behavior.” For example, this is risky driving behaviors, exercises in extreme sports or dangerous business, and volunteer trips to hot spots, and even drug addiction.

Among the major problems of modern Suicidology, the most relevant problems are the features of suicidal behavior associated with alcohol and drugs, the role of family and loneliness factors in the genesis of suicidal behavior and the problem of mental disease and suicide. In any suicide situation, there are usually two operating entities: the person who is thinking about suicide and his/her surroundings, or a specific person with whom he or she somehow tries to establish a dialogue. The increased suicide risk factors can be divided into extra-and intrapersonal. Extra personal suicide risk factors include: psychosis and borderline mental disorders; suicidal statements, repeated suicidal acts; post suicide; adolescence; extreme, especially so-called marginal living conditions; loss of prestige; conflict traumatic situation; drunkenness, drug use. Intrapersonal suicide risk factors can be identified: idiosyncrasies; reduced tolerance to emotional stress and frustrating factors; inadequacy of communication systems; inadequate (overstated, understated or unstable) self-esteem; lack or loss of targets or values underlying the basis of life, etc.

There are the features of suicide, which include: the desire to be alone is natural and normal for every person. But beware, when closed, the isolation become deep and long, when a person withdraws into himself, eschews the former friends and allies. Each of us is naughty from time to time. This condition can be caused by weather, well-being, fatigue, office or family problems, etc. But when a person’s mood almost every day varies between the excitation and decay, there is cause for alarm. There are strong evidences that these emotional fluctuations are the harbingers of death. Depression is a deep emotional decline, which is showed in everyone differently. Some people become isolated, but at the same time, they disguise their feelings so well that it is impossible to notice the changes in their behavior. The only way in such cases is a direct and open conversation with a man. This is a proven fact that a lot of acts of suicide are caused by anger, rage, and cruelty to others. An absence or, conversely, abnormally increased appetite are closely linked to self-destruction thoughts and should always be considered to be a criterion for the potential hazards. In addition to the above-mentioned information, it is necessary to add that “aˆ¦ alcohol and drug use disorders have been found to be strongly related to suicide risk” (Ilgen, et. al, 2011).

People, who plan their suicide, hand out their own things to family, friends, or relatives. As experience shows, this sinister campaign is a direct forerunner of a coming disaster. In each case, it is recommended to have a serious and frank conversation with that person in order to clarify the intentions of potential suicides.

The reasons for suicide are complex and numerous. The reasons can be sought in biological, genetic, psychological and social spheres of a person. Despite the fact that people usually commit suicide in extreme situations, such as divorce, loss of work or study, most experts suggest that it is rather a reason to commit suicide than its cause.

Most people who kill themselves suffer from depression, which often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Since depression often underlies suicide, the study of the causes of depression can help scientists to understand the causes of suicide. “About 90% of suicides occur in persons with a clinically diagnosable psychiatric disorder” (Tondo, et. al., 2011).

Despite the fact that some studies suggest that suicides of famous people can play an exemplary role model, especially among teenagers, this point of view is not fully proven. However, there is some evidence that the famous people’s suicides can be a powerful incentive to others’ suicides, especially among those in the range of 13 to 19 years. In addition, the causes of teen suicides are poverty, family relationships and with their peers, alcohol and drugs, unrequited love, experienced in childhood abuse, social isolation, mental disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and so on. The number of suicides among young people has increased over the last decade. It is not superfluous to mention that early marriages do not save young people (aged 15-19) from the risk of suicide. This is primarily due to the fact that “young” marriages are more likely an attempt, not always successful, to solve some other, unrelated to marriage problems, for example, get rid of the unbearable situation in family.

Taking everything into account, it is possible to conclude that suicide is the result of the personality’s social – psychological disadaptation in modern society. Psychological crises arise as a result of the intimate, family and personal, social and creative conflicts. In order to avoid the manifestation of suicidal behavior, it is necessary to provide people, especially teenagers with social support by including family, school, friends, etc. It is useful to carry out socio-psychological training issues, provide individual and group lessons to raise self-esteem, development of an adequate relationship to self, empathy, to increase self-control, replacement of “significant others”, to develop the motivation in order to achieve success. It can be based on the behavioral skills’ trainings.