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Summarise and critically evaluate the article (Brannen, J & Nilsen, A 2002) “young people’s time perspectives” focusing on; A) Its conceptual and theoretical framework and B) Its methodology and approach to evidence.

The Author Brennan’s history includes her being a professor in Sociology for the University of London. She has written books and researched in on topics relating to gender and families with young people and children. She also co-edits, the International Journal of Social Research Methodology: theory and practice. The co-author history included Nilsen being a professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen in Norway. She has researched in topic’s relating to women’s life course, biographical methods and time and environmental sociology. She is also the co-editor of the Journal of Psychology. The article under discussion examines three bodies of theory: individualization, the life course, and concepts of time. It cross-examines these theories with respect to the following questions: how young people speak about the future; the bearing of young people’s situations and time perspectives upon the way they envisage the transition to adulthood. Empirical data is taken from five different European countries and material from focus group discussions and interviews are conducted with young people taken from west-European countries, Britain and Norway. They analyzed variations in young peoples’ ways of thinking about their future lives, and propose, as a basis for further research, three ideal typical models.

The concepts include Nowotneys concept of “extended present, which is the notion of planning for the future, which may be altered by the experiences of the present”. It is has been stated by Sennett 1998, that a shift from linear concept of time can mean people no longer try to predict the future and the notions of planning loses its meaning, Brannen and Nilsen have scrutinized all the theories and concepts mentioned.

The purpose of their article was to begin to develop a language of description (Bernstein 1996) for representing and interpreting the nuances and diversity in young people’s orientation to adulthood which may be applied and modified in future research.

They aimed to look at theories of life course processes and wanted to observe how young people think and speak about the future. The cross national study “young people’s orientation to the future reconciliation of employment and family life”, This initial cross-national analyses focus was on young peoples view’s of future in general and did not set out explicitly to examining the future in general, neither or their conceptualizations of time. There work related to another parallel study carried out with interviewing Norwegian men and women, (Nilsen, and Brannen 2002).

The study method included 12 focus groups with three different groups for interviews; they tried to make each group as alike in terms of demographics as possible, however theory did not discuss what measures of precaution they took. The groups were divided by education and training levels, by occupational level, and by those in manual or while collar jobs. Questions about merging employment and family life were for most young people at the time of interview were hypothetical. The study was not concentrating on the issues such as time perspectives and theories linking to it, thus they were not able to examine methodically the interactions of gender, age and social class to the three models thinking about the future. The explicit focus of the study was on future reconciliation or employment and family responsibilities. Nilsen and Brannen were interested in gathering a qualitative approach. They did not however take into consideration the time scale was short and the research funding was low, there lack of planning and budgeting was thus seen. They explained further that is when the aim of when they decided to change it from a qualitative approach to an exploratory one. They employed focus groups ranging from 3-10 people. They do however agree to that fact that it is not justifiable, in which focus group methodology can generalize about young people to produce biographical material. They further stated that as well as focus groups, interviews were conducted with selected young people aged 18-30 however they did not provide evidence and document the findings in the article, which leads to questions of the purpose of such interviews.

They talked about the theoretical perspectives including in the Individualisation theory (Beck 1992, 1994; Beck-Gernsheim, 1995; Giddens, 1991, 1994). This theory holds the idea that the processes remove structural separations of gender, social class and age. The assertion that individual choices become more important and the choice biography replaces the standard biography 1996. This theory has received much speculation, by Beck, Giddens 1994, Bauman 1998a, and Nowotney 1994. The “extended present” which takes account of “choice biography” and suggest it is untried as argued by Brannen and Nilsen that the way people pass through the transition to adulthood is prejudiced by their experiences of time. Brannen and Nilsen’s came to the conclusion of explaining there findings through proposing, three models. Brannen and Nilsen looked at three theories, 1) Individualization, 2) The life course 3) concepts of time. The models they obtained suggested a larger range in ways of thinking and planning for the future than the individualization theories. They attempted to apply theory to empirical data. They stated they were looking for a qualitative approach which then talked above exploratory, which leads the reader feeling a bit baffled. They compared the findings form both countries of Norway and England. They have put forward three models in the conclusions, model of Deferment, the model of Adaptability and the model of Predictability. There work carries no internal or external validity, when a test has content validity; the items on the test represent the entire range of possible items the test should cover. Individual test questions may be drawn from a large pool of items that cover a broad range of topics, however in Nilsen and Brannen study this was not the case.

Brannen and Nilsen stated that young people were chosen as young people focus on time, a feature of social experience which has been ignored in empirical research. Brannen and Nilsen have put forward three ideal typical ways that have been identified in and applied to new material. One of the models of deferment, they have presented a critical case of younger women consider adulthood in looser terms, than the women in the second group the model of adaptability. From their findings they did report that imposing a dichotomy upon peoples lives in terms of either the “choice biography” is too simplistic. Brannen and Nilsen did not agree with other researchers they argued looking at their own models that a greater array of though processes and planning for the future in comparison to Individualization thesis “choice Biography”. They proposed that there are many factors affecting time orientations; these include the opportunity structures of education and training which have influence for employment aspirations. They argue that the complex material of social, cultural and discursive resources available or not, to young people together with the way young people adjust themselves in time, lead to construction of their identities .Brannen and Nilsen focus was differing from the cross-national analyses published by Brannen et al 2002. In that study the focus was on examining the view of the future in general neither or their conceptualizations of time. This article presented draws on a separation of cases from Norwegian and British seeking to apply to theories in time .At the end of the study all participants should have been given a full debrief, it is not clear from their article if this was carried out or not. All study participants should be told about procedures and any potential risks he confidentiality must also be maintained. They explained that the life course is no longer so clearly gendered .They researched that the decline of unskilled and semi skilled jobs in Britain and Norway led to led to men holding adult responsibilities at the same time as pursuing their youth, however women expected to have a job first then go down the route of motherhood, Brannen et al 1997. They also found that youth as a period of preparation for adulthood is going through change (Furlong and Cartmet ). The sources the authors used included their own research areas and past research that they had carried out. (Brannen and Moss, Owen Wale 1997, also Brannen and Nilsen and Smithson 2002; Also from Nilsen’s 1998, and 1999 studies).This article appears to be an extension of the areas of attention brought forward from past research experiments. The rhetoric and style of the article seems to be quite informal and loosely structured. Although some areas of their experimental explanations are clear, other areas are quite unclear with regard to the methodology and gathering of data. As a reader one is not convinced of their findings as they are qualitative and can not draw generalization to the wider public. Cultural issues were not considered in the countries studied carried out in, it is difficult to generalize the findings from cross-national studies, as every country to some degree has their own cultural patterns in youth to adulthood. In total they reported five countries were studies however he results qualitative that they may have been, was not mentioned. Other countries studied were not talked about a great deal nor the results discussed. Their study held no concurrent validity, construct validity or any predictive validity, as no tests were employed

The intended audience to receive the data and outcomes of this research can be interpreted as the government and large organizations, as their focus was orientations over time, this would be beneficial to know. Also Cross-national studies lead to practical implications. The observations made can lead to a comparison of the employment/ education levels along with areas that each of the countries studies .This information is useful in the knowing which country is economically developing, along with attitudes of the public.

Bibliography:

Brannen & Nilsen 2002, a ‘Young People’s Time Perspectives: From Youth to adulthood. 2002.

Falmer 2000. Connecting children and family life in later childhood, Routledge

D. C. Howell 2002. Statistical Methods for Psychology, 5th edition, Duxbury/Thomson Learning.

Weiner, I., 2003. Handbook of Psychology. New York, NY: Wiley

1

Can People Choose their Identity? Discuss in Relation to the Media

This question raises two issues that are currently at the forefront of political and social debate – namely those of publicly displaying a belonging to a particular culture or society, and the ideological notion of choice. In addressing the question of choosing our cultural identity we have to establish what we understand by the term ‘cultural identity’ and, secondly, if we (as individuals) are able to freely choose an identity. For the purpose of this discussion I will attempt to unpack what is meant by the catch-all term ‘cultural identity; and also if it is something that can be ascribed to a person or if, indeed, a cultural identity is indelibly inscribed.

Of course the idea that an individual is born to a certain set of social and cultural values has not been taken seriously since the advent of cognitive and behavioural theories of human socialisation. In fact use to the term national identity had been appropriated to cover these reductive descriptions. The debate surrounding cultural identity is often conflated with that of the construction of national identity, and in some cases a cultural identity comes from an association with a specific national identity, for example Irishness with a rigid set of conventions that determine the individual as different from being English, or even British.

The words culture and nation can have wide ranging definitions depending on the context in which they are used. They are complex terms in their own right, and Raymond Williams has written a definition of what culture is, he states ‘the complexity, …, is not finally in the word but in the problems which its variations of use significantly indicate’ (Williams 1976:92). In order to set the terms of reference for this discussion a cultural identity is more fluid than a national identity. Anderson has stated in his definition of a nation, ‘it [a nation] is an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign’ (Anderson 1991:6). The nation state is imagined by its population as it is not possible for individuals to know all the members of that state, it therefore only exists as an imaginary construct within the individual.

The human individual is a complex mixture of social and behavioural experiences and these factors are often obtained through socialisation within the family; social influences gained through friends and school; gender; and influence from various forms of mass media.

First and foremost it is familial and social influences that determine our sense of identity. It is through the primary socialisation from our parents that a person develops a sense of the self and with it a consciousness of who and what they are. An individual begins to position her/himself in relation to other people who they know and have contact with. This environment is similar to that observed by Bourdieu who used the term ‘habitus’. He wrote ‘the habitus is both the generative principle of objectively classifiable judgements and the,system of classification…of these practices’ (Bourdieu 1984:170). This definition returns to the relationship between class and capital in the construction of a sense of the self, and the spaces occupied by that individual. The habitus can describe a place or space that a person feels comfortable inhabiting on a regular basis. For instance as a student I feel that my habitus is the university. This is a place where I feel that I belong to a wider community (of students) who have common interests and goals in their lives. The habitus may also be a location in which social conformity is necessary in order to be a part of that community. I am thinking here of dressing and talking in a certain way, acting or behaving.

The habitus applies equally to gang culture. These are sub-cultures that have their own hierarchies and rules that must be followed in order for a member to remain a part of it. The fact that many of these rules are dysfunctional, for example initiation into that gang through violent or anti-social behaviour, is irrelevant. Bike gangs such as Hells Angels display these rigid rules whereby the identity of a member is determined by the wearing of group’s name along with the Hells Angels logo. Such has been the spread of this culture it is globally recognised as indicative of a particular cultural identity enjoyed by its members. This type of culture is typified by an association with certain objects, and in the case of Hells Angels motorcycles are the outward unifying signifiers. Members of this sub-culture have chosen this as their cultural identity – their machines, clothes, tattoos define who they are. And as with many sub-cultures membership is an act of public opposition to the dominant culture from which they emerged.

Gang culture provides us with some easy to spot visual indicators of belonging to a particular culture. Other forms of cultural identity can be harder to unravel without providing a reductive account of that culture, for instance one based on race or religion. The most important factor that affects cultural identity is the mass media (film and television).

The visual media have become an intrinsic part of the way we live our lives – mainly through the consumption of goods and services. Tomlinson (1989) has referred to a diachronic and synchronic way in which culture has developed over time. The former refers to a linear, historical form of evolution whereby one thing follows another. However in the contemporary image saturated world synchronic cultural development has taken place. Images are used in order to make meaning. One image relates to another but not necessarily in a linear and consequential manner. Styles can then be forged that are based on samples from other styles, resulting in meaning being derived from pure simulacra (Baudrillard 1982). This notion of the image breaks the linkage between sign and signifier and consequently changes the way in which we make meaning from images. The argument states that in a world dominated by signifiers (images) the concept of truth becomes meaningless as there is no such thing as a single truth or reality, a person can take what they want from images and that becomes a truth personal to the individual.

In this way rap culture has taken this direction. It has taken other forms of representation in popular culture (such as soul music, rapping, reggae/dance hall) and produced something that has been socially radical for African Americans but has now become a global cultural identity for many people; an identity disseminated through television and film. In some ways the music has been appropriated by social groups to provide a cement for their identity. This has been evidenced by the use of jewellery, clothing, and speech. However although this is more of a general presence in social settings it is not true to say that rap is a cultural identity – it forms a part in the construction of a cultural identity, an identity that is also in opposition to mainstream white, male dominated culture. But can a white, Anglo-Saxon person be a part of this identity? Performers have tried, for example Vanilla Ice and Eminem, but they are active in the production and consumption of a good to be bought and sold. It is not the culture of rap, but the image (or rather the sound) that is being sold. The distinction between a cultural identity and a marketable product becomes strained at this point. The role of television and film in promoting products (music, clothes, cosmetics) and something that has a cultural resonance to an audience reduces an identity to a mere commodity.

Gender roles are also affected by the adoption of certain forms of cultural identity. The rap/hip-hop culture has been criticised for the way in which women are portrayed. In quite vulgar ways women are portrayed as chattels and appendages to be worn like jewellery. This can be seen in music videos, lyrics in songs, and the language used by people who adopt this kind of life-style. But this is not only about representation, this kind of behaviour from women, as sex objects, is expected and it is a role that some women are expected to play out. So if females are to be a part of this identity they have to conform to a set of conventions that are regressive in their treatment as individuals and further compounds their status as secondary to men. In areas where particular cultural activities are dominant, then there is not necessarily the option of choice. If one lives in that community then one must behave in the way expected or be shunned by your contemporaries.

The mass media are implicit in a process of ‘cultural imperialism’ (Tomlinson 1989) and promoting forms of street culture is a further extension of this process. Tomlinson put forward the argument that the global proliferation of television through satellite broadcasting and the selling of programme output at below cost has resulted in a homogenisation of culture throughout the world. Television can be accessed anywhere in the world and the social and moral values contained within this programming are spread to areas of the world where it previously did not have any influence. Not only does cultural imperialism pose a threat to indigenous cultures but selling programming cheaply makes it difficult for national broadcasters to make their own material, produced and performed by local people. The idea, then, of choosing your cultural identity is obscured by the influence of international mass media through the promotion of music, clothes, video games, and popular cultural forms like film.

Sport is one example of how cultural identity can be promoted and displayed in public, but it too raises some anomalies. During the recent cricket matches between England and Pakistan a reporter from BBC Radio 4 interviewed a group of British Asians and asked them who they were supporting. All of them supported Pakistan in the cricket, but then qualified it by saying they would support the England football team. Maybe this kind of poll shows more of people wishing to support favourites than any kind of partisan interest. However it does reveal that children of people from other countries who were born and educated in their adopted country show some ambivalence towards so called cultural identity. This identity can then be forged through the influence of mass media. In the time since Tomlinson wrote about cultural imperialism the volume and choice of television output has risen. There are many more niche channels catering for specific interests; international channels can be received such as those on the Asian Star satellite network. Access to this variety of material gives opportunity to sample images from different parts of the world, and children who have never left their adopted country experience sights and language vicariously and not just from their parents.

In a sense there is some element of choice in selecting a cultural identity, but that is also contingent upon one’s own social and ethnic origins. However the definitions of the terms culture and nation dictate the complexity of the subsequent debate. The sociological study performed by Bourdieu (1984) comes closest within the limitations of this discussion. Cultural identity can also be seen as a particular life-style, one that is fuelled by the influences of the mass media, but also one that is influenced by social class, ethnicity, and the interests of capital. Indeed there are elements of choice to be made within particular life-styles but cultural identity cannot be selected and commodified as if it exists in a catalogue.

Bibliography

Adorno, Theodor.W (1972), ‘The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception’, in The Dialectic of Enlightenment (U.K: Herder and Herder).

Anderson, Benedict (1991) Imagined Communities (London: Verso)

Baudrillard, Jean (1983), Simulations, translated by Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman (New York: Semiotext (e)).

Bourdieu, Pierre (1984) Distinction – social critique of the judgement of taste (London: Routledge)

Tomlinson, John (1991) Cultural Imperialism (London: Pinter)

Williams, Raymond (1976) Keywords (London: Fontana Press)

Much has been written in the social sciences with regard to the role the education system plays within our society. Early investigations into the sociology of education tended to be written within the functionalist tradition with social thinkers such as Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons composing their theories within this framework. This perspective often viewed the education system as necessary for sustaining efficient economic growth and for creating a meritocratic society – a society where the most talented and able individuals can rise through the social hierarchy according to their own ability. However, in recent years, social scientists have found the Marxist perspective more useful in understanding the connection between education, society and the economy. This perspective in general sees society as being a site of conflict between different groups; with education being another battleground where this conflict is acted out. The main function of education then in this context is to continue to reproduce the labour force. But more importantly that the education system favours and will benefit one social group over another – namely the dominant and ruling class over the subordinate. This is perhaps a crude oversimplification of the Marxist case but it is important to have some understanding of this perspective with regard to education as this is the academic context in which Learning to Labour (1977) was undertaken. It is within this perspective that much of this essay will focus, as indeed it is the theoretical framework that Paul Willis is writing from. The aim of this paper is to critically engage with the themes and perspectives presented by Willis in his groundbreaking study on the sociology of education.

Before we go on to discuss Learning to Labour it is perhaps important to start with some understanding of what came before; so as to highlight how Willis’ findings broke new ground and pushed the debate around education forward. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976) were writing just before Willis and their approach was very similar in that the thrust of their thesis was concerned with how education prepares pupils for their future roles within the labour market. However, their theories were very much formulated around the notion of ‘direct reproduction’ and because of this they have exposed themselves to the usual criticisms of economic determinism. Willis offers a more sophisticated explanation. Although he acknowledges the existence of conflict within education he does not quite share Bowles and Gintis’ view that there exists a straight forward relationship between education and the economy. For Willis, schools are not nearly as successful in churning out a docile workforce as Bowels and Gintis suggest. There is always the opportunity for resistance. The ‘lads’ of Learning to Labour have managed to see through the ideological ‘smoke screen’ of the school and reject it, while at the same time creating their own ‘counter-school culture’. The education system then is not simply a site for cultural reproduction but also a site of production; in that it has quite unintentionally created factors (in this case the counter-school culture) which are not particularly beneficial for the reproduction of capitalism.

The school used by Willis is situated in a working class housing estate in an industrial town in the Midlands. Willis concentrated his study on a group of 12 working-class boys whom he followed through their last year of school and into the first few months at work. Willis soon found that these boys, who he referred to as the ‘lads’, had a distinct attitude towards their teachers and the school. Willis observed that they had developed their own unique culture which was diametrically opposed to the value system of the school. This counter-school culture of the ‘lads’ blatantly rejected the authority of the school and ascribed no value to academic work and saw no use in the gaining of qualifications.

Now it is important to understand what Willis means by the counter-school culture. The acknowledgement of an emergent counter-culture within the school is not in itself new (see Hargreaves, D. 1967) but what is significant about the way Willis uses this idea is that he examines the counter-culture within its wider social context. He quite brilliantly observes that the counter-school culture is “not accidental, nor its style quite independent, nor its cultural skills unique or special” and that it must be understood within the larger framework of working-class culture, particularly in relation to shopfloor culture. For Willis, the counter-school culture is rich with symbols and signs of resistance against the formal zone of the school. The ‘lads’ have, in a symbolic act of sabotage, inverted the values that the school espouses and created their own value system which is in defiant opposition to the institution. This opposition is mainly countenanced through style, Willis notes:

It [the counter-school culture] is lived out in countless small ways which are special to the school institution, instantly recognised by the teachers, and an almost ritualistic part of the daily fabric of life for the kids. (Willis, P. 1977:12)

The counter-school culture is a very masculine domain where overt sexist and racist views are quite frequently expressed. The ‘lads’ continually search out weakness in others and are skilful at undermining the authority of the teachers without it boiling over into outright confrontation. The conformist students are the ‘lads’ main target after the teachers. The ‘lads’ feel superior to them because they, unlike the ‘ear’oles’, have not surrendered their independence to the school – they are still able to have a ‘laff’.

It is this ability of being able to have a ‘laff’ that is a defining characteristic of being a ‘lad’. It also marks them out from the ‘ear’oles’: “we can make them laff, they can’t make us laff”. For Willis the ‘laff’ “is a multi-faceted implement of extraordinary importance in the counter-school culture” and is a vital weapon in the ‘lads’ arsenal in their continued struggle of the informal (counter-school) over the formal (school). This winning of symbolic and physical space from the school is illustrated further in the way that the ‘lads’ seem to construct their own timetable. Through ‘wagging off’ from classes and always trying to get away with doing the least amount of work, the ‘lads’ have become highly skilled in exploiting and seizing control of the formal zone of the school. Cigarette smoking and openly drinking have also become valuable symbols of rebellion as it further marks the ‘lads’ out from the school institution and instead shows them as belonging to the larger male working-class world. Indeed Willis draws our attention to the similarities between the counter-school culture and shopfloor culture. He writes:

The really central point about the working-class culture of the shopfloor is that, despite harsh conditions and external direction, people do look for meaning and impose frameworks. They exercise their abilities and seek enjoyment in activity, even where most controlled by other. They do, paradoxically, thread through the dead experience of work a living culture which is far from a simple reflex of defeat. This is the same fundamental taking hold of an alienating situation as one finds in counter-school culture and its attempt to weave a tapestry through the dry institutional text. (Willis, P. cited in Blackledge & Hunt 1985:184)

When the ‘lads’ reach the end of their final term and the prospect of work awaits them they remain indifferent to the type of manual unskilled labour they will go on to do. They understand that most manual work in industry is basically the same; very little skill is required and offers no satisfaction. The best the ‘lads’ can hope for is an apprenticeship or clerical work, however “such jobs seem to offer little but take a lot”. Although the ‘lads’ might not be able to articulate it, in some respects they do have some understanding of the workings of capitalism. Willis calls these insights ‘penetrations’, where the ‘lads’ have been able to see through the ideological fog created by the capitalist system. An example of this is present in the way that the counter-school culture places no value in the attainment of qualifications through certificates. The conformist student may be convinced by education’s meritocratic facade and the promise of upward mobility but the ‘lads’ know better, they are aware that “a few can make itaˆ¦the class can never follow”. They understand that individual success will not ultimately change the position of the working-class, and that only through the collective action of the group will this be achieved. This is articulated by the ‘lads’ in the way that they place an important emphasis on loyalty within the group, as Willis observes “the essence of being ‘one of the lads’ lies with the group”. The group always comes first and the rejection of qualifications is a rejection of the individualistic nature of the school, which creates competition between class mates with the proliferation of individual awards through exams. As Willis puts it: “aˆ¦it is unwise for working-class kids to place their trust in diplomas and certificates. These things act not to push people up – as in the official account – but to maintain there those who are already at the top” (Willis, 1977:128).

Although they may have some understanding of capitalism, Willis contends that while some ‘penetrations’ have been made the ‘lads’ still have not fully seen through all of capitalism’s ideological justifications. They do not possess a complete overview of how capitalism works to exploit them. In some respects the ‘lads’ are unwitting conspirators in their own exploitation in that they are far too willing to enter the world of manual work; and in doing so they enter an exploitative system which will ultimately entrap them. Their attitude towards women and ethnic minorities is also destructive. They serve only to divide the working-class making it that much easier to control. For Willis then, “it is quite wrong to picture working-class culture or consciousness optimistically as the vanguard in the great march towards rationality and socialism”.

The ‘lads’ of Learning to Labour may have realised their own alienation but ultimately it is their own decisions which have trapped them in these exploitative jobs. Willis has tried to make it clear that rather than being a site for the reproduction of one dominant ideology; the school can be a place where contradictory ideologies come together in conflict. With this study Willis shows us that it is the ‘lads’ resistance to school, with the forming of a counter-school culture, that has prepared them for their future roles within the labour force. Their indifference to school and their behaviour in class has paradoxically prepared the ‘lads’ for the manual unskilled work which they will go on to do. So in this sense education does reproduce the labour force required by capitalism. But it is done not directly and perhaps unintentionally – and most importantly of all; not without a degree of resistance and struggle.

The counter-school culture of the ‘lads’, as we have seen, is not beneficial to the reproduction of capitalism, but at the same time it is not particularly harmful. Willis has shown that reproduction is not a simple process with external economic structures manipulating submissive subjects. He is very critical of these structuarlist accounts. As he says: “Social agents are not passive bearers of ideology, but active appropriators who reproduce existing structures only through struggle, contestation and a partial penetration of those structures”.

Paul Willis’ ethnographic investigation has been hailed a landmark study by educators and social theorist alike (Giddens 1984, McRobbie 1978). Indeed any detailed discussion on the sociology of education, subcultures or even deviancy within society would seem redundant if there was no reference to Learning to Labour. One writer has remarked that Willis “has provided the model on which most subsequent cultural studies investigation within education has been based”. However, this does not mean that he is exempt from criticism.

David Blackledge and Barry Hunt (1985) take issue with a number Willis’ conclusions. Firstly they find some of his evidence unconvincing – can the ‘lads’ really be representative of the working-class in general? All the pupils at the school are from working-class families including the ‘ear’oles’ (who are clearly in the majority); surely they are more representative of working-class values and attitudes. Blackledge and Hunt argue that the values of the conformist students, with their emphasis on academic work, are as much working-class in nature as those of the counter-culture. To support this claim they point to a similar study by David Hargreaves (1967) in which he found a significant delinquent sub-culture existing in a secondary school. Like the school of Willis’ study, the pupils where predominantly working-class (their fathers were in manual occupations) and he observed that the school was divided into two sub-cultures: the ‘delinquescent’ and the ‘academic’. However, unlike Willis, Hargreaves does note that there can be a blurring of the two categories with some students within the academic group displaying delinquent behaviour from time to time. But more importantly Hargreaves maintains that the attitudes of the academic group are consistent with the values of a large section of the working-class. So in this light Blackledge and Hunt remain unconvinced that the values of the ‘lads’ are the same as the working-class as a whole. They also have trouble excepting the ‘simple dichotomy’ which is at the heart of this study – that there exists just two main groups, the ‘lads’ and the ‘ear’oles’. For them this does not really do justice to the diversity of the real world in that “[Willis] would have us believe in a one-dimensional world in which there are those who want an education, and those who enjoy life. It never seems to occur to him that these pursuits can be combined, and that the person who takes an interest in his or her education is not, thereby, dull, obsequious and a social conformist”.

Despite these criticisms Learning to Labour has remained an influential and much discussed text. In fact despite being written from a cultural studies perspective its influence is particularly strong within sociology. It is within Marxism that its significance has been most far reaching however. It has encouraged Marxist writers to re-evaluate their approach to the understanding of education; paying specific attention to the different factors at play instead of providing simplistic explanations of the role of education within society. Willis is very critical of structuarlist accounts which have a tendency to see subjects as “passive bearers of ideology” who mindlessly reproduce the status-quo. Willis has given social agents the ability to reject the dominant ideological discourses and to resist in the reproduction of existing exploitative structures. Learning to Labour has sometimes been described as a pessimistic book but I can not help but bring a positive interpretation to the text. It is true that ultimately it is the ‘lads’ own choices that lead them to some of the most exploitative jobs that capitalism has to offer. But by simply having that choice it does allow for the possibility of change. As Willis himself says “there is always the possibility of making practices not inevitable by understanding them”. This, I would argue, is the key thread which runs through Learning to Labour; by understanding the reasons for the forming of a counter-school culture can we bring about positive changes which will be beneficial to everyone and not just the ‘lads’.

Perhaps Willis is guilty of using too many Marxist terms uncritically. The way he employs the category of social class within Learning to Labour is maybe a little outdated now. It is not a stable, fixed construct – it is more fluid than Willis allows for with an interlinking between race and gender etc. Similarly at times he is arguably guilty of slipping back into traditional Marxist territory with the idea of the state being subservient to capitalist class – is that still (if it ever was) the reality? Within a globalised world power is more dispersed and not concentrated in the hands of one ruling bloc; but instead there are perhaps different organised groups competing for power. Economic and informational ‘flows’ can freely transcend national boundaries – it is argued (Giddens 1994) that globalisation has acted to decentralise power preventing any one group from wielding too much economic and ideological control. However, it is to the credit of Paul Willis that his investigation has remained relevant and important twenty-eight years after it was first published. It is still considered a model example of ethnographic research and has encouraged many other ethnographic studies whose emphasis was on style, resistance and cultural symbols (See McRobbie 1978, Hebdige 1979). Indeed, Anthony Giddens’ (1984) structuration theory – which sees subjects as knowledgeable and active agents – owes a considerable debt to the insights made by Willis in Learning to Labour.

As a standpoint feminist, Patricia Hill Collins continuously argues that feminist studies should be practiced from the standpoint of women or particular groups of women who are not as egocentric to think they understand certain aspects of the world. Because of the differences that women have, many standpoint feminist now recognize this division of women and how it is impossible to claim one universal experience for women. Sexism occurs so miraculously that it is important to view it in relation to other systems of domination and analyze how it interacts with other classes in Collins “matrix of domination”. Collins does this through the thought of black feminist point of view.

Collins is embedded in this idea that despite long standing claims by aristocrats; women, African Americans, Latinos, and other downgraded groups in America remain incapable of producing the type of analytical thought that is labeled as a feminist theory. People with powerful knowledge of resistance trampled former social structures of social and cultural inequality abandon this view. Members of these downgraded groups do in fact theorize and our critical social theory has been central to political empowerment and the search for justice. This led to Collins publishing Black Feminist Thought. Collins is above all concerned with the relationship among empowerment, knowledge, and self-definition with a primary focus on black women. It is the oppression with which she is most personally familiar. But Collins is also one of the few Standpoint and Social thinkers who are able to rise above their own experience. She challenges us with a significant view of oppression and other views that not only has the possibility of changing the world but also of opening up the likelihood of continuous change. To her, for change to be continuous, it can’t be exclusively focused on one social group. In other words, to be continuous, a social movement that is only concerned with racial inequality will end its influence once equality for that group is achieved. Collins gives us a way of transcending specific politics that is based upon Black Feminist Epistemology. Her intent is to place black women’s experiences in the center of analysis without privileging those experiences. Basically we can learn from black women’s knowledge.

There are so many major trends that influence her to do so much of her work. She has sociological significance in a few different areas of which the content of her ideas has been influenced by on-going dialogue in many sociological societies. This has showed that in some way women are gaining more of a voice. For instance in her popular book From Black Power to Hip-Hop: Racism, Nationalism, and Feminism, this examines the debated spaces of racism, feminism, nationalism, and popular culture in an attempt to expand the struggle for a truly democratic society for the whole universe. She highlights specific themes to truly hint the struggle of place in society. The book is divided into 3 parts: Race, Family, and the US; Ethnicity, Culture, and Black Nationalist politics; and Feminism, Nationalism, and African American women. She is careful with words, she reclaims the term Black women for its globalizing potential to include more than America women of African descent. She redefines the group, she states, “aˆ¦a unifying language that women of African descent and women who are rendered socially Black [in and outside the US] can use to describe their needs as racial and ethnic women” (Collins 23). With this said early on in the book, one anticipates a broader view to reframe black feminist thought in the global eye. Not necessarily to analyze everything but to at least rethink the effects of transnational migration on urban environments in America. Collins highlights these shifts in black identity, in ways of how we discuss black experience, race relations, and how contemporary feminist redefine themselves as “women of color”. In spite of that, Collins sticks closely to the familiar ground of African American urban communities and their related feminist theories and practices. She is concerned with the development of contemporary black feminist thought into social movement and its expansion into multiracial collective identity politics. Hip Hop is the dominant cultural expression in many black women’s lives, but it is just one part in the complex of her “matrix of domination”. Because of our influence of Hip-Hop and other trends of society she tries to influence us to put into practice the collective identity of politics. She tries to influence into creating a group base identity while avoiding group based essentialism. She wants us to detach ourselves from this intricate and worldwide place of domination without falling into more temptation.

It doesn’t seem like she has many forerunners that truly influence her to do all of what she has done. She is more influenced by herself. She gives her opinion of what she thinks females (mostly black females) need to achieve and prove, and how others should understand and learn. As mention before she operates on the “Matrix of Domination”. This is a sociological theory that explains issues of oppression that deal with race, gender, and class. Even though these issues are classified differently they all are connected in a way. Other forms such as age, sex, gender, and religion apply to this too. Collins introduces this in her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and Politics of Empowerment. Many feminist have contributed a great deal of research to help her in an advantage. Although, it seems Collins has had a little bit of help from Alice Walker and her view of black women and feminism, in which she changes to “Womanism”.

Walker’s construction of “Womanism” was an attempt to establish the true black woman in history and culture and to change the negative and inaccurate stereotypes that are given to black women. Walker lists the “black woman” as a thinking subject who is always seeking knowledge. She interrogates the epistemological exclusions she endures in intellectual life and general and feminist intelligence. Walker also highlights the black woman’s strength, capability, and independence. Opposed to feminism, “Womanism” presents an alternative for black women by framing their survival through men and women. In Black Feminist Thought, Collins states, “Many black women view feminism as a movement that at best is exclusively for women, and, at worst, dedicated to attacking or eliminating menaˆ¦ Womanism seemingly supplies a way for black women to address gender-oppression without attacking black men” (Collins 11). Collins seems agreeable in this case of “Womanism” and seems to be that Alice Walker is a versatile influence upon her. Collins goes into a lot of depth about “Womanism” in her book, a great impact on the “Matrix of Domination”.

Patricia Hill Collins outlined America Black Feminism through the expression in music, fiction, poetry, and oral history. She continuously saw and pointed out three themes. The oppressions are interconnected greatly through the different points. Black women create alternative world views for self-definition and self determination. Black women also have often incorporated imposed and restraining definitions of who they are. They especially do this by revitalizing concepts of beauty, skin color, and physical body notions. Collins also points to areas that have been overlooked many times. Gender roles within family and work, politics, violence, and homophobia all need to be revitalized also.

Collins draws on black women’s experiences and voices to explain concepts that have been obscured institutionally and ideologically. Her interdisciplinary methodology engages an analytical approach to domination and subordination. She rejects defensive thought because “either/or” thinking categorizes people, things, and ideas in terms of their differences from each other. She stresses the “both/and” analysis because it could transform the way in which we think about the claims in knowledge. Her work has made Afro-centric and feminist thought more liable, broader in view, and more essential. She forces her readers to think differently and to reexamine the way in which truth and knowledge are thought to be, produced, and approved. This helps us to realize the importance of our gender society. This is some knowledge of why she seems to be an important figure in the evolution of gender studies. She gives her opinion with valuable information to back it up.

Collins largely devotes a significant amount of work to present intellectual ideas mixed with everyday life ideas in an accessible way. This gives more of an encouragement for black females and other races to say what they feel, to give their opinion straightforward as can be. Her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment seems to be one of the most contributing books that she has published for the general public, but with a focus for black women. She reanalyzes race, gender, and class as an interlocking system of oppression. She talks about the lack of women’s experiences as “blood-mothers” and “other-mothers”. The community reveals that there is a norm of a heterosexual, married couple, with a husband earning the money. This is far from being natural, universal, and preferred but instead is deeply embedded in specific race and class formations. Placing African American women in the center of analysis not only reveals much needed information about black women’s experiences but also questions what perspective we give them. Black women’s actions in group survival suggest a vision of community that stands in opposition to that extent in the dominant culture. This community is seen as arbitrary and fragile, structured accordingly by competition and domination. Afro-centric models of community stress connections, caring, and personal accountability. As cultural workers African American women have rejected the generalized ideology of domination in order to safeguard the conceptualizations of the community. According to Collins, black women have been unable to spend time theorizing about alternative conceptualizations of community. Instead, through daily actions black women have strongly created alternative communities that truly empower themselves. Experiences as mothers, “other-mothers”, educators, labor women, and community leaders seem to suggest that power as energy can be encouraged by resistance. In Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice, Collins states, “The spheres of influence created and sustained by African American women are not mean to solely to provide a respite from oppressive situations or a retreat from their effects. Rather, these black female spheres of influence constitute potential sanctuaries where individual black women and men are nurtured in order to confront oppressive social institutions (Collins 56).

Collins explores an astonishing range of ideas and images through history, sociology, and popular culture. Rather than debate the dominance of race versus sex in the history of social injustice to black women and other races; Collins offers a theory of “Intersectionality”, viewing race, gender, and sexuality together. She explores the social and personal implications of historical images and more current concerns about the influence of urban culture and how it’s glorified. Demonstrating how the politics of race has traditionally neglected concerns about gender and sexual orientation, Collins explores a range of issues, advocating certain aspects of cultural situations.

Participation Observation Research

Participant observation is a method of collecting qualitative data in social research. This method involves the immersion of the researcher in the subject matter so that it can be observed in its natural setting. It involves variable levels of involvement of the researcher on a continuum ranging from passive (observation) to active (participation).

The distinction between participation and observation is based on the closeness of the researcher tothe subject matter with observation involving external evaluation and recording of events without the interference of the researcher whilst participation represents an internal view in which the researcher records views from within the group by acting, overtly or covertly, as a member in order to experience the actuality of the events. For example, in Humphreys study of homosexuals, he played an active role by acting as lookout for the police whilst the homosexual encounter occurred in public toilets (Humphreys, 1970). Although Humphreys was observing events and gathering data, he was ‘inside’ the situation that occurred thus his presence had some impact on events; things would not have occurred exactly as they did had he not been present. Examples of a passive role include researchers who observe things ‘as they happen’ but with no influence at all on the events that unfold, other than by their mere presence. For example, Patton describes researchers who were recording the reactions ofthe audience to Billy Graham’s evangelical preaching (Patton, 2002). Their role was to record events without taking any part in the proceedings, althoughtwo researchers were so influenced by his preaching that they put aside theirnotes and joined the congregation.

One of the advantages ofparticipant observation is its ability to facilitate the collection of ‘rich’ information that is frequently not available from other sources (Babbie, 1995). As such, it can be used to supplement, inform or contradict theorised research and it can greatly enhance the available knowledge on a subject as a result. It can be used either as a preliminary step in a research study by which the researcher observes events ‘as they occur’ in order to formulate a hypothesis for further investigation or it can be used at a more advanced stage of the research in order to test a hypothesis formed on the basis of theoretical research (Patton, 2002).

It is believed to elicit ‘real’ and ‘genuine’ information that has not been filtered or amended by the research participants as can occur in relation to interview or questionnaire data and, as such, provides unique insights into the subjective viewpoint of the participants in the study. With observation, participants may not realise that they are being watched so they do not moderate their behaviour in any way thus the data gathered in unadulterated. It also provides richer information than interviews or questionnaires because it can take into account non-verbal interaction and behaviour (Berg, 2003). As such, it can be a valuable methodof researching the influence of structures or events on individuals andgroups. There is also the possibility that unexpected and unanticipated events will occur during the course of the observation hence its value in accessing unique data (Berg, 2003).

Equally, even with more active participation from the researcher, the subjects of the research may not realise that they are being observed as it is not uncommon for the researcher to obscure their identity by posing as a member of the group or as someone who would naturally come into contact with them. For example, in studies of the way in which mentally ill patients are treated by psychiatrists and others in the medical profession, researchers were admitted into mental health facilities by posing as patients so that they could experience the reality of life within such an environment, something that would not have been possible had they announced their presence and their purpose (Winstein, 1982). As this example demonstrates, participant observation can be a way to access information from those who might be reluctant to give interviews or who would present apolicy-driven view of the subject (Bogdan, 1972). Sometimes, the only way to get around such obstacles is to gain surreptitious access to the environment in order to experience directly what is happening (Spradley, 1997).

There are limitations to this research method. It can be time-consuming, both in terms of the actual observations and in preparing and analysing the large amount of resultant data. This may make it a less cost-effective means of conducting research (Jorgenson, 1993). A second limitation is that it tends to involve the observation of only a few examples of a particular subject, behaviour or event thus there is a limit to the extent to which the findings are amenable to generalisation (Spradley, 1997). A further criticism that can be levelled against participant observation is that it is inherently subjective as it notonly focuses on a single (or limited number) of particular observations butthat the recording of the resultant data is subject to the interpretation of the researcher (Jorgenson, 1993). Accordingly, there is a possibility of conscious or unconscious bias which is inconsistent with its appearance, particularly in relation to observation rather than participation, of an objective and scientific research method. This criticism is furthered in relation to participation because the researcher plays some kind of role inevents that unfold thus is not a mere passive recipient of information but issomeone who contributes to the shape and content of the resultant data (Spradley, 1993). The final criticism of participant observation that needs to be addressed is particularly pertinent to participation by the research andthat is issues of deception of the research subjects and the ethical issuesthat therefore arise. This was demonstrated in Humphrey’s research with homosexuals as he posed as a member of their community thus accessing data thatwould not have been available without this deception. The practice ofdeception on research subjects is one that needs to be considered carefully when weighing the balance of the strengths and limitations of this research method (Spradley, 1993).

Word Count: 1000 Words

Bibliography

Ackroyd, D. and Hughes, J(1992) Data Collection in Context, 2^nd ed., Harlow: Longman

Babbie, E (1995) ThePractice of Social Research, Belmont: Wardsworth

Berg, BL (2003) QualitativeResearch Methods for the Social Sciences, 5^th ed., Harlow: Allyn& Bacon

Black, T (2002) Understanding Social Research, London: Sage

Bogden, R (1972) ParticipantObservation in Institutional Settings, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press

Bryman, A (1988) Quantityand Quality in Social Research, Oxford: Routledge

Giddens, A (2002) Sociology,4^th ed., Cambridge: Polity Press

Haralombos, M, Heald, R andHolburn, M (2000) Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, 5^thed., London: Harper Collins

Humphreys, L (1970) Tea-roomTrade, London: Duckworth

Jorgenson, D (1993) ParticipantObservation: a Methodology for Human Studies, Thousand Oaks: SagePublications

Patton, MQ (2002) QualitativeResearch and Evaluation Methods, 3^rd ed., London: Sage

Punch, KF (2001) Introductionto Social Research, London: Sage

Sarantokos, S (1998) Social Research, 2^nd ed., London: Sage

Spradley, JP (1997) ParticipantObservation, New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston

Winstein, RM (1982) The MentalHospital from the Patient’s Point of View in WR Gove (Ed) Deviance andMental Illness, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

In the research conducted by Samina Malik and Kathy Courtney the finding from Malik’s 2005 study was summarized. It was from his study that the wanted to investigate that to what extent does women empowerment was dependant on the gaining of higher education by women. In the research the importance of the prevailing culture and norms on women empowerment was also highlighted as they play a key role in preventing women from claiming the rights that they have been given by law which includes having equal rights to education.

As Pakistan is a developing country it has been rated s the nation with the widest gender gap and discrimination against women (UNICEF 2006). The united nations population information network gave the understanding that women empowerment has five major components, which include women sense of self-worth, their right to have and to determine choices, their right to have access to opportunities and resources, their right to have power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home, their ability to influence the direction of social changes to create a more social and economic order, nationally and internationally,(POPIN n.d)

However it has come to notice that overall the girls and women are at disadvantage and the movement to bring about any change in their position or their standard of living has failed. Forming a conclusion from the research it has been proven that the attainment of higher education in particular is accepted as a means for social change. The participation in education has many advantages for the women one of the most important one being economic independence.

As agreed upon by Iram, samiullah, tanveer, bedi-uz-zaman, shujaat and Ali women empowerment is a social phenomenon. Women in Pakistan are subject to very little participation in the economic sphere of life. Usually they are either underpaid or unpaid workers in the agricultural background. I their research the authors also subject that women empowerment can be measured based on their participation in politics. However the most important aspect being catered to in their study is the impact of male youth’s views on women empowerment. Since Pakistan is clearly a male dominated society and the views of the male segment plays either a supportive or opposing role towards women empowerment. It was concluded after the study that the prevailing view of women empowerment from the eyes of the male youth has different aspects of acceptance. Regarding ownership of property, vote casting and registration the response was fairly positive. It was also positive towards equal job opportunities, training program and membership of union and organization but political participation and participation in public protests and political campaigns was a negative. Overall however the attitude of youth towards women empowerment was considered a positive but the family practice of the positive attitude was very limited which may be due to the parent’s background and quality of education.

According to Malik hassaan the reason for women being neglected and lookdown upon may lie in some common factors which stem from the history of the country. The social norms and cultures and the menace of poverty have been put down on the shoulders of the women of this country since its birth. The idea proposed that economic development to actual take place in a nation requires the participation of the entire citizens of the nation by Malik is crucial to this country. The concept highlighted is the importance of poverty and government intervention in the developing worlds. The history bearded by the developing nation’s plays an important part also in another study relevant to this is by N’drit. Assie-Lumumba regarding the women and empowerment in Africa.

The idea being discussed by both the authors lie in the fact that the nations having participated in many international betterment and development programs and organizations the implementation of laws pro-women have been poor due to the history of poverty and culture prevailing in these nations. The insignificant intervention of the government and the lack of positive will towards this idea not only hinder the social well-being but also the e economic wellbeing of these developing nations. As Assie-lumumba explains the participation of women I higher education and universities are extremely low due to which any research conducted from these institutions don’t show the actual picture. Although the educational system has been taken from the west’s example, the persisting lack of participation by the female sector cannot be ignored. The reason for the lack of involvement doesn’t however lie solely with the historic practices but also by the recent practices which have stemmed out from the historic practices in essence strengthening them. The issue being that without access to primary and secondary education the female masses cannot have the opportunity to advance into higher education. The practice of not allowing equal opportunity at the initial levels of education is a major hindrance for the women of Africa. The other main issue discussed in the study relates to the lack of power to have time, equipment and finances being allocated to women in the African society. This also raises the gender gap and in essence reduces the ability of women to participate in education. The absence of proper policies and implementation of these policies thus result in the discriminatory policies regarding education and women in the African continent.

The idea that most of the conclusive research done in the developing countries result from the research conducted in the university setting, the absence of women form these institutions result in a lack of information and authentic research. The formation of policies also rest on the information collected therefore the lack of information subsequently result in improper and insufficient efforts being conducted in the way to women empowerment. Lumumba also rightly concludes based on assessment that the role of the researchers are highly crucial in the forward view of the continent and it is their responsibility to interrogate all analyze all the social sectors to finally come up with conclusions. Therefore educating the female masses of the nation is essential to not just economic wellbeing and eradication of poverty but also a healthier social standing of the nation.

The same standing is put forth by Malik Hassan in his research that poverty and economic sustainability of Pakistan rests on the shoulders of policy makers and researchers. There is a crucial need for proper research and data availability and a dire need of the policy makers, the government to shape up reforms and implement them in the most efficient and effective manner as without this the nation will not be able to move from the developing category to the developed.

The nuisance of poverty and the economic instability is directly related to the no participation of the entire nation towards there amputation. In his conclusion Malik also explains the importance of awareness amongst the citizens, capacity building of women, research and documentation on the achievements of women and advocacy for policy in political parties as essential and substantial requirements to overcome the structural obstacles and lack of awareness in the country. The importance of women participation in policy formulation and their representation at all levels of the government is necessary for the wellbeing and progress of Pakistan.

Women empowerment is defined as a change I the context of a women’s life that will enable her to lead a fulfilling human life, it being reflected both in external qualities and internal qualities (human development in south Asia (2000) as quoted by Mathew (2003). In the research by purusottam nayak and bidisha mahanta it is found that women of India, another developing nation, are relatively disempowered and given a lower status than their male counterparts. The existing of this gender gap exists basically with regards to education and employment. Different aspects of the study focused on different factors that were looked at by the researcher. These include women having the right to education and employment; domestic violence and say on spending their earnings; women’s exposure to media and heir involvement in politics. After a clear view it was concluded that women were subject to unequal treatment b the male dominating society. Dr suvarna sen and ishita mukherjee also in their study look at the prevailing trends of role of women in India and they also examine the employment levels, wages, literacy and school enrolment; their participation in politics and personal health issues. They also suggest from their study that women are being subject to socio-economic biases which in retrospect affect their status in society.

The most alarming find from both these studies show the acceptance of this unequal and bias treatment by the women in general. All these factors are either the result of government’s shift from raising actual awareness and or implementation of policies structured for women empowerment. The major role of higher education and employment is the conclusive factor in both the studies. It has been seen in Dr surarna sen and ishita mukherjee’s finding that rising of awareness and education are the only forums which may result in ability to combat these practices. The entire idea of is also supported by purusottam nayak and bidisha mahanta in their findings that access to education and employment are the only enabling factors to empowerment. However in similarity the studies also conclude that the hindrance towards this goal is mainly due to the lack of government support. The idea that government does not support encouragingly the institutions set to formulate policies regarding the betterment of the female population and also doesn’t take steps in helping in the implementation of these policies for proper coverage and benefits.

The idea of empowerment if not wholly supported by the mass of male population and the authoritarian of the country, cannot flourish and bloom. The presence of education plays a pivotal role for women in helping them realize and understand their rights and their rewards. Without which they may not be able to come out of the current situation and remain to believe themselves subjugate to domestic vigilance and gender bias.

Another study conducted by purusottam nayak and bidisha mahanta examines the impact of women empowerment in Assam. In this study as well the women empowerment quotient is judged on the basis of indicators such as education, employment, household decision making power, financial autonomy, and freedom of movement, exposure to media, political participation and experience of domestic violence. Assam is one of the states of India and the largest state in the region of North east India on basis of population. Although it is free from a lot of social evils like dowry, sati, female feticide and infanticides it is still ranked very low in the scale of female empowerment. There is a wide gender gap in the state which is even not found in other comparable states in India. the study concludes that the development of the state is being affected by the widening inequality in gender and that the development process is not gender neutral as women are subject to lower status as even when compared to the rest of the states in India. There does seem to be political involvement of the woman segment in the state however other than that the educational and employment status is very low. Also the access and reach over resources is very low as well.

Meetika Srivastava In her study gives a profound view on women empowerment. She begins by explaining the importance of women in the society and their pivotal role in shaping the nation’s future as mothers, teachers etc. she also very clearly signifies the women rights that are considered under the act of humanitarian law worldwide. The basic human right that woman is entitled to live in dignity and esteem. Have freedom of want and freedom from fear just as her male counterparts. The importance of this equality has been underscored by its inclusion as one of the Millennium Development Goals.

However she goes on to explain further that even though worldwide gender equality has been given an important stature it remains to a practically neglected avenue. Violence and discrimination is a very common practice however now economic discrimination has also joined in the list of inequalities which include health and education.

Despite a lot of controversy and a lot of this agenda being raised by the international organizations, women are still more likely to be ill, poor, illiterate and tortured than men. Another important factor for empowerment measurement is the control of their own fertility. This aspect is so crucial that it is considered sometimes, as the benchmark for empowerment as said in the study that, when a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. Srivastava 2009

Ms Srivastava is on the right path when she concludes by her study that women empowerment is a strong factor towards development. She explains further that despite the said progress that is made the female segment of the society is the most neglected segment as yet. Especially with regards to basic health and education they seem to be suffering magnanimously. she goes on to close with the fact that no kind of social empowerment, legal empowerment or economic empowerment may be able to take place without focusing on women empowerment.

In his study of women empowerment in India, Mr. gagandeep kaur explains that the empowerment assumed to be prevalent in the society where women are known in literature and religious scrolls as “devis” or “shakti” is all a facade. It doesn’t exist and all the rights and privileges so called adhered to women in the Indian society are just on paper in ink and not in real life. He goes on to explain that the status of women cannot change by the mere idea of introducing the terms but it requires a complete change of metal setup which is deep rooted in not just the minds of the people but also of the woman herself. The biggest problem is that women are unaware of their own rights and what world of opportunities lies for them. Various efforts are being conducted by free lance NGO’s, media and welfare organizations, but what is most important is the involvement of the government he says.

Gary S Becker, William H J Hubbard and Kevin M Murphy follow on the research that they conducted regarding the worldwide boom in higher education with regard to women education. In their research they explain that there has been a high increase in the education of female and males around the globe. They d agree that citizen in developing nations and developed nations do get different share of education however according to new statistics there has been a substantial increase in both the world’s higher education trend. The most important factor that they have come to notice is that the research provides them with sufficient facts that the increase in higher education is due to women. In their research they provide a model of supply and demand in market for college educated workers. They also examine the effects of the costs of college education and difference in gender and also means and distribution of skills.

As defined by Ambassador, F. J, “Gender is a concept that refers to a system of roles and relationships between women and men that are determined, not by biology but by the social, political and economic context”. The socially determined differences between men and women are referred to as gender, whilst the biologically determined characteristics are referred to as sex. An important distinction between gender and sex is all that women and men do, and all that is expected of them, apart from their distinct sexual function (child bearing and breast feeding, provision of sperm, impregnation) which changes with time and varied social and cultural factors (Ambassador F. J. B, 2007).

As defined by Wikipedia on the other hand, “Discrimination is a sociological term referring to the treatment taken towards or against a person of a certain group in consideration based solely on class or category”. It refers to the actual behaviour portrayed by an individual, group of individuals or society towards another. And basically involves the denial of one group from opportunities and rights that are available to other groups. There are varied forms of discrimination, but any form of discrimination involves the exclusion of one group from the other Wikipedia, The free encyclopaedia, (http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination).

Determined patterns of behaviour such as rights, obligations, and prerogatives assigned to females and males in society are referred to as gender roles. They differ with time, place and from one society to another. Gender roles are constructed on the stereotype such as;

Men are better than women;

Men are cleverer than women;

Men’s works are more valuable than women’s work;

Women are weak and dependent;

Men are strong and independent;

Furthermore, as culture is dynamic and socioeconomic situation change over time, so gender patterns change with them. What women and men do can radically changed as a result of war, famine or disaster. Gender does not address people but issues, issues such as relationships, roles, characteristics, differences and social expectations (Ambassador F. J. B, 2007, Abram, S. 2002).

According to Ambassador F. J. B, (2007) “, Gender issues in development concerns division of labour, inequality in access to resources, inputs and benefits. The questions to be asked are: Is there parity? Is access open to all? Is it close to some? Gender inequality is a development problem which refers to relations of power (between rich and poor, between women and men) that prevents equitable development and the participation of all”. As a result, development moves at a slow pace, conflict, lack of interest, disunity, poor participation, opinion sharing becomes limited and there is a setback in society. The main concern about gender issues in development is the actions required to correct the imbalance between men and women. Gender issues are therefore not about women’s participation or women’s development per se. In the broader sense, they are about addressing imbalance in society. It is an important planning tool. The gender analysis of who does what or who controls what can assist planners in closing the gender gap since in planning the issue at stake is that of power relationship or power sharing (Ambassador F. J. B, 2007, Abram, S. 2002) .

According to Ambassador F. J. B, (2007), a gender perspective looks not at women alone but at the relationship between women and men and how societies are structure along gender lines.

It is concerned with:

Women’s involvement concerns, needs and aspirations as well as those for men;

The impact of policies, plans and projects on women, men and children;

Assessing to who the benefits accrue and in what ways, Financial and other qualitative and quantitative benefits may be assessed;

The whole process of gender planning.

According to Stuart Malkin, gender discrimination as the name implies, is a form of bias that is hurtful and to a great extent, it is as destructive as any other form of bias. In his Ezine article, Stuart Malkin stated that “women and men are not created equal; they each have their God given strengths, focused on their responsibilities for procreation and family viability “. These differences according to him are difficult to dismiss but are certainly not the cause for gender discrimination in the workplace in particular and society in general (http;//enzinearticle.com/?Gende-Bias-GenderDiscrimination-Gender-Equality&id=14755).

Discrimination on the other is defined by Wikipedia as a term generally used by sociologists to refer to “the treatment taken towards or against a person of a certain group in consideration based solely on class or category”. It refers to a behaviour pattern portrayed by one group which involves excluding or restricting other group members from opportunities available them. There are various forms of discrimination, but all forms a virtually speaking the same language of rejection or exclusion (Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia (http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination)

1.2 Statement of the problem.

Women form the largest single sector of the population in the United Kingdom but yet form the minority group in the attainment of leadership roles in the labour force. For decades, women across the board have been battling against inequality between men in a bid to bridge the labour force gap, and yet face some form of gender discrimination in the workplace that limit their challenge to attain higher level management roles. The perception about women’s recognition were based on stereotypical assumptions and prejudice such as; women’s achievement was to a great extent attributed to luck or effort rather than the ability to perform, men are cleaver than women; Men are strong and independent; Women are weak and dependent; and a vast majority of people had the notion that child bearing and house maintenance are predominantly a woman’s social roles and responsibilities. Such perceived assumptions resulted to the vast majority of competent women that have excellence potential to stagnate in job assignments that lack challenge. Moreover, unlike men, women over the years have limited legal, political and economic rights which largely increased their dependency on men for financial and other means of support (Lyness and Thomson, 1997).

However, with the advent of equal employment opportunity legislations and the formation of the Gender and career Development-UK, and the Equal Opportunity Commissions to enforce and implement these legislations in practice and promote equal opportunity, women’s rights are now protected by law against any form of discrimination in the work place that tend to limit or restrict their aspirations and career advancement opportunities as well as enabling them to overcome prejudice.

Even though women to a certain extent have experienced a positive change in their social status due to employment equality legislations and law enforcement, there is certainty among women as well as the ethnic minority that discrimination and inequality still exist in some form. A good number of women and ethnic minority group face artificial barriers in establishments that deter them from making the best use of their knowledge, skills and abilities to ascend the career lather. Unlike men, there is considerable number of occupations or positions that appeared impossible for women to attain. Therefore, the vast majority of women in the UK labour force are represented in middle and low managerial positions with less decision making, whilst senior level management and important decision making positions are held by men. It is because of this gender gap and imbalance in society that has brought the idea to investigate about the eminent barriers that prevent women from career advancement.

1.3 The Purpose of the Study

This research study is an attempt to examine the part gender discrimination play in career development; a case study of maternity returners in the UK legal Profession. Therefore in this research study, career development in maternity returners is being evaluated and compared with the career development in men.

From the aspect of career development in maternity returners in the UK legal profession especially in the area of promotion, the present literature suggests an incomplete attempt to identify and resolve the barriers women face in career development in the workplace. Therefore, this research study is an attempt to bridge those gaps in the present literature regarding the obstacles (barriers) women especially maternity returners experience within the UK legal profession.

Successful identification and examination of these barriers will form a unique benchmark for recommendation in order to create a viable society that is discrimination free and thus create a frame work for career development of maternity returners in the UK legal profession. Research studies conducted by Killham et al (2005) concluded that present day organisations recognise the importance of developing women leaders for the twenty first century (Killhan, Hookah, and McCarty, 2005). O’Neill (2005) highlighted that for any organisation to thrive and succeed in the future depends largely on their success in helping women leaders succeed.

Although there appeared to be an increase in the proportion of women in the labour force according to Killham et al, 2005, an attempt to hire and retain this accelerating pool of talent requires the ability of organisations to identify and mitigate the potential threats women face in these establishments, and the ability of these establishments to meet the developmental needs of the said talent pool. A greater dexterity is achieved in every particular staff in establishments that target and successfully develop this increasing pool of talent, and hence achieve a comparative advantage over other establishments in attracting and retaining highly skilled and talented staff (killham, Hookhah, and McCarty, 2005).

Recent research with regards to the glass ceiling suggested that Gender discrimination in career development have negative implications in the development of society in general and organisations in particular (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling). Although issues surrounding gender discrimination has been a part of the UK government and organisational policies and are tackled with unique legislations within the frame work of developing future leaders, research targeting the barriers to career development of maternity returners in the UK legal profession are yet to be examined and addressed. The findings from the investigation of the barriers to career development of maternity returners in the UK legal profession will serve to mitigate the rising problems of women stagnating in lower managerial positions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling).

The gap in the research related to across gender relationships, which is typical of an organisation such as the UK legal profession where the vast majority of the senior positions are held by males, prompted the need to examine the specific limitations that deter women (maternity returners) from attaining senior positions as their male counterpart. The study seeks to fill some of the major gaps in the present literature by providing a frame work that addresses the barriers to career development in women, especially maternity returners.

1.4 Significance of the study

The significance of this research study can be viewed based on the following reasons;

There is a minute fraction of women in leadership positions that can be looked upon as role models.

The conduct of this research study is to assist the UK legal profession in achieving better organisational performance through the reduction or otherwise elimination of gender discrimination barriers in order to enable women attain their desired objectives.

Women to a great extent are playing a vital and diverse role within the UK legal profession.

1.5 Objectives of the study

The ultimate objective of the present study is to investigate the likelihood of women to gain promotion on return from maternity.

The immediate objectives are as follows;

To examine the frequency of promotion;

To examine potential barriers to development;

To examine the utility of gender based initiatives;

To examine justice perception.

To evaluate the quality of work ;

To examine the skills and qualifications acquired;

To examine the length of service;

To examine employee development and gender discrimination;

1.6 Justification of the Study

1.6.1 Lost Productivity: In an establishment where gender discrimination is prevalent, there is every tendency for competent employees with excellent potential to remain in-situ in non-challenging job positions. This to a great extent can lead to lost productivity and will result to the employee seeking for another job elsewhere. This to a great extent can lead to lost productivity and will result to the employee seeking for another job elsewhere. In most cases, the most competent employees are denied of adequate training, not considered for promotions and are denied of raises based on gender. The employees that face this type of discrimination often become dissatisfied and hence in most cases result in lost productivity. On a daily bases, employees who feel they are less appreciated or inadequately compensated will not give their best to the job but may rather spend paid work time on unrelated job activities like gossiping with co-workers about labour practices that seem unfair or job hunting, to name but a few. When employees feel they are been discriminated against at work, and are unable to find an immediate positive remedy, can increase their anxiety, increase dependence or result to substance abuse and cause depression. Company sick leave increase as a result, and can cause work to be limited and hence result to lost productivity (Julia, F, 2010).

1.6.2 Trained Personnel Leave: If trained and competent personnel do not see growth opportunities, they will eventually leave the company, thereby creating a void or gap that needs to be filled. Though employees are replaceable, it requires time and money to train one. Moreover, it requires a great deal of time to enable a new employee to develop a level of efficiency or productivity that is equal to that held by a previous experienced employee. By having to spend this additional time and money to train and develop new employees’ means lost production and increased work hours, and hence the profit potential of the company is reduced (Julia, F, 2010).

1.6.3 Decreased Profits: Lawsuits, public chiding and sanctions may arise as a result of discrimination at workplace. Dealing with issues surrounding these lawsuits and sanctions may lead to a considerable drain in company resources. These drained resources are sometimes more than just monetary. Attending hearing sessions and working on negotiations may require experienced personnel which tend to take expertise away from the company leaving the gap either void or less qualified personnel may need to tentatively fill the gap and hence production is at stake. The company can lose customer confidence if lawsuits become public knowledge. There is every tendency that customers may result to taking their business elsewhere and highly qualified personnel may seek for jobs elsewhere. This will ultimately cause the company to lose potential profits (Julia, F, 2010).

1.6.4 Lack of Team Work: Gender discrimination can cause employees to have a different perception about the job and hence working together as a team becomes ineffective in the workplace. This is more so when an employee realises that there are differences (parity) in compensation with his co-employee who has less responsibility, and yet received a better compensation because of gender. When asked to work together on a team project, the employee being discriminated against may not give his or her best. As a result, the individual’s expertise and abilities are lost (Julia, F, 2010).

1.7 Research Questions.

3. LITERATURE REVIEW

The focus of this research study is an attempt to examine what part does gender discrimination play in career development? A case study of maternity returners’ in the United Kingdom legal profession. The literature in this research is focused entirely on two broad categories; viz-a-viz gender discrimination and career development; and how gender discrimination affect potential career attainment of employees in establishments in particular and society in general.

Women across the board are been discriminated at various fronts. Even though a lot has been done to bridge the gap on gender discrimination through Government legislation and organisational policies, there is yet more to be investigated and resolved in order to achieve the desired impact in development. Gender Discrimination in career development and attainment of leadership roles is a major concern facing women in organisations in the United Kingdom; and is the principal factor that causes women over the years to lag behind in the advancement to higher levels in most organizations ( ).

A lot of research has been done on gender discrimination and the effect it has on the development of society. These include a comparative study conducted by the gender and career development-UK 2005/6, and the glass ceiling effect that examined the issue of gender and carer development and examine the continuing restrictions or limitations to achieving equality of opportunity in career development in the United Kingdom. This was a labour force survey conducted by the National Office for statistics (Labour force Survey Table 19 http://www.statistics.gov.uk). This is reflected on the data illustrated in table 1. The data suggests that female employees are less likely to gain managerial positions due to reasons yet undiscovered which this case study is attempting to investigate.

The data (on segregation and mobility) below is taken from the Labour Force Survey published by the National Office for Statistics.

Table 1. All in employment by socio-economic classification (%)

Total

Higher Managerial

Lower Managerial

Intermediate

Small employer and own business

Lower supervisory

Semi-routine

Routine

All

28,812

14.4

28.5

12.3

9.9

10.7

14.3

10

Male

15,524

18.8

24.7

6.2

13.6

14.2

10.5

12.2

Female

13,288

9.3

32.9

19.4

5.5

6.7

18.8

7.4

Source: Labour Force Survey Table 19 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ (Extracted,

Table 2. Part time and temporary workers by socio-economic classification.

Total

Higher Managerial %

Lower Managerial %

Intermediate %

Small employer and own business %

Lower supervisory %

Semi-routine %

Routine %

All

7,324

5.9

21.9

17.3

9.1

6.1

26.7

13

Male

1,996

10

19.3

7.1

19

6.1

21.2

17.3

Female

5,655

4.9

22.5

19.7

6.7

6.1

28.1

12

Source: NOS Table 21 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

The Gender and career development -UK is working with employers and professional institutes to tackle the structured barriers that tend to deter women from working in certain SET profession.

The focus of recent research has been on the glass ceiling effect that impedes the career development of women in the attainment of leadership roles. “The situation is referred to as ‘ceiling’ as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and ‘glass’ (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and an unofficial policy”. The current research study is an attempt to examine the part that gender discrimination play in career development; a case study of maternity returners in the legal profession (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling).

However, a comprehensive research conducted by Kathrine et al (1979) discovered that in principle there appeared a clear path of promotion, but in reality women seem to face impeding factors that limit or retard their career development path. Most women in the labour force cultivated this concept of career development limiting factors, and refused to penetrate and progress beyond these limits. Some authors refer to this situation as the “glass ceilin”. It is called “Ceiling” because there appeared to be a limitation or barrier blocking career advancement, and “glass” (transparent) because the barrier is not immediately apparent and is normally and unwritten and unofficial policy. To a greater extent, this apparent barrier continues to exist in an invisible nature; and is mainly targeted at women in a bid to prevent them from acquiring jobs at the top level. Since it is unlawful to discriminate by any means such as this, organisations’ tend to avoid outlining job specifications based on gender discrimination on job adverts as Equal Employment Opportunity laws deter organisations from discriminating as thus. However, establishments exercise career development discriminatory barriers in a form invisible to the target group and would not accept responsibility if suspected of such act of discrimination. In many cases, establishments tend to use indirect form of gender discriminations to justify their actions.

This limiting barrier of glass ceiling deters a considerable number of women from reaching and securing potentially lucrative and prestigious jobs in the labour force. This apparent and invisible barrier to a greater extent instills the concept of women feeling inferior, unworthy and lacks the confidence to aspire and secure positions of high ranks. The author further noted that this invisible barrier gives women the feeling that their bosses do not take them seriously by all means or do not see them as potential candidates for jobs of greater responsibility (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling).

However, Carly Fiorina proclaimed that there is nothing that appears like a glass ceiling that prevents women from reaching the top upon becoming Chief Executive Officer and chairwoman of the board of HP. Upon completion of her tenure in office, she called her earlier statement a “dumb thing to say”. In an article written by Rebecca Traister (The truth about Carly, 2009), gave the idea behind Carly’s statement (dumb thing to say) meaning that “women shouldn’t fixate on an invisible barrier that’s going to get their way, they should focus on possibilities”. (http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2006/10/19/carly_fiorina).

As the name implies,” glass ceiling” is a term that many schools of thought used to describe the perceived barrier to career development (advancement) in most employment establishments and government parastatals due to gender or sex discrimination.

The Glass Ceiling Commission in the United States, a government-funded group, provided significant findings regarding the persistence in gender discrimination in the industrial sector and service company employment. The commission presented a statistical analysis in the above mentioned sector employment status. As cited by the commission “Over half of all Master’s degrees are now awarded to women, yet 95% of senior-level managers, of the top fortune 1000 industrial and 500 service companies are men.” In that light the commission recommended a reverse discrimination in a bid to end this form of discrimination. The recommendations strictly reflect hiring and promotional decisions and must not be based on gender perspectives but rather on qualification and experience of employees (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling).

In another development, the United Nations presented a comprehensive literature in 2006 on account of women and the “glass ceiling”. Significant findings from the said research study suggested that the rate at which women around the Globe attain leadership and decision making position remains far too slow, and the fortunate ones underwent a deal of struggle to penetrate and break through the “glass ceiling”. As cited by Rachel Mayanja (Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues), ” The past ten years have seen the fastest growth in the number of women in parliaments, yet even at this rate, parity between women and men in parliaments will not be reached until 2040. ” (http://www.un.org/women.watch/daw/csw/50sess.htm), (http://www.un.org/women.watch/feature/iwd/2006/press releaseIWD8march.pdf).

Ruderman et al provided an insight on how existing promotional norms can be investigated and challenged within organisations. His findings presented a comprehensive case analysis of decisions regarding promotion in an organisation. This research study depicted cases where there were some variations in the pattern of promotions of men and women. As cited by Ruderman et al, “one key difference was when decision makers spoke about promotions of men they often (75% of cases) mentioned a high level of comfort with the candidate. For women the key issue was ‘continuity’ where the person promoted should already have an intimate knowledge of part of the new job”. According to Ruderman et al, managers seem to have some amount of hesitation in promoting women as they require them to demonstrate personal strength, and being able to prove themselves extensively before a promotion is made. Men on the other hand are less likely to have their promotion accounted for in terms of familiarity with job responsibilities.

Conger, S. (2002) provided a justifiable argument for the formation of a career development culture as a means (among others) of addressing disproportionate numbers of women and other target groups at lower levels. The development of an organisation depends greatly on its career development culture as it helps in addressing the key organisational aspects of productivity, competitiveness, affirmative action, and succession planning. It gives employees the ability to redefine their talents to realize the full potential of their jobs. This can be achieved by supervision and appraisal, and organizing a system of mentorship. A managed career development culture can be rewardfull to the employee in particular and the establishment in general. Moreover, Conger’s argument offers the means to accomplish the reasons why both management and workers want a career development culture. In another development, Conger developed five strategies which employees need to recognise, create and follow as career opportunities which are beyond the scope of this research (Conger, S. 2002).

According to Eagly et al (2007), there are a host of limiting factors that stop or prevent women from advancing to or aspiring for senior level positions which include domestic obligations and child caring, disparity in pay and resistance to women’s leadership, and suggestions were offered to organisations on account of career development in women (advancing women into higher-level roles). Establishments that handle and manage work and work related (employee family) issues well, and do not discriminate against pregnant or potentially pregnant employees, have a greater tendency to attract and retain the talented staff and at the same time enabling them especially the female staff to reach their full potential and hence greater dexterity in every particular employee is attained. As a result, a high degree of return to work rate for women after maternity leave is expected.

According to McMaster, F (2005), the rate of returns (benefits) from developing women returners into leadership roles is significant. This was an approach taken by IBM Asia Pacific in relation to workplace flexibility.

A statistical analysis drawn by the Australian Bureau of statistics, suggested that an estimated number of 118 Australians return to paid work when their child is aged 6 months or even younger. In a bid to work in accordance with National Health and Medical Research Council recommendations of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and World Health Organisation recommendations for ongoing breastfeeding to two years and beyond, workplace support is crucial (http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/mfwp.html).

As cited by Creagh et al (1998), three case studies were drawn from Sweden, Italy and the UK regarding flexible work practices. In their research, they were able to explore the advantages and disadvantages for both employers and employees. The research analysis suggested that flexible work practices can yield positive outcome if the required basic steps are followed.

According to Sheridan et al (2000), a Human Resource Management model was developed and intended to be used to bridge the gap between employer and employee needs with regards to workplace flexibility. The model is intended to develop a process of change that reflects flexible work arrangements that is of mutual benefits to both employers and employees. Long term benefits can be achieved by the organisation when the full potential of the employees is realised.

Kottke et al presented a paper that highlighted four key underlying processes for intervention to overcome the barriers women face in career development. These include; Social cognitions, threat potential, justice perceptions, and how to utilise gender based initiatives.This findings suggest that an understanding of how social cognitions, perceptions of fairness, threat, and utility can individually and collectively impact the success or failure of programs to advance women, organizational leaders can develop and implement informed practices that are embraced by all members of the organization and which, consequently, further the advancement of all organizational members.These processes must be considered, followed and managed as part of the development, implementation and evaluation of initiatives targeting women’s career development in a bid to achieve the desired goal.

Francis et al (2002) developed a paper in the construction industry that highlighted issues surrounding workers families that is equally relevant and applicable to other works of life. The paper outlined the need for the use of non-traditional management methods to cater for the increased number of women in the work force. Legal requirements and organisational performance were the reasons presented to justify why organisations should care about workers families. A number of initiatives that organisations in general can adopt and implement are then identified and described.

According to Davey et al (1994), a research study was conducted that involved in depth interview of 16 women as well as completed and analysed questionnaires of a further 160 women who had taken maternity leave from one institution over an 8 year period. The results obtained from analysis, offered an insight into who returns to work, what provisions and opportunities that encourage women to return and the benefits to the organization in providing these provisions.

According to a research study conducted in Australia regarding circumstances surrounding pregnancy discrimination at work and progress to formal redress, 318 cases were explored of alleged workplace pregnancy discrimination which were reported to a community advocacy organisation

In traditional way, the women are act as the housewives in their family. But in today’s world, most of the women are surged into the work places that are 60 percent of women provide the income to the family (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2004). With this, there have two structures of family such as one-career family and two-career family.

TOPIC SENTENCE 1

Most of the people nowadays have multiple roles and responsibilities including work and family. There has some similar and differences of the roles as a parent and as a child as well as the roles of husbands and wives in two-career families and one-career families. Besides the roles, there has responsibilities of parents in one-career families and two-career families to concern the children’s feeling..

SUPPORTING DETAIL

1. The roles of the parents in two-career families and one-career families for their children.

No matter in two-career families and one-career families, the role of the women is still the same that they having the character as a mother and the role of men are as a father to their children in the family (Sinha, 1993).

Besides that, the parents in both one-career family and two-career family should have the positive role model in an active manner for their children. The parents should have the certain skill to build their children’s behavior (Lopez, 2004).

For example, the parents need to have proper behavior with their children and make sure always doing the right things when with the children (Burke, 1997).

2. The roles between husbands and wives in two-career families and one-career families.

In the past or in one-career family, the role of the husband is always the main financial provider and having more influence over the family (Franklin, 1998).

The wife in one-career family is to be the homemaker. Her roles will always to take care all of the housework according to the needs of the family (Franklin, 1998).

For example, the role of the wife is take charge in all the housework including cook for husband and children, cleaning, laundry, help to prepare the things need by husband and so on (Edwards, 2011).

In two-career family, they will have equal role between the husband and wife. Both of them have job and are the financial provider to their family (Gerson, 2002).

According to the research, both of them need commit to combine their professional and family roles that to integrate and balance between the works or family roles together such as having dinner time together with family, avoid working on weekends so that can interact well between the husband and wife and also can interact well with the kids or other family members (Brett, 2008).

3. The parents in both one-career families and two-career families have responsibilities of concern and caring to their children feeling.

Both career families have the responsibility to take good care on their children. Yet, since the wife or wives play an important role of the homemaker in the single-career families, the concerns and responsibility that the single-career families pay are more than two-career families. They take note or guide the needs and wants of children. (Franklin, 1998).

For sure, parents are enabled to give an advice and concern on the development and natural changes of the children. (Christophersen, 2003)

In two-career families, it will cause the relationship between parents and children getting worse and worse and the parents may not able to understand what their children actually think of. So, the working parents need to have more concern to their children’s mind. (Biagioli, 2003)

As the result, parents can give fully support and have an idea on what is going on, emotionally, physically on their children. (Burke, 1997)

TOPIC SENTENCE 2

There has some similar and different pressure by men and women as well as the children in one-career family and two-career family.

SUPPORTING DETAILS

1. The pressures suffered by men in one-career family and two-career family.

Most of the stress suffering by the men is not from their family life but is from their job. (Anitei, 2008)

The men in one-career family will more stressful than the men in two-career family because they are the main financial provider in the family. (Jane, 1996, 1999)

Jane (1996, 1999) founds that the men in one-career family are more easy to feel depressed than men in two-career family that they have less worry about the income when they have another income to rely on.

2. There is some similar and different stress by the women in the one-career family and two-career family.

Due to the research, the women will involve more in the housekeeping and child care (Steil, 1999).

In traditional or one-career family, the characteristic of the woman is being the housewives and the women in one-career family are facing the same stress with two-career family as they need to worry about their children’s behavior such as they having relationship stress with their children as they need to make sure has well relationship with their children so that can understand what their need and so on. (Scott, 2009)

Although the women in one-career family and two-career family having the same stress, but the women in two-career family have more stress as they need to cope with the work pressure and they still needs to show the care and concern to their children and need to help more in family organization after they work (Zimmerman, Haddock, Current and Ziemba, 2003).

3. There has some stress suffered by the children in both one-career families and two-career families.

The children must have their own stress no matter they are in one-career family or two-career family. The stress suffered by the children can come from many aspects such as bullying, family conflict, changes in school, child care arrangement and so on. (Hack, 2001)

According to Hack (2001), the children have good relationship with parents that have well communication with their parents can have the discussion to release their stress.

In the psychology way, children in two-career family will become treason due to lack of communication, especially during the time of puberty. It may lead their children prone in addition to drugs, alcoholic drinks, rebellion, and other issues that are related (Roesch, 2004 ).

TOPIC SENTENCE 3

Unlike the single-career families, the development and empowerment of women in two career families are getting more important in this society.

SUPPORTING DETAIL

1. Men or women are no longer considered to be the sole ‘economic provider’ for the family.

Those women are becoming an increasingly important component in this society. (M. sue O’Dorisio and Thomas M. O’Dorisio, 2003)

Women are finished the certain degree level has greater chances to exploit their potential in different fields and continue their learning process and practice in the workplace. (Hakim, 2011)

Women are no longer in traditional way which means they got the power in combining the work and house aspect. (Roesch, 2004)

As the result of they are dependent enough, and got the strong opinion in their mind, sometime they might argue with their husband because of the dissension and the decision-making issues may be occurred. (Anderson, 1993)

2. Women in the two-career families have their own financial aspect. Yet, it might cause the conflict occurs.

Women in the two-career families are able to lighten the burden on the family than the single-career families do not. (Anathbandhu, 2009)

Wives may have no time to look after their husband upon they return after stressful and tiring day in their work. As well as, the wives cannot give a fully support to the husbands when they return since the wives have their own career. (Biagioli, 2003)

It will cause the unhappiness and dissatisfaction of marital if the conflict is fostering, or the communication and sharing of activities may not moderate spouses’ feeling. (Anathbandhu, 2009)

Causing conflict between families, particularly, if the wife is earning more, and if she enabled to have more progress in her career. (Winkle, 1998)

3. in the 20th century, many of the women no longer to be a mom or housewives. The home-oriented women still stay in the traditional way but the ability and capability of career-oriented women in the two-career family already enlarged.

Both career-oriented women and home-oriented women are act as the homemaker, but the roles of the women in these two career families are different. Since the career-oriented women embark on the professional field, they feel more respected at home and say their spouses are more helpful. (Evans, 2010)

Career-oriented women are more satisfied with the opportunities available to develop their skills, the level of respect they receive at work, and their manager’s support in meeting demands from family and home. (Quast, 2011)

Career-oriented women felt healthy, that their life was in balance and that their work fulfilled a higher purpose than “just making money”. However, they still need to face the bias in their career. (Quast, 2011)

The women of the two-career families live the same kind of hectic lifestyle than the home-oriented women do not. The career-oriented women are running two lives-one at home and one at work. They want to be good wives and mothers, but they also want to bring in a second income to help their households get by. (Sweat, 2008)

CONCLUSION

One-career families have the advantage in terms of the quality time, which can take time to focus on the connection and communication with the children. Yet, two-career families have greater advantages that parents can lighten the burden of the house expenses. Also, two-career families can have a better life instead of one-career families. However, the most important aspect is to be support each other and also focuses on the interaction, relationship and concern between parents and children.

In traditional way, the women are act as the housewives in their family. But in today’s world, most of the women are surged into the work places that are 60 percent of women provide the income to the family (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2004). With this, there have two structures of family such as one-career family and two-career family. It will have some similar and differences aspect in the one-career families and two-career families such as the roles and responsibilities of the parents, the stresses faced by the family members and also the different empowerment of women in one-career families and two-career families.

The first compare of contrast between one-career families and two career families is most of the people nowadays have multiple roles and responsibilities including work and family. There has some similar and differences of the roles as a parent and as a child as well as the roles of husbands and wives in two-career families and one-career families. Besides that, there has responsibilities of parents in one-career families and two-career families to concern the children’s’ feeling..First, there have similarities and differences between the roles of parents for their children in two-career families and one-career families. No matter in two-career families and one-career families, the role of the women is still the same that they having the character as a mother and the role of men are as a father to their children in the family (Sinha, 1993). Besides that, the parents in both one-career family and two-career family should have the positive role model in an active manner for their children. The parents should have the certain skill to build their children’s behavior (Lopez, 2004). For example, the parents need to have proper behavior with their children and make sure always doing the right things when with the children (Burke, 1997).

The next role is there have some same and different roles between husbands and wives in one-career families and two-career families. In the past or in one-career family, the role of the husband is always the main financial provider and having more influence over the family (Franklin, 1998). The wife in one-career family is to be the homemaker. Her roles will always to take care all of the housework according to the needs of the family (Franklin, 1998). For example, the role of the wife is take charge in all the housework including cook for husband and children, cleaning, laundry, help to prepare the things need by husband and so on (Edwards, 2011). In two-career family, they will have equal role between the husband and wife. Both of them have job and are the financial provider to their family (Gerson, 2002). According to the research, both of them need commit to combine their professional and family roles that to integrate and balance between the works or family roles together such as having dinner time together with family, avoid working on weekends so that can interact well between the husband and wife and also can interact well with the kids or other family members (Brett, 2008).

Besides the roles, the parents in both one-career families and two-career families have responsibilities of concern and caring to their children feeling. Both career families have the responsibility to take good care on their children. Yet, since the wife or wives play an important role of the homemaker in the single-career families, the concerns and responsibility that the single-career families pay are more than two-career families. They take note or guide the needs and wants of children. (Franklin, 1998).For sure, parents are enabled to give an advice and concern on the development and natural changes of the children (Christophersen, 2003). In two-career families, it will cause the relationship between parents and children getting worse and worse and the parents may not able to understand what their children actually think of. So, the working parents need to have more concern to their children’s mind. (Biagioli, 2003). As the result, parents can give fully support and have an idea on what is going on, emotionally, physically on their children (Burke, 1997).

The next compare and contrast between one-career families and two career families is there has some similar and different pressure by men and women as well as the children in one-career family and two-career family. First, the pressures suffered by men in one-career family and two-career family. Most of the stress suffering by the men is not from their family life but is from their job (Anitei, 2008). The men in one-career family will more stressful than the men in two-career family because they are the main financial provider in the family (Jane, 1996, 1999). Jane (1996, 1999) founds that the men in one-career family are more easy to feel depressed than men in two-career family that they have less worry about the income when they have another income to rely on.

After mentioned the pressures suffered by men, there has some similar and different stress by the women in the one-career family and two-career family. Due to the research, the women will involve more in the housekeeping and child care (Steil, 1999). In traditional or one-career family, the characteristic of the woman is being the housewives and the women in one-career family are facing the same stress with two-career family as they need to worry about their children’s behavior such as they having relationship stress with their children as they need to make sure has well relationship with their children so that can understand what their need and so on (Scott, 2009). Although the women in one-career family and two-career family having the same stress, but the women in two-career family have more stress as they need to cope with the work pressure and they still needs to show the care and concern to their children and need to help more in family organization after they work (Zimmerman, Haddock, Current and Ziemba, 2003).

Both of the parents in one-career families and two-career families have stresses in their daily life, working and so on. Besides parents have stresses, there also has some stresses suffered by the children in both one-career families and two-career families. The children must have their own stress no matter they are in one-career family or two-career family. The stress suffered by the children can come from many aspects such as bullying, family conflict, changes in school, child care arrangement and so on (Hack, 2001). According to Hack (2001), the children have good relationship with parents that have well communication with their parents can have the discussion to release their stress. In the psychology way, children in two-career family will become treason due to lack of communication, especially during the time of puberty. It may lead their children prone in addition to drugs, alcoholic drinks, rebellion, and other issues that are related (Roesch, 2004).

Unlike the single-career families, the development and empowerment of women in two career families are getting more important in this society. Men or women are no longer considered to be the sole ‘economic provider’ for the family. Those women are becoming an increasingly important component in this society (M. sue O’Dorisio and Thomas M. O’Dorisio, 2003). Women are finished the certain degree level has greater chances to exploit their potential in different fields and continue their learning process and practice in the workplace (Hakim, 2011). Also, women are no longer in traditional way which means they got the power in combining the work and house aspect (Roesch, 2004). As the result of they are dependent enough, and got the strong opinion in their mind, sometime they might argue with their husband because of the dissension and the decision-making issues may be occurred (Anderson, 1993).

On the other hand, women in the two-career families have their own financial aspect. Yet, it might cause the conflict occurs and affect the marital status. Women in the two-career families are able to lighten the burden on the family than the single-career families do not (Anathbandhu, 2009). Because of their hectic life, wives may have no time to look after their husband upon they return after stressful and tiring day in their work. As well as, the wives cannot give a fully support to the husbands when they return since the wives have their own career (Biagioli, 2003). It will cause the unhappiness and dissatisfaction of marital if the conflict is fostering, or the communication and sharing of activities may not moderate spouses’ feeling (Anathbandhu, 2009). It will also cause conflict between families, particularly, if the wife is earning more, and if she enabled to have more progress in her career (Winkle, 1998).

In the 20th century, many of the women are no longer to be a mom or housewives. The home-oriented women still stay in the traditional way but the ability and capability of career-oriented women in the two-career family already magnified. Both career-oriented women and home-oriented women are act as the homemaker, but the roles of the women in these two career families are different. Since the career-oriented women embark on the professional field, they feel more respected at home and say their spouses are more helpful (Evans, 2010). Also, career-oriented women are more satisfied with the opportunities available to develop their skills, the level of respect they receive at work, and their manager’s support in meeting demands from family and home (Quast, 2011). Moreover, career-oriented women felt healthy, that their life was in balance and that their work fulfilled a higher purpose than “just making money”. However, they still need to face the bias in their career (Quast, 2011).The women of the two-career families live the same kind of hectic lifestyle than the home-oriented women do not. The career-oriented women are running two lives-one at home and one at work. They want to be good wives and mothers, but they also want to bring in a second income to help their households get by. (Sweat, 2008)

In the conclusion, one-career families have the advantage in terms of the quality time, which can take time to focus on the connection and communication with the children. Yet, two-career families have greater advantages that parents can lighten the burden of the house expenses. Also, two-career families can have a better life instead of one-career families. However, the most important aspect is to be support each other and also focuses on the interaction, relationship and concern between parents and children.

The word chav is defined in the oxford dictionary as: “a young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of designer clothes.” It is described as an informal derogatory word in British slang. The website, www.urbandictionary.com, which is known for its definitions of British slang words, rather than define the word chav, depicts the image of a 12 year old boy wearing an imitation tracksuit whilst smoking a cigarette and simultaneously showing off his jewellery. The website describes young boy’s attitude as arrogant walking around “as if he is 8 feet tall and mouthing off to strangers that walk by. This website does a great job of posing a truthful image of what a chav is deemed to be.

The importance of cultural criminology lies within understanding human social behaviour through the recognition of cultural factors which enables theorists to view behaviour as dynamic rather than determined giving rise to different views on transgressive behaviour. The actions of the youth considered to be chavs on a daily basis can be deemed as part of their lifestyle, which has subsequently lead to the increase in the term chav subculture. The word subculture is used to describe a culture with qualities that differentiates them from a larger culture, for example the chav culture within British culture. The qualities that this chav subculture observes that differentiates are; a different fashion sense predominantly tracksuits and baseball caps; the wearing of lots of ‘bling’ which is generally gold jewellery whether fake or real; and general loitering (hanging out) in public places such as street corners, town centres.

Cultural criminology aims at looking at crime in the context of its culture. It aims to show the relationship between media culture, youth culture and crimes. It is the idea that the reason for committing an offence due to the thrill received. This may be due to excessive boredom meaning offenders have to resort to crime as their only source of pleasure. Cultural criminologists argue that offenders are influenced by media, and are in the mindset of that is the way to behave. In the context of the chav phenomenon they would argue that the chav phenomenon has occurred through choice, primarily for youngsters to fit in with their surroundings. An example of this can be seen through chav fashion and style. The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies describes style as a means of resolving structural contradictions; however cultural criminologists, such as Martin, take this a step further and describe style as a way of connecting an individual to society. By following the fashion trends, and wearing designer gear, regardless of its legitimacy it is an attempt by chavs to connect with society. Fashion may be seen as a form of exclusivity, with the elite wearing exclusive designer labels; an art form with an agenda of keeping the non-elite at a distance. I believe that the subversive use of Burberry wear by chavs is undeniably an attempt by chavs at connecting with society; by separating themselves from normal fashion and creating their own rebellious trends.

Taking into account Bennett’s notions of lifestyle, I would argue that the choices taken by the working class youth are an effort to attain an identity, to be realised and accepted in a community in which they believed they are ostracised. This conclusion was also drawn by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies who believe the chav phenomenon can be “a reaction to analogous transformations in working-class identity, community and culture, now taking place in the context of consumer capitalism.”

Chavs tend to socialise or loiter in places which are public such as town centres, street corners due to boredom. The only form of entertainment available to them is shouting abuse at passers. This deviance is conceived as the ‘thrill of transgression’ and ‘self-transcendence’ as ‘a way of overcoming the conventionality and mundanity typically associated with the banal routines and practicalities of everyday regular life. I believe the reason chavs walking around flaunting their designer gear a bid receive attention that isn’t obtained elsewhere.

The word ‘chav’ is connected to communities that have suffered social deprivation. Lawler takes this a step further and describes them as “the poor and dispossessed.” Furthermore, Cohen and Ainley describe chavs as a “post-industrial youth underclass”. However I do not believe the words chav and underclass are entirely synonymous. I fear “underclass” is the word that has confused caused arguments regarding class prejudice. Skegg notes that “terms such as social exclusion and the underclass have been cynically promoted and utilized by successive British Governments and policy makers, and have rapidly taken the place of terms such as working class.” It is this point that illustrates the fact that despite post 1980s studies of culture that showed a decline in the analysis of social class; class distinctions have not disappeared rather they have been replaced. As the recognition of class inequalities has been buried so have class identities making the work on social class appear out of place. However the fact that the economic polarisation reached its pinnacle in the 1980s meant that the working class became the new ‘underclass’. This is echoed by Sayer who deems that the term working class has become one of embarrassment and shame after a decline into the issues of class equality.

Moran asserts that the ‘chav’ phenomenon surfaced as part of the 1980s turn towards neo-liberal thinking and enterprise culture. Moran claims society was perceived as groups comprising distinguished tastes and lifestyles, which further became known as ‘yuppies’, ‘toffs’, ‘boffins’ and ‘chavs’. Despite various research about the declining importance of class, the creation of such groups has lead to stereotyping resulting in new classes. One way of distinguishing the lower classes is their crass and flashy style illustrated in the clothes they wear, the jewellery they wear and the music they listen to.

News media has been one of the prime means through which the chav depiction has been composed and constituted. An example is an article titled “Sites to check out if you chav what it takesaˆ¦” which appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News 2004, in which writer Gina Davidson declares: “And we will know them by their dress . . . and trail of fag ends, sparkling white trainers, baggy tracksuit trousers, branded sports top, gold-hooped earrings, sovvy rings and the ubiquitous Burberry baseball cap”. In essence, writers such as this label and define the new underclass known as chavs. She writes, “Call them what you will, identifying them is easy.” In addition to this statement, she continues in a defaming manner by stating that the girls wear too much gold plated jewellery that they will end up putting H Samuel out of business. She labels them as the dole-scroungers, petty criminals, football hooligans and teenage pram-pushers. Davidson’s description demonstrates how the chav label has become an umbrella which encompass a string of older stereotypes of the white working classes.

However the media distinguishes the fact that the chav image possesses a characteristic that makes it unique from previous images of the underclass; the attention paid to the exaggerated use of consumer goods, examples of which include cheap jewellery, branded sports gear and the excessive use of Burberry wear. This has been acknowledged by Hayward and Yar who argue that the “chav phenomenon reiterates the discursive creation of the underclass, while simultaneously reconfiguring it within the space of commodity consumption.”

Through descriptive illustration of chavs, the news media has created a profile, and a person who fits the profile or is similar to the profile will be characterized as a chav. The media has created a class from which people may be pigeonholed purely based on their foreground; with no regard whatsoever as to their background.

Furthermore, theoretical writers such as Lawler , Skeggs and Tyler have laid emphasis on the fact that the portrayals of the ‘chav’ plastered with a sense of disgust which leads to attempts of distinctions by the middle class who are insecure about being tarnished with the same brush as the lower class. An illustration of this antipathy is shown in a quote from a website regarding chavs:

“I am so glad I have money and am not forced to live in local authority housing. This image just makes me realise how lucky I am to be an educated, cultured member of the middle classes.”

This disregard for the background along with the sense disgust created by the media towards this new underclass is what separates the middle/upper class with the chav underclass. I commend Billig’s critique that these unhelpful media accounts of chavs have an underlying intent “to produce a disgust which is not simply reactive but is constitutive of social class.” The expression of disgust within media portrayals of chavs must be seen as conscious and not unintentional. The chav figure has produced a boom of condescending scorn aimed at the lower classes by not only the upper class but the middle class as well.

I would argue that from the view of cultural criminologists, it is this ostracisation that breeds the chav culture and influences the youth to act in such way that contravenes the conventional norm exhibited by society. These transgressions are what gives these chavs their identity. Modern studies on youth frequently put emphasis the notion that class has become less important in shaping young people’s futures has become a powerful argument in sociological writing on youth. But it is this notion of class itself that shapes the youth to pick a culture to follow. The chav culture is just new option that adds to the list of other youth cultures such as Goth, Emo and Urban.

Taking the viewpoint of conventional criminologists, when analysing the new underclass they would take into account the fact that chavs predominantly come from neighbourhoods that exhibit community disorganisation and physical deterioration. The neighbourhoods in which chavs grow up are generally estates which are mainly owned by the local authority or areas or rented housing. These areas are high in proportion of single parent families. These areas also exhibit socio-economic deprivation. The parents of the youths in these areas are largely unemployed, a study for the Centre of Social Justice shows that between 1981 and 2006 the proportion of social housing tenants of working age in full-time employment halved from 67% to 34%. Parents also tend to have histories of drug or alcohol abuse and backgrounds relating to criminality. Families living in these areas tend to lack good relationships between children and their parents with the parents lacking good parental skills resulting in dysfunctional families with high tendency of family breakdown. In turn the children of the parents have as a result of poor parenting and social upbringing been left with no or little social skills or work ethic and may be impossible to educate. These youths display a number of individual factors such as hyperactivity, impulsive reactions, mental and/or physical health problems and a low self esteem. It leaves these youths with poor academic performances in their schools, due to constant time wasting through disruptive and aggressive behaviour. Their lack of discipline and organisation can lead to poor attendance in schools and early leaving.

Edwin H. Sutherland put forward the notion of differential association which asserts that criminal behaviour is learned through interaction, it emerges when a person is exposed to “more social message favouring conduct than pro-social messages.” He argues that criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values the same as non criminal behaviour. If we remove the criminal factor from this theory, it can be applied in the context of chavs; the reason for their behaviour such as loitering or the reason they conform to a dress code is because chavs would like to express themselves just as the upper classes do. They too feel the need to follow a fashion, trend or culture just as much as everyone else.

Another theory that can be applied to the chav phenomenon is the theory of anomie and strain developed by Robert K. Merton. This theory when applied to the chav phenomenon would suggest that chavs divulge in transgressive behaviour as a result of culture and the structure of society itself. He echoes the fact that all of society shares the same values and goals. The theory asserts the reason for chav behaviour is due to a retreat from social norms as a consequence of unequal social opportunities causing the youth to drop into deviant subcultures. Taking this theory a step further we could interpret the culture of chavs a rebellion, which aims to seek new goals, such as creating a new identity or culture solely to differentiate themselves from those who distance themselves from chavs due to ignorance.

Furthermore, the theory of delinquent subculture could be applied, developed by Albert K. Cohen. He believes that the reason for delinquent behaviour was an uprising against the middle class society’s perception of what society should be. He states the delinquent subculture, “takes its norms from the larger culture, but turns them upside down. The delinquent’s conduct is right by the standards of his subculture precisely because it is wrong by the norms of the larger culture.”

In essence, I believe that the chav phenomenon as subculture has come about due to circumstance as well as choice. I believe that the choice to adhere to this subculture made by the youth does not come solely by free will, but is based upon the circumstances and factors that surround these youth, leading them to conform to a culture. This would lead me to say that the view taken by cultural criminologists that chav culture is a choice or a rebellion would not be true if taken out of the context of the argument put forward by conventional criminologist. I do not believe that chav label solely depicts someone following a culture. We have seen in the media, people who have come from chav like backgrounds are still regarded as chavs such as Jade Goody and Coleen Rooney. Although no longer displaying chav-wear, the fact that they come from chav backgrounds has permanently branded them as chavs with Jade Goody being regarded as the ultimate chav. The fact that the she moved out of the deprived living conditions she once resided in the label has stuck with her despite her moving into a middle class society. I believe this has lead to a social labelling and almost social prejudice against people who come from areas populated with chavs.

What people fail to see the is what is hidden behind veil known as chav , the real social underlying problems that have lead the youth to make those choices to follow this culture. Jade goody, labelled the ultimate chav, was ridiculed for her lack of general knowledge on national television, but a closer look at her background reveals that her upbringing was one of hardship and difficulty. She was brought up in an environment full of crime and violence, with her father was a chronic drug addict and her mother a thief, it was not an rearing full of values and ideals.

Tyler and Bennet claim in their article on celebrity chavs that “Media portrayals of these celebrities employ con- notations of the undeserving poor aˆ¦ in order to generate accounts of the undeserving celebrity.”

In reality I believe there is more to the chav phenomenon than just a culture, it has been introduced into society as a class; a class that you are born into and cannot leave. A class that has been produced as a by product of the decline of class and fashioned to produce fluid identities and to compensate for the change in political strategies. A class that the youth choose to be in purely because they fit in no other class.

Question 1

The researcher says that “[i]ntense observations in the classroom and playground area were completed … [and] detailed observations were conducted in … lessons”(p.184). What can you infer about the things she observed and the methods she used to record her observations?

“Qualitative research is an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness as part of a particular context and the interactions there.” (Merriam, 2009:14)

An “ethnographer participates, overtly or covertly, in people’s daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions; in fact collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues with which he or she is concerned.” (Flick 2005:146)

The author, Lisa Russell is a young female ethnographer entering the research field for the first time. This paper is a description of “The implications of investigating student resistance and the importance of how the researchers; personal dispositions influence the research process are discussed.” (Russell, 2005:181)

The research was conducted in three culturally diverse schools of Birmingham and Sydney and the information was gathered through observations and interviews. Students in the age bracket of 14-16 years were identified for observation, especially the ones finding the “experience difficult either academically or emotionally” (Watts, 2001; Russell, 2005:184)

According to Esterberg, ethnography is “intensively studying a specific social group by observing the group in its natural setting” (Esterberg, 2002:8). Sometimes ethnography and participant observation are used interchangeably. But to its contrary, ethnography “requires a participation observation style of fieldwork. Participant observation thus can most usefully be seen as a means of producing ethnographies rather than as synonymously with ethnography.” (Thorpe & Holt, 2008:100)

Russell being new to the field entered her research ground with no “ideal, logical step-by-step approach” (Russell, 2005:182). She used her relative inexperience to her advantage.

She started her research by observing students in various classes and free time. She observed them in their favorite and least favorite modules, covering one of the most popular aspects of student resistance. Once the trust between them grew, she advanced to spending time with them in their own comfort zones, which gave her more of an insight to their personal lives. This way she managed to get valuable information concerning their behavior and problems.

There were instances when she witnessed highly disruptive behavior of students, like that of “a male student kick and bash a school vendor machine during break-time” (Russell, 2005:193) but blinded herself to the situation. At the same time, there were occasions when she found herself caught in uncomfortable circumstances like the time she landed up in the deputy’s office as she was with students who got late for class.

Names like the “follower” and “leech” suggest that during the initial stages Russell was not accepted by the students as she shadowed them all around. But gradually she managed to gain one of the most vital aspects of the study – ‘trust’. “Ethnographers are viewed differently as a relationship is built up and trust developed.” (Cassell & Symon 2004:316).

I feel her main tool for recording data was a daily logbook, but filling the same in front of her research subjects could make them very suspicious and inquisitive. Although as her relationship with the students strengthened, she allowed “the researched the chance to see what was being written about them” (Russell, 2005:187).This she did to gain feedback and more importantly trust.

To conclude, I feel the main aspect she focused throughout was to develop a trustworthy relationship with the students. This she did over a gradual period as she observed and learned from them.

Question 2

The author is a “young ethnographer researching teenagers” (p.193). What difference does our knowledge of her age and personal details make to the account?

“Qualitative research is a form of interpretative inquiry in which researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear and understand. Their interpretation cannot be separated from their own backgrounds, history, contexts, and prior understandings.” (Creswell, 2009:176)

The author, Lisa Russell is “a young, novice, female, white, northern English ethnographer” (Russell, 2005:181). Her “smallness in height and build influenced how students and teachers interacted with [her].” (Russell, 2005:182)

Russell used a very reflexive approach towards her research and took into consideration how different aspects of her personal disposition affected her entire study. “Researchers’ reflections on their actions and observations in the field, their impressions, irritations, feelings and so on, become data in their own right, forming part of the interpretation,” (Flick, 2005:6)

I feel her age -“23-24 at the time of field work” (Russell, 2005:182) and youthful nature helped her immensely in developing a trustworthy bond with the students. The students opened up to her about their grievances which they might not have done with someone older and more experienced. The researcher’s ability to build relationships and develop rapport with subjects is crucial.” (Thorpe & Holt, 2008:151)

Her repetitive emphasis on her age and naivety throughout the paper shows that these facets of her personal disposition helped her to engage in discussions and activities with the teenaged students, which if she was older wouldn’t have been able to do. Her closeness to their age made it simpler for both herself and the students to be able to relate to each other. Although, at the same time it was difficult for her to develop a similar bond with the teachers and she felt exceptionally uncomfortable in staffroom discussions. In my opinion, she put in a lot of effort and time into understanding the point of view of the students and didn’t do the same with the teachers. But as she graduated to the third school her “heightened confidence and greater experience’ (Russell, 2005:188) made it easier for her to relate to and interact with the teachers.

This paper also brings into account the “being there” quality. “Good ethnography is about communicating the impression of having truly “been there,” of having had “close-in contact with far-out lives” while at the same time making the reader feel he or she has been there too.” (Bate, 1997:1163) In the context of Russell’s paper the way she elucidates her experience and subsequently her problems, make it very easy for us to believe and understand her observations. I as a student believed that the intense description about her personal characteristics played a significant role in helping me comprehend her entire research.

I also inferred that as an amateur, she mentioned her young and novice personality keeping in mind that even if her study was not up to the mark it would have been excusable.

“I held a degree of emotional attachment towards some students given the significant time I had spent with them and the nature and detail of their lives they had shared with me.” (Russell, 2005:196) This confession of hers illustrates that she let herself get emotionally involved with the students. Students also, at times would seek for “support and guidance” (from her or consider Russell “as a shoulder to cry on” (Russell, 2005:196). Since this was her first ever ethnography leaving the field and detaching herself from her research subjects, became difficult.

Russell’s reflexive approach and personal disposition especially her age influenced and widened her scope for the study. This nature of the report helped her retain authenticity throughout the paper.

Question 3

Russell claims that her “ethnographic research investigates the complex and sometimes contradictory culture(s) of student resistance to schooling (Wills, 1977)” (p. 181). How is this claim supported in the paper?

According to Russell “This study examines the significance and relationship between class, gender and ethnicity in the construction of resistance. It aims to understand how the wider societal and cultural environment influences the working of a school and the behaviour of the actors within it.” (Russell, 2005:182)

Student resistance is often perceived as explicit rejection of formal education. It is a deliberate yet hesitant activity of students arising due to social, cultural, emotional and academic concerns. “According John Dewey’s comment that teaching and learning are much like selling and buying: ‘One might as well say he has sold when no one has bought, as to say that he has taught when no one has learned'(Dewey, 1910,p.29)” (Provenzo, ed. 2006)

The students selected for the research “ranged from truancy issues and students’ negative attitude towards school and learning to low self-esteem concerns.”(Russell, 2005:184). Taking the instance of a student who “had an alcoholic mother and [was struggling] to cope with her domestic responsibilities” (Russell, 2005:185) shows that how a family related problem can hamper a persons education and make her unenthusiastic about school.

In my opinion this supplement is a conflicting account. As mentioned clearly in the paper it aims at providing an insight to student resistance to schooling, where as there is not much mentioned about the same. According to my inference, it explores the experience and problems faced by the researcher, Lisa Russell during the course of her research. She at the same time concentrates on describing the methodologies used for observations and to gather information.

On the other hand, she made the study interesting for readers to read by providing examples to support her content. “Ethnography is art, science and craft rolled into one. As artists we seek to capture experiences in images and representations which symbolize reality; in this regard, expression is more important than precision.” (Bate, 1997:1153)

This repository statement, ‘expression is more important than precision’ holds true in this study. I as a student found the report very engrossing because of the way she articulated her encounters with her research subjects. Some which put her into awkward situations ‘while trying to gain trust from disruptive students’ made the account appealing. A few others were when she “witnessed students truant, thieve, damage school property, take illegal substances and even [asked her] to participate.” (Russell, 2005:193)

Russell subconsciously seemed to be bias towards the students. “Bias may be viewed as unavoidable as researchers often hold sympathy for some groups over the others.” (Russell, 2005:190) Since this study was centered around students she preferred to take their side predominantly, intending to gain further insight into student resistance.

I personally would have preferred to know more about the teachers since they played an equally important role in the research. She could have discussed the teachers’ reaction to some of the above instances in detail.

In conclusion I believe this paper constitutes more about Russell’s experiential data and personal disposition than on its primary topic of student resistance.

Reconsidering Work-Life Balance

Debates: Challenging Limited Understandings of the ‘Life’ Component in the Context of Ethnic Minority Women’s Experiences

Nicolina Kamenou

Question 1

The author appears to have had difficulties recruiting interviewees (see especially p.s102). Why, for example, might an organization withdraw “from the study claiming “restructuring was in progress”? (p.102)

“Work-life balance means that individuals have ‘successfully’ segmented or integrated ‘life’ and work so as to achieve a satisfying quality of life, overall satisfaction and less strain or stress around juggling conflicting role demands.” (Blyton et al., 2006:2)

“The work-life balance equation” (Kamenou, 2008:S99) is a vast concept covering a number of aspects ranging from career, ambition, family, pleasure and culture. Suitable prioritising between the same helps to accomplish one’s goal in life.

This article is centred “on ethnic minority women’s experiences of managing their work and personal lives.” (Kamenou, 2008:S99). The author, Nicolina Kamenou, collected the data via semi structured, in depth interviews primarily with ethnic minority females. The perception of ethnic minority men, white women and white men was also taken for comparison. “The broader study aimed to investigate best practice on the equality issues but also to examine whether the reality matched the rhetoric of equality of opportunity within organizations by exploring employees’ perceptions and experiences.” (Kamenou, 2008:S102). The author evidently faced difficulties in recruiting interviewees, since only three out of the twenty organisations approached “responded positively to the invitation” (Kamenou, 2008:S102). Further to this, one of them withdrew claiming ‘restructuring was in progress’.

The basic strategy for in depth interviews should be in three stages – “prepare, contact, and follow up (MacDougall & Fudge, 2001). These stages include preparing for the research by describing and constructing a sample, negotiating with the key people or organisations personally, and providing feedback and maintaining relationship with the participants. Initially I feel a loop hole in the recruitment procedure could have led to rejection from many of the organisations contacted. Besides this there could be many reasons for it.

This study is mostly based on topics such as ethnicity, culture, religion, racism and sexism which are very sensitive in nature. One of the main reasons for companies to withdraw from the research could have been to avoid any controversy. They would not want to risk their reputation and find themselves involved in any problematic situation as a consequence of the research.

The firm which withdrew claiming ‘ restructuring was in progress’ was a financial organisation. This shows that the management could have been worried about the company’s inside information since such a research could have revealed confidential data to the market and its competitors and thus affected its integrity. The company possibly had something to hide. On the other hand if a company is confident, a research is a good way of gaining credibility and even one of the cheaper ways of getting feedback from its employees.

I also feel, stating the real names of the participating organisations could have been avoided. Kamenou should have used pseudonyms instead as confidentiality is a significant factor of researches. “Confidentiality must be assured as the primary safeguard against unwanted exposure. All personal data ought to be secured or concealed and made public only behind a shield of anonymity.” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000:139). Kamenou could have most definitely got a better response from the companies initially contacted, had she offered to keep the names anonymous.

In my opinion, the sensitive character of the study and the matter of confidentiality, were the main reasons which lead to the difficulties faced by the researcher while recruiting interviewees. I also believe, that a better response could have been achieved had the interviewees been assured about the authenticity of the information being published. Regarding the financial company no conclusion can be drawn as we have no proof against them.

Question 2

Would you expect differences between the people in organizations where formal access had been been granted and the ” ‘independent’ group … identified through personal networking”? (p. s102) If so, what might these differences be?

In this article, Kamenou focuses on “the specificities in the experiences of ethnic minority women, incorporating other groups’ experiences where necessary, with regard to balancing their work and personal life” (Kamenou 2008:S107). For this purpose both males and females from different cultural backgrounds were selected to be interviewed. The researcher recruited these interviewees formally from organizations. An independent group of participants was also identified through personal networking across a range of various public, private and voluntary organizations. All the participants varied in their occupations. The researcher derived information from a number of job profiles, to name a few there were nurses, managers, lawyers and psychologists.

The researcher conducted semi structured, in-depth interviews. The main goal of these interviews was “to explore a topic more openly and to allow interviewees to express their opinions and ideas in their own words.” (Esterberg, 2002:86). The researcher must have certainly got different responses from the formally approached people and the independent group.

Since the exact procedure of recruiting the interviewees has not been mentioned, I feel that the participants of the organizations where formal access was granted may not have been given a choice. Thus, they may not have voluntarily agreed and would have been least interested in the research. They would have restrained from giving out information concerning their organization with the fear of it reaching higher authorities and thus loosing their jobs. At the same time their response could have been manipulated by the employers to gain publicity.

On the other hand, the independent group were people selected through personal networking and thus their cooperation was completely voluntary. We can refer to it as snowball sampling. This basically means when existing research subjects refer future subjects from among their acquaintances to help widen the information base. Such participants would have been interested and involved in the interview. They would have been more forthcoming with their response. Since these participants were being interviewed without any pressure form an organization, they would have been more willing and open about discussing their personal experiences. The only problem in such sampling is that of bias. The researcher could have recruited these participants according to her own convenience. She might have selected them with the point of view of extracting maximum information.

In my opinion, the independent group would have been more fascinating and appropriate to interview since they would have provided with more intense and authentic information than the formal access participants. “A key reason for including the ‘independent’ group was to add richness to the data by looking at minority women’s work and career experiences in a variety of sectors and occupations.” (Kamenou, 2008:S103)

On the whole, the author managed to acquire a wide range of experiences and data from both types of participants. Thus, this gave us a deep understanding of the problems faced by ethnic minority women while balancing work with other responsibilities in life.

Question 3

From reading the paper, what do we know about the author? How might the identity of the author have made a difference to the research?

This paper is an example of feminist research approach. In such a study “the goals are to establish collaborative and nonexploitative relationships, to place the researcher within the study so as to avoid objectification, and to conduct research that is transformative. It is a complex area of inquiry with numerous frameworks (e.g., male oriented, white feminist oriented, able-bodied female oriented) and difficult issues (e.g., the absence and invisibility of women, who can be “knowers”)” (Creswell, 2007:26)

Of the various forms of qualitative research, ethnography is the most common one used by females. A researcher’s personal disposition plays a very significant role in a research, especially when done by a female. Reflexivity also has a big impact on such studies and makes the output of the same extremely relatable.

In this paper, Nicolina Kamenou, “explores minority women’s perceptions of the reciprocal relationship of career demands and other aspects of their lives, such as family and community expectations and responsibilities” (Kamenou, 2008:S99). The author’s method in this research is not reflexive at all. At no point in the study does she reveal any personal information regarding herself. There is no mention of the influence her personality has on the study nor of the interpretations she derived from the same.

In my opinion, if the author had made revelations about her personal details, the research would have been more engaging. Even though this article gives a rich insight into the work life equation, it does not elaborate on the author’s experience and relationship with her research subjects. It would have been appealing to know her age and cultural background because these seem to be the two most important factors which could have influenced the research. She has left the reader’s guessing her identity.

If the author was associated with the ethnic minority group, she could have given an account of her experiences and hence added some personal touch to the research. But at the same time, if she had adopted a reflexive approach, she would have left the readers questioning her objectivity towards the research. We as readers would have assumed that she was bias towards her subjects and thus she would need to justify herself to us.

In my view, Nicolina Kamenou’s approach towards her research was very different as compared to Lisa Russell’s. Russell’s adopted a very reflexive approach and described in detail the impact her personal disposition had on her subjects, interpretation and conclusion of the research. She does not keep the readers guessing her identity and gives away a considerable amount of personal information which helps us as learners relate to her. On the other hand, Kamenou’s approach is far from being reflexive in nature. The readers gain no knowledge about her personal characteristics and the impact of the same on her research.

In conclusion, Lisa Russell’s study gave an excellent account of the author’s personal impact on the entire research, where as it didn’t focus much on the information she derived from it. On the other hand, Nicolina Kamenou’s research offered a rich insight to her topic of discussion, while it didn’t enlighten us with her thoughts towards the study. Overall, the papers gave me a good understanding of two contradicting accounts in the vast field of qualitative research methods.

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