A-level Sociology: Culture, Family & Wealth

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What is meant by 'Culture'?

People in sharing similar beliefs, values, norms, attitudes or products.

What are the characteristics of 'Folk Culture'?

traditional

created by ordinary people

authentic

active participation

rooted in the experiences of ordinary people

Identify 2 stereotypes which have been attached to people with disabilities:

seen as dependent

cannot contribute to society

are non-sexual

cannot express their own preferences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai9pRv_t3y8 (Embed)

Suggest 3 sources from which ethnic groups may construct their identity:

language

religion

geographical origins

traditions and cultural practices

reaction to racism or discrimination

history

Suggest 3 ways in which individuals may be socialised into a class identity:

the education system

norms and values taught by family

class-related leisure pursuits

the experience of work

living in a particular community

influence of peer group

Explain what is meant by the 'nuclear family'?

A nuclear family is a non-extended family consisting of parents and children. An extended family includes grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives.

Suggest 2 reasons for the fall in the infant mortality rate:

improvements in nutrition

improvements in housing

improvements in sanitation

better knowledge of hygiene/child health issues

Identify 3 ways which adults can control the activities of children:

control over access to resources

control over children's time

control over children's bodies

control over children's space

neglect or abuse

laws restricting children's actions

making education compulsory

Explain what is meant by 'serial monogamy'.

This means having several marriage partners/long-term relationships over the course over the course of one's life, one at a time.

Suggest 2 reasons why there has been an increase in cohabitation:

secularisation

cohabitation is more socially acceptable

reduced stigma attached to sex outside marriage

growing economic independence of women

improved access to contraception

Identify 3 ways in which childhood may not be a positive experience for some children:

live in poverty

experience divorce/break-up of the family

be subject to abuse by adults

be bullied

suffer health problems

have to work to support family

have to carry out the role of carer

Explain what is meant by a 'deprivation index'.

Identify 2 problems if using an 'absolute definition of poverty':

difficult to define necessities or minimum standard of living

definitions of necessities are inevitably cultural

ignores the fact that poverty changes over time

using absolute measure would disguise the true extent of poverty

Suggest 3 reasons why members of the working class may be more likely than other social groups to experience poverty:

earn less

be unemployed

have a lower pension

have less savings/wealth to live on

be less successful in education and therefore poorer access to the labour market

be excluded from the labour market due to ill health or injury

Explain what is meant by 'dependency culture'.

A dependency culture is the set of value and beliefs centered on preferring to live on welfare benefits.

Suggest 2 functions of poverty:

it keeps wages down

it provides a mechanism of social control

it provides work for social workers and others

it provides a workforce for menial jobs

it divides the working class

it provides an incentive to work hard

Identify 3 criticisms made of welfare services provided by private and/or voluntary organisations:

may lead to a two-tier system

enables the rich to jump queues

insurance does not always provide cover when needed

may divert resources away from the public sector

charities may employ less well qualified staff

voluntary organisations may provide a sporadic service

Two Main Types of Families

Conventional Families (Marriage): This is a family is the traditional sense of the word. Family is associated or linked through birth and marriage and extends across household boundaries. Family ties bind people from differing ages and sex into a group who support each other. This interdependence between family members is seen as the moral basis of society.

Deregulated Families (Individual Choice): Traditional families are seen as sources of social inequality and injustice. Personal choice and autonomy are regarded as fundamental to achieving a fair society.

Notes:

- Most people gravitate towards conventional family life

- Many women want more domestic roles in the household

- People in traditional families experience higher levels of personal and marital satisfaction

Reasons for Increased Income Inequality:

Government Policy: The Thatcher administration set in place policies that were bound to

increase inequality. The top band of income tax was reduced from 60% to

40%. Tax policy shifted from being progressive to regressive, mainly

through indirect taxation such as increases in VAT.

At present in the UK, there is a situation in which there is a switch

away from a policy of full employment accompanied by pressure on

individuals to secure their own means of private provision of health

care and pensions. In such a situation, inequalities in income and job

security can play an even more important role in determining an

individual's life chances than before. As the polarisation of the labour

market continues we see the emergence of work rich and work poor

households.

The Market: It seems that a relatively free market economy encourages inequality.

Restructuring: The UK economy has shifted from industrial to service sector employment. It increased unemployment, insecurity and inequality.

The Decline of Trade Unions

Defining Poverty

Poverty is a contested concept - there is little

agreement on how it should be either defined or measured. This is

particularly true of attempts to define relative poverty. Thus,

contemporary attempts to investigate poverty usually fall back on

official subsistence definitions, as represented by the safety-net

minimum social security benefit levels. The general term for such

minimum income schemes is social assistance, and at the present time in

Britain the scheme is called income support. These benefits can be seen as a sort of 'official' poverty line.

However, governments have been reluctant to accept the use of benefit

ratesas indicators of poverty since to do so would be to acknowledge

the need for far ranging and very costly remedial action. In addition,

it should be noted that the more generous a government is in lowering

the threshold for entitlement to benefit - allowing more people to

claim, the greater the extent of poverty becomes if such entitlement is

also used as an index of those people living in poverty, clearly here is

an illustration of the extent of poverty beingan artefact of the definition.

Another problem raised by the politically contested nature of poverty is where to draw the line between poverty and inequality.

Poverty then is difficult to pin down and define in a way acceptable

to everybody; it clearly has both political and moral dimensions.

Culture & Identity

Families & Households

Wealth, Poverty & Welfare