Housing
Poor quality housing is often associated with poor health. Dampness and mould might increase the risk of allergic and inflammatory diseases including asthma. Poor housing is also likely to mean problems such as poor lightning, non-safety glass in windows, loose rugs and poor maintenance of stairs, which may result in accidents. Overcrowding housing may cause stress due to lack of privacy, noise and difficulties in relaxing and sleeping. It may also limit people’s ability to access washing facilities, TV programmes and internet and computing facilities and is likely to make it difficult to study.
People on low income will worry about the cost of heating in their homes. Older properties are often less well insulated than modern flats and houses so that people on low incomes might receive higher heating bills than people who are better off.
Angelina’s family was in the working class, because her parents got divorced so her mother had to make ends meet and tried her best to give her and her siblings the best in life. They are a working class so although they didn’t really have enough money, they could still afford to live where there is good housing facility. However, if they were short of money, they would have lived in a house with poor quality.
Access to recreational facilities
Low income may restrict access to travel and other recreational activities. People with low income may have more difficulty obtaining information and leisure activities and much more difficulty travelling from them if they live in neighbourhoods without regular transport. These issues may create barriers to accessing leisure and recreational facilities and some of the barriers are as follows:-
-
Travel:- Many people may find it difficult to travel without access to a car
-
Information: - People with low incomes may have limited access to newspapers, internet and other facilities they can get valuable information from.
-
Location; - Some leisure activities may involve travelling. Walking is the most common physical activity but access to countryside walks may depend on access to a car.
-
Culture:-Certain types of leisure activity may be perceived as only relevant to specific groups. For example, golf may be seen as male and middle class
-
Time: - People with demanding jobs or family commitments may have reduced opportunities for leisure.
-
Money:- Membership of sports clubs/recreational activities may be dependent on income
Access to Health and Social Care Services
Some studies have shown that life expectancy is shorter in deprived areas in comparison to that in more affluent areas of housing. Areas with a high proportion of low income households may have poorer facilities than more wealthy areas. There are concerns that some groups of people may not receive the same quality of access to GP services and to preventative health services to others, even though the NHS provides free health care for everyone. Deprived areas may find it very difficult to recruit GPs and nurses. Also a low income may make it difficult for people to get to health or care facilities. For example, in the National Statistics 5years ago showed that 11percent of households without access to a car had difficulty in seeing their local GP
Discrimination
Discrimination is the act of treating a particular group of people or someone less favourably than others because of their race, colour, nationality, or ethnic or national origin. Britain recognises two kinds of discrimination and they are direct and indirect. Direct discrimination occurs when a protected characteristics such as race, colour, nationality etc is used as an explicit reason for discriminating. While Indirect Discrimination occurs when there are provision practices operating, which have the effect of discriminating against certain groups of people by putting them at a disadvantage compared with others and which cannot be justified as proportionate.
Effects of Discrimination could include:-
- Depression or anxiety
- Anger and frustration
- Feelings of vulnerability and being unsafe
- Stress and poor mental health
- Low self-esteem- which is a feeling that you are inferior to others
- Lack of confidence in own abilities
- Withdrawal from other people
- Exclusion- the feeling that you do not belong with others
Bullying
Bullying is when an individual or a group of people intimidate or harass others. It is a form of discrimination. It can undermine an individual’s self confidence and reduce self esteem, causing stress, depression and anxiety to the individual. Bullying can threaten a person’s self-confidence, so the victim usually keeps it to themselves sometimes. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) stress that it is important to tell someone if you are being bullied. They should talk about their problems so support can be rendered and also in order to cope with and prevent bullying within an educational context.
Bullying can sometimes involve the following:-
- Physical violence or assault
- Verbal insults
- Being left out
- Peer pressure
- Talking about you
- Calling you names
- Spreading rumours
- Exclusion (being left out)
- Receiving constant criticisms or ‘put downs’
- Interfering with personal possessions such as school work
- Receiving abusive messages such as text messages
- False stories being shared about you
When Angelina Jolie was little, she was being picked on. She was in high school at this time and felt isolated amongst the children of some of the area’s affluent families. She was teased by other students; they targeted her for her distinctive features because she was extremely thin, and for wearing glasses and braces. This diminished her self-esteem when her initial attempt at modelling proved unsuccessful.
Family Dysfunction
A family is a social group of people who are related genetically or through marriage. The common types of family are as follows:-
- Nuclear family:- This consists of the father, mother and children living together
- Extended Family:- It includes grandparents, parents, children, uncles and other relatives living together or near other
- Reconstituted Family:-This is similar to that of the nuclear family, but in this case all the children are not biologically related to both adults
- Lone Parent:-A lone parent with a child or children
Every home should have a functioning family and a well functioning family can help us to develop in the following ways:-
- They provide our first experience of social interaction
- Families can influence our view of what is socially expected of us
- Our experience of family life will influence what we assume to be normal or socially acceptable behaviour
- Families are where our first emotional relationships and attachments take place
- The family home provides a setting that meets our physical needs for protection, food, shelter and warmth
- Families can support people emotionally and also protect them from stress
- Family members may help each other financially or practically. For example, families may support older relatives
A dysfunctional family is a family where nothing is done appropriately; it is not working well and not providing all of the support and benefits associated with being in a family.
Some reasons why some families are dysfunctional could be because:-
- Family members may become stressed because of health problems, including mental health problems, poor housing and low income.
- Some adults have poor parenting skills.
- Some may try to control other family members in aggressive or manipulative ways
- Others may be insufficiently involved with their children and so neglect them. Some parents may be inconsistent in the way that they teach children to behave socially
- Some may have grown up within a dysfunctional family themselves and have little practical experience of providing appropriate relationships and support for other family members.
- Stressful family environments may be a disadvantage to children.
- It would be difficult to develop self-confidence if there are constant emotional tensions at home.
Angelina’s parents got divorced in 1976, because of this, her mother and brother had to move to another location where they had to live. Due to the divorce Jolie and her father were estranged for many years. She still got the love she and her sibling deserved even after all.
Socio-economic factors
Someone’s income can enable them pay for their accommodation and other necessities. Incomes mainly come from wages from employment, profits from your business, if you are self-employed, benefits paid by the government etc. The Social Trends in 2004 showed that the top 20 percent of households get around 18 times more money each year than the poorest 20 percent of households, this is before tax. Households with an income that is less than 60 percent of ‘median’ income in the UK are usually considered to be living in poverty. In the period 2005-2007, 18percent of Britain’s population were estimated to be living on a low income. This was found in the Social Trends in 2009.
Groups of people who have to live on very little income include: - lone-parent families, the unemployed, older people, the sick or disabled, single earners and unskilled couples (where only one works in an unskilled job)
Jolie’s mother survived on a more modest income, even with this they tried to cope and manage whatever they could get with this money. This also made Jolie were second-hand clothes because they couldn’t really afford it.
Employment Status
When someone is out of work it means that they live on a low income. Children will also be affected if they parents live on a low income. Children living in workless families or households are more likely to have a low income than those in families with a full time job. Children who grew up in poverty in the 1970s achieved less at school and are less likely to get into university or college than those who never experienced when they were little. Poverty is associated with being a victim of crime. Poorer communities are more likely to live in polluted areas than the wealthy ones.
Problems children may face if they belong to a low income family
- Poor diet
- Low self-confidence
- Parents feel stressed by money worries
- Poor housing- This also means a more risk of illness or disease.
- More exposure to pollution
- Less access to facilities to research valuable information such as school work
- Expectations of growing up to be unemployed
Education
People with few or no qualifications are more likely to be unemployed or employed in low paid work. People from low income families may have less chance of achieving high qualifications and good careers. Some disadvantages of low income on education are as follows:-
- Poor or overcrowded housing can make it difficult to study
- Less money for equipment, book, educational outings etc
- Limited access to information and communication technology for valuable information
- Lack of ability to support children’s school work
- Less value placed on educational success
Jolie wanted to act and enrolled at the , where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions. She dropped out of her acting classes and aspired to become a . During this period, she wore black clothing, experimented with , and went out with her boyfriend. .After the relationship had ended, she returned to theatre studies and graduated from high school a year early
At age 14, Jolie she began working as a fashion model, modeling mainly in Los Angeles, New York and London. During that time she appeared in several music videos, namely 's "Stand by My Woman" in 1991
Peer Groups
A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around interact within the social aggregate. Members of a particular peer group often have similar interest and backgrounds bonded by the premise of sameness. Some peer groups may be very diverse in ways such as socioeconomic status. (Education, race, culture and religion)
As a child you will have learned a lot about social relationships when you played with other children. During adolescence we are very influenced by people of our own age group. Peer groups provide a second chance of social learning after our family, which provides our primary socialisation.
Values and Attitudes
Values are principles that we use to guide our thoughts and decisions. While attitudes are assumptions that we use to make sense of our social experience. Attitudes and beliefs may be copied from people we mix with, or at least from people who we see as being similar to ourselves. Values and attitudes will be influenced by your life experiences with issues such as bullying and discrimination and also the culture that you are exposed to in your neighbourhood and that you access through social networking and the internet.
Jolie learnt her values, beliefs and attitudes from her parents during her early years and while she was growing up. She was also influenced by the people who surrounded her like her friends and relatives.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle represents the way an individual chooses to spend their time and money in order to create a ‘style’ of living. Your choices will be limited by the money that you have and influenced by your culture and the people in your life. People on low incomes have limited access.
Nutrition and Dietary Choices
People with a low income will find it harder to travel to supermarkets and stock up on cheaper food. A low income person or family may be pushed to buy unhealthy foods because it can be harder and more expensive to choose a healthy diet. Certain people choose to eat a diet that includes unhealthy fatty, salty or sugary food and some people may eat an unhealthy diet because of convenience. Some authors argue that convenience food that has a high fat, salt or sugar content is often cheaper than the healthier choice of diet.
In Jolie’s case, I think they couldn’t really afford food on a daily basis. I think this because she was being picked upon at high school for being extremely thin
Drugs, smoking and alcohol
Drugs are illegal in the UK and National Statistics have shown that 14 percent of men and 8 percent of women have taken illegal drugs in the previous years. In this same report ‘one in three young men and one in five young women reported that they had used cannabis. Smoking is usually associated with heart and lung disease. It is also associated with socio-economic class. More people in manual occupation tend to smoke more than in the higher social classes. The Social Trends 2009 showed that in 2007, one in five people in the UK were smokers. Alcohol has a big impact in the human life and men are advised to drink only four units of alcohol a day and women no more than three units. Some statistics also show that 32 percent of young men and 24percent of young women tend to have a lifestyle that involves heavy drinking
All these substances have an influence on the users because it can cause them to have deadly illnesses and diseases. It could also influence the development of people. The use of these substances can also lead to mental problems. For example, if an individual takes drugs too much, their body becomes used to it and masters it, and so if they stop all of a sudden or are not given the drugs they can become aggressive and restless.
If a pregnant lady smokes or drinks, the chemicals in these substances such as nicotine can limit the amount of blood and nutrition the foetus is meant to be receiving from its mother. This could also lead to a low birth weight, the child will be smaller and its weight would be reduced compared to that of a healthy child whose mother didn’t smoke or drink.
Predictable and Unpredictable Events
Some major changes in life can be predicted and even chosen, while others may be unpredicted. If an individual’s life suddenly changes there is always the risk that you will feel out of control and stressed. If he or she chooses to leave home, marry or retire they may feel in control of these events. Predictable and unpredictable life events involves generalisation. For example, some people might find issues like divorce or redundancy predictable, but other people may not have expected to be divorced or to loose a job.
Predictable and Unpredictable major life events on Angelina’s development
When Jolie was in her adolescent stage of life, she was being picked on and so did not really have the opportunity to make friends with her age mates in school. Her self-esteem and self confidence was also brought down because of this. She didn’t really have anybody to tell to let the pain off, so she used knives and sharp objects to cut herself
"I collected knives and always had certain things around. For some reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me’’.
Jolie’s frienship with Brad Pitt began after they both starred in the movie ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’. Brad and Angleina are setting an example of working together not only for the sake of their children and one another, but also for those living in difficult situations. Before hand, they were not putting a priority on their time alone together, but now it seems to be changing. Angleina said ‘’ You have to make time when you are not Mom and Dad once in a while. I think for anybody who has kids, the most important thing is that you love your children, but you also have to stay focused on each other so that you stay strong. And you staying strong as a couple keeps the kids in an even better place." Angelina is trying to make her family a good one, seeing as she came from a broken home. She doesn’t want her children to go through what she went through when she was little, so she is building up her home to the best of her ability and also with Brad’s assistance.
Sources
ALL IS FINE THAT ENDS WELL THEY SAY….