Girls are taught their gender roles and how to develop and to improve and serve the needs of the man by learning how to cook and clean for the men.
Liberal Feminist
Liberal Feminist believes that women and men are becoming more equal in society. They see that the problem was caused by the law being sexist and also the differences in the way we are brought up (socialisation) between males and females. To solve this we need to be socialised differently and get rid of sexist laws
Liberal Feminist argues that the society is changing to improve the equality right for the women therefore they see that the government has changed the equal pay act in the 1970s.
They are paying the women and men the same wage now, and the government has also changed the equal opportunity act in 1975 this now means that they don’t have to be house wife’s any more and they can go out to work and get paid as the same wage as men’s.
Reference:
Class notes
Website viewed on 9 / 7 / 08
Post Modernism
Post Modernism sociologists look at the fast changes in society and today’s culture. They believe these changes take place in society due to the rapid growth of media and communication systems, of a global culture.
Post modernism feel that institutions such as families are constantly changing e.g. there are more single parented families now than others so you cannot explain society by the same types of family because it’s always different and always rapidly changing. There is a wide range of families nowadays so you cannot just talk about it and base things on the typical family anymore.
Post Modernist’s believe that society cannot be answered by the likes of Functionalists or Marxists as there isn’t enough evidence to base its theory upon and it is far unreliable. Post modernism believes and expresses the point that society is now led by the way individuals lead there own lives in society. Post modernist’s see everybody as individual’s they don’t group them.
We can’t rely on Functionalism or Marxism these days. Functionalists believe society needs social institutions to be corrected before it can run smoothly. One of these social institutions is family (the typical family).
Functionalists believe that with out family an individual would turn out different which could cause the society to become chaotic. Post Modernism has already proved this an unreliable as there is not a ‘typical family’ and society is still coping well with it. As Marxists are similar to functionalist’s and believe similar things they too are unreliable.
Reference:
12 / 6 / 2008
Interactionalist Theory
The interactionist theory also known as social action theory this also goes against all the structuralist theories i.e. Marxism and Functionalism as they aren’t concerned about the society altogether.
The interactionist theory is very interested in relation to the small groups that make up our society like:
- Families
- youth cultures
- groups in the work place
They look at the interaction within these groups and how this has an impact on their behaviour,
For example interactionists might observe a group of teenagers at a local park and study why they socialise with each other?
- What are the personalities of each individual like?
- Do they copy each other or act there self? Do they dress the same?
- Is there a pack gang?
- If so what influence does he/she have on the group?
- Does the leader influcturate peer pressure?
These are the different types of ways an interactionist that might observe them.
Interactionists don’t believe we are socialised in an intense way such as functionalists/Marxists and feminists believe.
Sociologists argue that we are influenced by the process of socialisation, however this can’t be true as we make our own decisions in how we live our lives, the way we feel is acceptable.
The main critiques of this theory are interactionists are taking into account the small groups, but not the big influences of history and what makes the social groups how they are.
Reference:
Class notes
Collectivism
What is Collectivism?
Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of a collective, rather than the importance of separate individuals.
What is This Theory Based On?
This theory is based on helping vulnerable people collectivist’s feel it’s the government’s responsibility to provide better care for these individuals and that we shouldn’t help fund via tax and national insurance.
When Was Collectivism Introduced?
In 1601 in England the poor law was introduced to look after the people that are in need however after World War 2 the welfare state was introduced to provide a better care fore these individuals therefore in 1942 a report called Beveridge report came out and we had to get rid of the five evil within the society these were poor housing, poverty, idleness (unemployment), diseases, ignorance (insufficient education) therefore in our days the government still focuses on the evil five within today’s society however when the government makes a speech within the elections on how all the major parties give attention to these five phases that are listed above within there speeches.
The Collectivists found out to help to support the family who are in need (poor) of the help, the well of families should contribute to the government in a way that they should pay taxes and national insurance contribution.
These are still major issues of governments today. For example you’ll notice in a government election each candidate from all of the major parties will mention at least 5 of these aspects in their speeches.
New Right
Margaret Thatcher introduced the New Right theory because she believed that the welfare of the vulnerable should not be underpinned on the government. She didn’t think it was right that it should be the government’s sole responsibility to help the vulnerable.
Margaret Thatcher thought that by us helping vulnerable people we were producing a culture of dependants I.e. people dependant on the states welfare rather than focusing on caring/loving themselves and their loved ones. New rights theorists belief is that if we constantly care for these people then we’re not taking responsibility for our own needs and those of their families.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
Concept of health
Task 2 (P2)
Positive
A positive concept of health is about maintaining good health and living a healthy lifestyle. An example of a healthy life style is a good balanced diet and plenty of nutrition.
Negative
A negative concept of health is on the whole of not being concerned about someone’s quality of life, but focusing on whether the people are healthy or not. According to the negative concept they believe healthy is when you are able to do things and function in an order that you can sustain. As long as you’re able to do things and no illness is distracting you they aren’t particularly bothered.
Holistic
Holistic looks at the health and wellbeing of a person for example:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Social
- Intellectual
- Spiritual
Not just at how poorly people are and what symptoms there having and the possible treatment they need.
Functional
A functional view of health is that your body is working enough for you to still do day to day tasks. For example, you might be chronically sickness, but you still have the strength because you are well enough to go to work or be physically active with your self and do things.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
The World Health Organisation
It looks at all the different aspect of health all over the world (not just at illnesses and diseases, but also studies the actual well being in people such as the physical, social and emotional side of things.) The ‘WHO’ provides essential care, support and helps build them who aren’t as fortunate as others with a better quality of life.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
Concept of Ill Health
(P4)
Iatrogenesis
In 1976 Ivan Illich introduced the term Iatrogenesis which is an illness that is generated by medical activity and practice.
The three major types of iatrogenesis which are
Clinical
Is an unwanted side affect of a medical invention an example of this would be is you go to the doctors because you are ill and the doctor prescribes you a dosage of medication cream and you come out with a rash this means that you may have had a allergic reaction towards the cream.
Social
Is an medication which has gained power and that the people rarely hand themselves to the professionals and becomes mass consumer to the medications an example of this would be if someone wanted to donate their kidney they would have to think twice before taking up the process.
Cultural
Is when the society becomes over concerned with perfect health and makes it very difficult to build up positive attitude towards impairment and to cope appropriately with death.
Cultural Iatrogenesis
Is based on upon a society or a culture’s need for perfection.
In terms of health in the ideal world everyone would be healthy and there would be no ailments. Society is too obsessed with perfect health so this means we put too much emphasis on perfect, normal health, an example of this would be if a child is born with a facial problem they will want to operate as they want to make the face better and more appropriate.
On average us as a society can’t cope with things like death and illness, because we’re so obsessed with everyone being healthy we tend to have a positive approach so when something bad does happen and we find it hard to adapt to it.
Some non-western societies celebrate death they believe in reincarnation. They see it as a good life whereas in our country we see it as a really negative thing.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
What is A Disability?
Disability – is someone who is physical or mental hurt or injured. It can be either inborn or resulting from an injury or illness etc.
It disrupts to some degrees a person's ability to conduct normal life functions for day to day activities such as i.e. football, swimming and other physical tasks.
Help and offer assistance - is to support this condition a qualified disability carer can assist a disabled person when they need any help doing tasks and a physiotherapist.
There are also associations related to helping and supporting disabilities.
The link below offers some good websites to help give disability support in the UK.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
What is The Sick Role?
The Sick Role is concept defined by Talcott Parsons in 1951, it is a term widely used in medical sociology. For parsons being sick is not simply a condition, it is a specific patterned social role.
For Functionalists people who are ill can be perceived as a disruptive. This is because a large group sick could develop into a sub-culture of non working, dependent people.
Parson’s theory is the opposite to the Functionalist’s theory of health. In Parsons sick role the patients want to get better and will co-operate with the medical professions i.e doctors to ensure full recovery. Once they have recovered the patients can continue their normal role within society.
The theory outlines two rights of a sick person and two obligations.
Obligations are what the sick person must do whereas rights are what the sick person is entitled to. Listed below are the rights and obligations a sick person must follow:
- The sick person is not responsible for their condition
- The sick person is exempt from normal social roles
- The sick person should seek technically competent help and cooperate with the medical professional
- The sick person should try to get well
Who Came Up With These Ideas?
The ideas come from Freud, parsons and Weber.
Who was The Concept Invented by?
The concept was invented by Talcott Parsons in 1951.
How Does it Affect People?
If you’re sick and off work, you will be exempt from normal social roles and duties however this is not your fault as you’re not responsible for your condition.
You are only entitled to so many sick days off work in order to keep your job you must avoid absences and if you are ill seek help.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
Website viewed on 6 / 9 / 08
What is The Clinical Iceberg?
Clinical Iceberg is a term used to describe the phenomenon of many unreported levels of illness, as it was thought that only a small proportion of the population actually reaches the health care services, .i.e. the tip of the iceberg. The tip of the iceberg means we only know about the tip of the iceberg, we never really know about the iceberg.
How Does it Affect People?
If affects us because doctors don’t always use the correct terminology required to the persons illness. For example if someone dies of aids they won’t class it as aids they will class it as ‘pneumonia’. So we’re not always getting the right information or correct information regarding an illness. Basically two people could go to doctors with the same illness and the doctor could say to one of them it isn’t anything bad and to the other it is bad and give the illness a title. Statistics and reports we read about deaths are usually the ones.
Reference:
Stretch B, BTECH national health studies, (heinmann 2002)
Website viewed on 6 / 9 / 08
Task 4 P5
Patterns and trends of health & illness:- Fertility
This graph shows fertility at it’s highest since 1980
In 2006 the total fertility rate (TFR) in the UK was 1.84 children per woman.
In 2001, the TFR plummeted to 1.63, but it has increased each year since then.
Although the current level of fertility is relatively high compared with that seen during the 1990s, the TFR was considerably higher during the 1960s 'baby boom', peaking at 2.95 children per woman in 1964.
All four UK countries have experienced rising fertility over the past four years.
Northern Ireland continued to have the highest fertility rate in 2006 (1.94 children per woman), while Scotland’s fertility remained lower (1.67 children per woman).
The Fertility in England and in Wales was close to the UK average (1.86 children per woman in each country).
Age Pattern of Fertility
The fertility of UK women in their thirties and forties has been increasing steadily for the past two decades; an example of this would be that the fertility rates for women aged 30-34 rose from 78.2 live births per thousand women in 1986 to 104.6 in 2006.
Since 2001, small increases in fertility have also been experienced by women in their twenties, but it is too early to say whether these recent increases among younger women will be sustained.
These changes in the age pattern of fertility have led to steady increases in the average age at childbearing. The mean age for giving birth in the UK has increased from 28.6 years in 2001 to 29.2 years in 2006.
Family Size
Two children remains the most common family size in England and Wales.
Over one-third (37 per cent) of women reaching age 45 in 2006 (that is, those born around 1961) had a completed family size of two children.
Childlessness has been on the increase in recent years.
Nearly one in five women born in 1961 was childless, compared with one in ten women born around 1941.
The proportion of women having three or more children has fallen, from nearly four in ten women born in 1941 to only three in ten women born in 1961.
Conclusion
The graph shows the rate of fertility was higher in the past and had reached its peak.
Now it is relatively lower in the future. This could be down to:
- Lifestyle and genetics.
- If someone smokes heavily,
- drinks a lot
- eats really fatty food and doesn’t get enough exercise
Then this may lower their fertility rate, because more and more people are getting obese which maybe why the figures of the fertility have plummeted in the last few years.
In 1960’s the diet was a lot healthier they wasn’t no way as many fast food services as they is now and all the food was done by fresh, also there wasn’t really any up to date technology as there is now such as pc’s, iPod’s, nintendo wee which distract you from day to day routines.
What Would Feminists Say?
Feminists would believe men are to blame for a woman not conceiving they would blame it on their partner’s lifestyle and their bad habits.
Feminists feel men are bad influences on women and they stop a woman from a achieving her potential.
Feminists blame low fertility rates typically on the men as they feel they don’t do enough for the woman and they have a lot of areas to improve.
Even though despite the problem of conceiving may be to do with the woman, feminists would still purely believe the problem was down to the man.
Feminist’s like to preach out at men and tell them the rights from wrongs even though they might be doing everything they can feminists would still think it was the man’s fault and would nag at him insulting his intelligence, beliefs and rights.
Reference:
,
Website viewed on 14/ 7 / 08
Breast Cancer Mortality Statistics by Sex
In the UK in 2005 there were 12,509 deaths from breast cancer; 12,417 (99%) of these were in women and 92 (1%) were in men 1 to 3. Breast cancer accounts for around 17% of female deaths from cancer in the UK and was the most common cause of death from cancer in women until 1999; since then there have been more deaths from lung cancer. Males were more at risk in the UK than any other country.
The number of deaths from breast cancer and the mortality rates for the constituent countries of the UK are shown in Table 2.1
Breast Cancer Mortality Statistics by Age
The number of deaths and age-specific mortality rates for female breast cancer are shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 states breast cancer between younger women aged 35-54 years is the most common cause of all deaths. Breast cancer accounts for 32% of all deaths. The chart shows older men are slightly at risk which indicates it could stem from ageing and lifestyle.
Trends within Breast Cancer Mortality
Breast cancer mortality rates in the UK have fallen dramatically since 1989 when 15,625 women died from the disease compared with 12,417 in 2005. Over the same period the breast cancer age-standardized death rates have fallen by 33% from 42 to 28 per 100,000 women, Figure 2.2
The age-standardized mortality rate for female breast cancer in all of the essential countries of the UK increased until the late 1980s and then rapidly fell. Breast cancer mortality has declined in all age groups (Figure 2.3).
Between 1989 and 2005 the breast cancer mortality rate fell by 39% in women aged 40-49 years; by 36% in women aged 50-64; by 36% in women aged 65-69; by 33% in women aged 15-39; and by 17% in women over 70.
The reduction in breast cancer mortality rates is likely to have several different causes including screening, increasing specialisation of care and the widespread adoption of tamoxifen treatment since 1992.
Reference:
,
Website viewed on 14 / 7 / 08
What Do Feminists Think About The Cancer?
A feminist would feel women are more likely to catch cancer because they do the most work like house work for instance. This is because women have a lot of things to deal with and like to multi-task they’re taking too much on board which means they’re more likely to become stressed out, and the more stressed you are obviously the more cancer can trigger.
Feminists would blame men for women getting any type of disease as feminists feel men depend a lot on women and are always making them do things, which can leave them totally exhausted in the process depriving them from important sleep.
Not enough sleep or rest could result in something dangerous and an increase in catching diseases.
Feminists feel if men were more independent and didn’t always rely on women then the amount of women getting breast cancer would be significantly low prior to men taking more of the responsibility than usually.
Feminists initially believe women do too much and take far too much responsibility and we’re too kind which is why men take advantage of us but if we toughened up a bit and made sure men played their part then it would be more equal in a sense of things being done together and fairly.
This would mean the woman could rest and sleep better meaning she wouldn’t feel so stressed out due to things being done equally.
Conclusion
The graph shows that more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before.
In the 1970s around 5 out of 10 breast cancer patients survived beyond five years.
Now it's 8 out of 10 this shows the health and NHS are improving and more and more technology is being created helping to kill off cancer.
Survival rates are higher among women who live in wealthy areas but a lot lower for women who live in the most deprived areas.
The more active life style you lead the less chance of cancer you have of getting. Although it isn’t always down to the lifestyle you lead as someone I know was really fit and healthy and she caught it so sometimes there’s no explanation for it.
Genetics can be the reason why certain people get cancer than others obviously if most of your family has cancer then you are more likely to get it through inheritance.
I feel cancer is easier to deal with nowadays and isn’t as serious as it used to be because they have more technology.
Life Expectancy Continues To Rise
Life expectancy at age 65, United Kingdom
Life expectancy at age 65, the UK has reached its highest level ever for both men and women.
Men aged 65 could expect to live a further 16.9 years and women a further 19.7 years if mortality rates remained the same as they were in 2004-06.
Within the UK, life expectancy varies by country.
The highest expectations of life at age 65 occurred in England at 17.1 years for men and 19.9 years for women and the lowest in Scotland at 15.8 years and 18.6 years respectively.
The equivalent figures for Wales and Northern Ireland are a little lower than those for England.
Life expectancy at birth is also at its highest level for both males and females.
Boys and girls born in the UK could expect on average to live to 76.9 years and 81.3 years of age respectively.
The increase in life expectancy among older adults has been particularly dramatic in recent years. Between 1980-82 and 2004-06 life expectancy at age 65 in the UK increased by 4.0 years for men and 2.8 years for females.
Around one-quarter of this increase occurred over the last four years.
In general the increases in life expectancy over the same period have been broadly similar for each country. However, on average, for males in Scotland the increase was lower at 3.5 years.
Conversely, females in Northern Ireland experienced a higher increase of 3.3 years. By comparison, expectation of life at birth in the UK has increased by 6.1 years for males and 4.5 years for females over the same period.
Women continue to live longer than men, but the gap has been closing in recent years.
Improving mortality rates mean that the chance of a new born boy reaching age 65 has increased from 74 per cent (based on mortality rates experienced in 1980-82) to 84 per cent (based on mortality rates in 2004-06). For females the chance has increased from 84 per cent to 90 per cent.
The above life expectancy figures make no allowance for future changes in mortality. Allowing for the latest projected future improvements in mortality from the 2006-based population projections the cohort life expectancy at birth in 2006 is projected to be 88.1 years for a boy and 91.5 years for a girl.
Cohort life expectancy for those aged 65 in 2006 is projected to be 20.6 years for males and 23.1 years for females. It is estimated that a boy born in the UK in 2006 will have a 91 per cent change of reaching age 65 and a girl a 94 per cent chance.
Reference:
,
Website Viewed on 14 / 7 / 08
Conclusion
The graph shows I initially feel women live longer due to the lifestyle they lead and they tend to look after themselves more than men.
Men are more devoted to sport, smoking; alcohol etc whereas women are more devoted to shopping, occasional drinks and their wellbeing.
Also men do tougher jobs than women in the aspect of physical as they choose jobs such as brick laying, construction etc which they have to move their bodies a lot and be really physically fit although men’s jobs are straight forward they are a challenge and need a lot of strength to sustain it.
I feel women eat a more healthy diet compared to men as they tend to cook more whereas men will rely on convenient food such as takeaways and ready meals which aren’t so healthy. An unhealthy lifestyle which may have been wild and fulfilled may well determine a lower life expectancy.
What Would Feminists Say?
Feminists believe women are so devoted to their jobs, kids, friends etc that they’re always involved in everything they try to lead a healthy lifestyle compared to men who are lazy and live off easy-to-do meals but men are more sociable than women in a sense they’re more likely to go to the pub while the wife stays at home this is typically why women don’t drink as much alcohol as men because when men drink they do it so often that they’re used to the amount whilst women will only do it occasionally so won’t be used to such a big amount.
This is purely why women live longer because they care about their well-being and appearance a woman won’t drink loads instead they will devote themselves to their kids they will still see friends but not as often as men see them.
As women have more of a role than men they have to tend to the child night and day the child depends on both parents but it’s which one it sees the most who it will be attached to. So men’s lifestyle and responsibility have a lot to do with the type of life expectancy they will succumb.
