rationalle and context

Authors Avatar

Context

Aspirations and whether role models have an effect on the success and motives of children has been researched by a number of different sociologists and reporters, dating back to the 1970’s.

In 1976 Sue Sharpe wrote a report on working class girls in London, looking at girls priorities. She found that the girls in London had a set of priorities which were unlikely to be encourage them to attach importance to education. Their main concerns were “love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs, and careers”. Showing a low aspiration to succeed in education as career came last. Although in 1990 Sharpe repeated her research and the results differed and had reversed. The girls in London priorities had changed to marriage not being as important, careers had flown to the top of the list as the girls wanted to be able to support themselves.

Ferguson in 1983 argued that teenage girls magazines prepared girls for feminised adult roles and generated a ‘cult of femininity’, this included being a good wife, keeping a happy family looking good and knowing how to cook.  

Join now!

About 10 years later in 1986 Christine Griffin conducted some research ‘It’s different for girls’. She found that boys and girls social groups differ to the extremes and when she tried to find similarities she struggled immensely. Girls extremely disliked the idea of ‘factory work’  “it’s just sitting at a machine for a long time”. It appears that the ‘girls’ would find this tedious and wanted to do a ‘job that’s interesting and different.

Tearesa Grafton a year later in 1987 carried out a study on subject choices in1st and second years at high school, she found the combinations available ...

This is a preview of the whole essay