Taste, Consumption and Social Class - the views of Bourdieu.
Taste and Consumption- Bourdieu Pierre Felix Bourdieu was a French sociologist. His investigations mainly focused on social, cultural and symbolic aspects of society. His work emphasized on concepts of habits, field and violence to reveal the strength of power relations in modern life. He opposed the western philosophy of tradition. Bourdieu explains the theory of class fractions by the concepts of social, economic and cultural characteristics. Society encourages symbolic factors and regards these factors to be ideal weapon to achieve distinction (Bourdieu, 1984). He explains that cultural capital is a determining factor for differentiating classes across the society (Bourdieu, 1984). Bourdieu explains that people inherit cultural attitudes from their elders and preach the same to the generations following them. He explains the indications of food, taste and cultural presentations are influenced greatly by socio-economical capital of individuals (Bourdieu, 1984).All these typical characteristics inculcated from the beginning of childhood form a basis of choosing food tastes. The tastes depend on class of the people and are different for different class of people in the society. Each fraction of class has varied tastes and their consumption depends on their position in the society (Bourdieu, 1984). Each fraction of people has their own magnitude of consumer interests and
Critically discuss the idea that families should be the main providers of welfare
Critically discuss the idea that families should be the main providers of welfare Before discussing the idea it is important to understand that what is social welfare? Generally, Social welfare refers to the number of planned services of volunteers and governments that improve the welfare of individuals, groups, or societies.”Similarly, A social welfare system is a program that offers help to needy individuals and families. The types and amount of welfare available to individuals and families are different in different country or region It has been argued at several places that families should be the main providers of welfare in society. However, it has been criticized by many socialists. As they believe that social welfare is not the responsibility of families. In fact, government is accountable for protecting people from unsafe products and adverse environmental conditions. Health, safety and welfare laws must be passed be the courts of the country. Citizens are those that elect their leaders so they solve their social problems after coming into power. That is the main reason why the government should be responsible for the welfare of its citizens. For instance, the general welfare clause has been used by many countries to promote the well-being of the citizens. The General Welfare clause is a section of the Constitution, which states that the government should promote
lifespan development
Task 3 Unit 4 - Lifespan development. "It is a progressive loss of dynamics regulating cellular tissular and organ interaction." [A definition of ageing from health on the net foundation.] Ultimately, everyone ages. Age Concern states that in 1996, 5,523 people in England and Wales were aged 100 years and over. It is estimated that by 2036 there will be 39,000 people in this age group, and by 2066 there will be 95,000. And we all pretty much age in the same way; our bodies go through lots of changes from birth to old age. I am going to describe two theories of ageing, and compare them. And explain the physical changes that occur during the ageing process. The two theories I am going to describe are the disengagement theory and the activity theory of ageing. The disengagement theory. The disengagement theory was proposed by Cumming and Henry in 1961 it basically means that older people gradually disengage themselves from society in ways that can't be avoided such as; * Children moving away from home * Compulsory retirement * Death of friends or family members and * Illness. Some older people choose to spend more and more time on their own. Because they are removed from most of their social roles, as well as society withdrawing them. This therefore leads to a loss of social conformity and a decreased desire for social respect. Meaning that in their later life
Social exclusion.
Social exclusion means, the conditions and circumstances that can arise when people or areas suffer from a combination of problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. The Social Exclusion Unit was set up by the Prime Minister to help improve Governments work on reducing social exclusion by producing 'joined-up solutions to joined-up problems'. Since it was set up in 1997, the SEU has published 28 reports in the following major policy areas: truancy and school exclusion; rough sleeping; teenage pregnancy; 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training, neighbourhood renewal and reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners The work of the Social Exclusion Unit is one part of the Government's aim to tackling social exclusion. Tackling social exclusion has been an important part in budgets and spending reviews. The Government has committed itself to annual reporting on its anti-poverty strategy in Opportunity for All. The SEU's work has helped to change the way social exclusion is understood within Government and more generally by other people. They help in preventing social exclusion by making sure that mainstream services deliver for everyone, and reintegrating people who are severely disadvantaged. Other Government departments are now using these reports, hence real signs of
Social Exclusion
Social Exclusion Social exclusion is a term that is often used along side that of poverty. The two terms and the conditions that they describe are related but not exactly the same, although the difference between them is not easily defined. Social exclusion is commonly referred to as the lack of material income (the core concept in poverty). While many socially excluded people are materially poor, their exclusion can occur in other ways for example: - in unequal opportunities, powerlessness, loss of dignity, marginalisation from mainstream society etc. For example the travelling community often feel that they are excluded from society, as they are not made feel welcome and given the same opportunities as those living long term in a community. The social exclusion Unit was created to help the new Labour government tackle social exclusion and is answerable to the Prime Minister. Its own expert definition is: 'Social exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health, poverty and family breakdown.' What the unit is trying to emphasise is that social exclusion is about more than income poverty - it's about being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political or cultural systems, within a
Social Stratification
Social Stratification This is an essay to examine a few of the stratification systems of the past and present that denoted class within societies. Every society regardless of how big or how remote always has some kind of social strata connected to it. Most of these societies have been documented and analysed previously. This assignment is going to look at what sociologists, mainly Karl Marx and briefly Max Weber and George Mead had said about society and social class, and how we can interpret these philosophies into these social groups that I will be looking at. I will also try to incorporate these social strata's into modern day Britain, to see if they are relevant today or not. In this piece I will be looking at the caste system, feudalism and our own class system in modern westernised societies, also discussing how these systems have developed. Firstly we will look at caste system. The caste system originated when the Aryans migrated from Central Europe and settled India. They implemented division of labour in their society. The cleverest members of society were selected and given the task to teach others; they were called "Brahimins". The bravest people were selected and given the task to protect society; they were named "Chetris". The group who were producers and suppliers of materials, trade and food were called "Baishyas". The dullest types of individuals; "Sudras"
Anti-Social Behaviour.
Introduction Anti-Social Behaviour - An Introduction You could not fail to miss the articles in the press and the programmes on television, such as, 'Neighbours from Hell'. Ideas about what 'anti-social behaviour' is vary widely from children playing games on unauthorised areas to burglary, muggings and racial harassment. Noise is a constant source of complaints in many areas. The definition, which seems to cover all aspects of anti-social behaviour is that provided in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998: Anti-social behaviour is any behaviour that causes or is likely cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the perpetrator. Anti-social behaviour not only affects individual's lives but whole communities can suffer, becoming no go areas and undesirable places to live. It is a problem, which crosses all types of tenure, and therefore social and private rented tenants as well as owner-occupiers are all vulnerable. In recent years, the government has recognised the problems caused by the anti-social behaviour of an unreasonable few. The reduction of anti-social behaviour is one of the Home Office's main targets and is also being considered as a future Public Service Agreement target. The Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Team 8 (PAT8) were responsible for the first inter-departmental strategy to tackle anti-social
Personal Statement
Personal Statement I am applying for the post of Youth Worker as I feel I have the relevant experience, skills, knowledge and expertise to successfully meet the needs and demands attached to the post. Most importantly, I am interested in being continuously engaged in working with vulnerable people. I passionately believe that with support and encouragement people have the potential to develop a positive attitude towards life, thus becoming valuable members and significant contributors to the community. Knowledge Part time and voluntary work has given me the ability and skills, to work on my own initiative and as part of a team. Therefore, I am aware team work plays a crucial when working with young people. As a 'volunteer mentor' my duty was to help socially excluded children and integrate them back into society. In order to successfully do this I worked as part of a team both internally and externally. I also participated in regular team meetings and I feel this is important because it enhanced my relationship with my team and kept me fully updated. I have been fortunate enough to work as a 'community worker with children' in Nairobi, Kenya. Through this experience working within the orphanage and school setting I have been able to work with a diverse group of young people who are from different backgrounds, gender, age, etc. In order to meet the diverse needs of
Personality Theories
Personality Theories Arguments in Personality theory are very similar to those in the measurement of intelligence (a) what is it?, (b) is it biological or learned?, (c) how do we measure it?, (d) is it a unitary global thing or made up of lots of little facets?, (d) can we change it? Etc etc., The idiographic approach focuses on the whole person whereas the nomothetic approach attempts systematically to rank, order or measure large groups of individuals on common aspects of their behaviour or to look at individual differences. The first consideration, it seems to me, is that we need one or more definitions of personality: Child (1968) described personality as the "more or less stable, internal factors that make one person's behaviour consistent from one time to another, and different from the behaviour other people would manifest in similar situations"(p.83) According to Murray (1940) "A personality is a full congress of orators and pressure-groups, of children, demagogues, communists, isolationists, war-mongers, mug wumps, grafters, leg-rollers, lobbyists, Caesars and Christs, Machiavels and Judases, Tories and Promethean revolutionists" which I think just about covers the options! Allport noted some 18,000 traits whilst Cattell argued for 16 distinct traits (which he derived by using a statistical technique known as factor analysis). If you think about it, you could
Psychological research on identity has used both an 'insider viewpoint' and an 'outsider viewpoint'. Illustrate this statement by giving an account of two theories of identity together with the research studies that support them.
Psychological research on identity has used both an 'insider viewpoint' and an 'outsider viewpoint'. Illustrate this statement by giving an account of two theories of identity together with the research studies that support them. Introduction The topic of Identity has been a hot topic in psychological researches. By extending the question like "who I am", psychologists try to produce a psychological theory of identity by asking questions like "How individuals identify themselves", "How human identity is constructed", "To what extend it can be developed" or "How important is the development of identity". In order to examine the diversified question, diversified research methodology is used and different types of data is collected and analyzed. The theories are then built up in different point of view, which can be classified into "insider viewpoint" and "outsider viewpoint". Later on, we will examine how researches are conducted in the two named viewpoint, then illustrate them with Social Constructivist and Social Identity Theory. Insider Viewpoint Encountering different types of question, psychologists use different viewpoint. When psychologists have a goal to study individual differences, or an individual's account for a specific issue, they usually use insider viewpoint or a "seen-from-inside" perspective to explore a psychological topic. Hence, the aim of the research
