GENERAL STUDIES Society

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GENERAL STUDIESSociety
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Society

• WHAT IS IT?
• Jot down your ideas/definition.

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• People
• Law
• Morals
• Values
• Government
• Religion
• Institutions
• Economy
• Science

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Changing Values

• Acceptance of alternatives to marriage
• Attitudes to abortion and divorce
• Employment opportunities for women
• Care in the community for the elderly and
• vulnerable in society
• Entitlement to franchise
• Equal opportunities race and gender
• Punishments for different crimes
• Using medical knowledge to maintain damaged life

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• Can society survive without shared common values?
• How has the development of a multicultural
  society in Britain contributed to changes in
  societys values?
• What values are in the process of change today?
• What values would you like to change?

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Society - Issues

• The family
• Gay rights
• Gender equality
• Old people
• Young people
• Disability

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Todays Families (1999)

• Couples married/unmarried
• Couple no children 26 Couple -
  dependent children 39
• Couple non dependent children 8
• Single 12
• Single parent - 11
• Other (student/friends/etc) 4

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The Family

• The number of first marriages is falling, divorce
  and remarriage is rising, single sex partnerships
  are rising and fewer than half or the population
  live in the traditional family unit of a married
  couple with their own children. Female
  employment is seen by some as the great
  disruption in family life. As women become more
  economically independent, men feel more freedom
  and no obligation to parent.
• There is no deficit of mothers and motherhood,
  but there is a serious deficit of fathers and
  fatherhood.

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• How many types of family do we have now?
• How many types of family does society need?
• Do families reinforce stereotypical gender roles?
• Why does the media present the nuclear family as
  ideal?
• Should the state try to encourage one type of
  family?
• Are men irrelevant to the family?
• Are there any roles required by society that can
  only be provided by the family.
• Do families perpetuate stereotypical gender
  roles?
• Is the family effective in socialising children?

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Gender issues

• 1967 The Abortion Act
• 1969 Simplification of the Divorce law
• 1970 Equal Pay Act
• 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act
• 1975 EU Equal Pay Act
• 1976 Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Procedures
  Act

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Gender issues

• Today women and girls
• achieve better results at school
• enter HE in growing numbers - may soon outnumber
  men
• are 3 times more likely to care for
  elderly/disabled relatives
• less likely to vote than men
• are half the workforce but have worse promotion
  and access to senior posts
• Median weekly earnings of full-time employees in
  2006 for women (387) were 26 per cent less than
  those for men (487). (www.statistics.gov.uk)
• Make up a growing proportion of the poor,
  especially single mothers

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• What is equality of opportunity?
• Are men still more equal than women?
• Can positive discrimination ever be justified?
  You may want to consider race issues here too.

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Gay Rights

• Marriage for gays and lesbians given legal
  status December 2005
• Adoption for single sex couples growing
• new bill makes discriminating against single sex
  couples illegal.
• Single sex couples already used frequently as
  foster parents.
• AI/surrogacy to create natural children for
  single sex couples.

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Old People

• By 2021 20 of the population will be over 65.
• Life expectancy rising 1971 Men 69, Women 75
• 2005 Men 76, Women 81
• Why has life expectancy changed?
• Why have attitudes to old age changed?
• (baby boomers, youth culture)
• Why has old age seen as a problem?
  (cost/pensions/health)
• Should retirement be optional or compulsory?
• If abortion is legal, why not euthanasia?

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Young People

• Important factors in the rise of the youth
  market
• Decline in infant mortality
• Extension of education to 18 or even 22
• Delay in entering the labour market
• Growth in part-time student work
• Development of student fashion
• Influence of the media
• Increased overall prosperity

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• How does the media encourage a separate youth
  culture?
• How important to the economy is the youth market?
• Is there a link between youth crime and youth
  culture?
• How far are teenagers an invention of the 20th
  century?
• What are the effects of youth culture on young
  people?
• (rap music crime? Fashion eating disorders?
  etc)
• How can young people participate in youth culture
  if they dont have the resources?
• Is society too youth centred?
• How have changes to the family affected young
  people?

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Disability

• 14 of UK population suffer impairment
• In Spring 2001 there were 6.8 million people of
  working age with long-term or work limiting
  disabilities in the United Kingdom
• 1995 Disability Discrimination Act
• 2000 Disability Rights Task Force - inclusion
  of children and adults in mainstream education
  and opportunities
• Traditionally disabled people were cared for in
  the extended family but now the state is usually
  expected to provide care as disability becomes a
  medical rather than a social issue.

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• How far is there discrimination against disabled
  people?
• Should the law impose sanctions to enforce equal
  treatment for all people, irrespective of
  disabilities?
• How can the employment opportunities for disabled
  people be improved?
• Why and to what extent are people frightened of
• disabled people? How can these perceptions be
  changed?