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Exploring Identity Culture and Socialisation:The Formation of Age Identities

Identity, Socialisation, Culture: Age

• L.O to understand the idea that age is a social construction.

• To understand the different ways of understanding age

• To evaluate ways of understanding age

Youth

• What is youth?• How much power

and status do youths have in society?

• How are youths portrayed by the media?

• When does it begin?• When does it end?

Youth

The experience of youth differs depending on class, gender and ethnicity.

Clarke (1976) – youth is based around the concepts of rebellion and resistance. This could be resisting the norm or rebelling against a relatively low status position.

E.g. how the youth of the 1960s protested against the Vietnam war and racism in the USA.

Subcultural groups such as Chavs are often used by the media to represent youth in contemporary UK – is this a true representation of youth identity today?

Middle Age

What is middle age?When does it begin?When does it end?Is it a good or a bad time in a person’s life? Explain your answers

Old Age

1. List 10 words you would instantly associate with the term ‘elderly’

2. Compare your words to person sat next to you and highlight any similarities

3. Highlight words that appear positive and those that have negative connotations

4. Listen to the song ‘My generation’ by The Who. What message does this give about old age

5. Watch the video by The Zimmers and write down ways in which this reflects a changing view of the elderly

Age and the Family

• According to Jenks (1996) “childhood is not a natural but a social construct”, Therefore our idea of childhood is socially constructed

• Functionalists see that the move towards a child centred society is a positive step

• Feminists such as Firestone argue that the care and protection offered in this society is actually oppression and control

• For example protection from paid work is not seen as liberating, but as restrictive and as creating inequalities between children and adults

• The Dionysian child is one constructed as “a wilful material force....impish and harbouring a potential evil'. This view suggests adults must control children in ways that prevent them falling victim to their essential “badness”.

The views of childhood

The Apollonian child

The Apollonian child, on the other hand, is constructed as “angelic, innocent, untainted by the world it has recently entered. It has a natural goodness and a clarity of vision that must be encouraged, enabled, facilitated, not crushed or beaten into submission”. This view suggests the role of adults is to create the conditions under which children can develop their essential “goodness”.

• Answer the Following Questions• Which view is dominant today?• What is the evidence for this?• How is this reinforced by parents?

Age and the Media

Cohen

• Cohen suggested that the media portray the youth as ‘folk devils’

• Give examples of negative images of the youth in the media

SantogThe elderly are also portrayed negatively. Sontag suggests that women especially are required to look youthful and are fired when they reach 50

Identity, Socialisation, Culture: Age

• To understand the impact of religion and the workplace on age identities

Age and Religion

• List reasons why the young are less likely to believe and practice religion.

• List reasons why the elderly are more likely to attend a religious orgainsation

Religion and Age

• Paul Heelas’ sought to explain differences in religious participation between different age groups

• He found that 73% of those active in the holistic milieu of Kendal are aged 45 and over

• 25% of adults aged 30-39 have downshifted over the last 10 years

• People in their forties and forties do this to spend time with their children

• 25% of over fifties stated that they do this because they are seeking a healthier lifestyle

• They want to stay younger for longer

• They are more likely to have affected by health problems

• An awareness of the limits of life; feeling of “time running out”

The Workplace

• Why do young people suffer from high rates of unemployment?

• Why do young people earn mostly low wages?

The YoungThe young are also disadvantaged in contemporary society. The government has estimated that 5 million children in the UK live in poverty and many young people of working age are disadvantaged by low wages, student loans and ineligibility for state benefits. Most young workers earn minimum wage, 235,000 18 – 20 year olds. More than 2/3rds of Mcdonalds’ staff are under 20. Nearly 2 million 16 – 24 year olds in full time education are also in paid employment. 2/3rds of Pizza Hut’s crews and 1/5th of Sainsbury’s store staff are included in this figure. In 2001, the unemployment rate for those under 25 was over 20% and some groups of young people face greater disadvantage because of their social characteristics.

The Workplace

• Describe what is meant by age discrimination?

• What are the most significant figures to illustrate age discrimination?

• What research methods would you use measure age discrimination? (what problems would you have?)

• What would a society without age discrimination look like?