Canadian Society: Emerging Issues What Lies Ahead…
What Lies Ahead…. The economy Politics The media Health and beauty How do the four factors above influence who we are and who we become?
Dec 25, 2015
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Canadian Society: Emerging Issues
What Lies Ahead…
Factors that Affect Our Lives
The economyPoliticsThe mediaHealth and beauty
How do the four factors above influence who we are and who we become?
The Economy
Affects our lives in the following ways: What we do after high school How we work Where we work Why we work What we do with our earnings How we behave in society How we react when changes in the
economy occur
Teens and Work
Work helps us to define who we are, as well as our social status
Customer service and/or sales: entry-level, low pay, but a great learning experience
Working 15+ hours/week lowers academic performance: confirmed by studies
Many teens unaware of their rights as outlined in the Employment Standards Act: easily exploited
Why do teens work?
Working Teens around the World
COUNTRY Avg. # minutes @ paid work/day (15-19 YOs)
United States 41
Netherlands 40
Canada 32
Australia 23
United Kingdom 22
Norway 17
Belgium 13
France 9
Germany 8
Finland 8
Source: Challenge and Change: Patterns, Trends, and Shifts in Society
The Economy and Higher Ed
The current state of the economy is a factor in what you do after high school
Recent economic trends also affect the way we think about post-secondary educational financing: debt is okay
Economic trends can also affect your successful completion of post-secondary education: no loan, no job = no school
A good job might make you leave school
Economic Challenges and You
February 2012: unemployment rate for the 15-24 demographic is 14.7%; overall Canadian unemployment rate is 7.4%
Last in, first out: when a recession comes…
You will compete with each other, as well as adults with more experience, for jobs
Your Job, Your Self
Charles Cooley (sociologist) and the looking-glass self: “I am not what I think I am and I am not what you think I am; I am what I think that you think I am.”
Your job helps to define you (no matter how much Tyler Durden protests otherwise)
What happens when you can’t find a job?
Tyler Durden’s Philosophy
Unemployment
Affects people’s minds, egos, and souls, as well as their wallets
Social stigma comes with unemployment
High unemployment also affects those who have jobs
Trend: corporate downsizing Effects: same amount of work, fewer
people to do the work, increased stress, reluctance to complain due to potential unemployment, increased resentment of job and circumstances
Now you can work wherever you are! Hooray…?
Solutions to Economic Challenges
Delay transition to adulthood Unpaid internships to gain industry
experience (and maybe a full-time job) More school: Master’s program; post-
graduate certificate from college; additional qualifications
Move to another province or country: less competition, more opportunity Some provinces offer student loan
forgiveness in exchange for time “served” Start your own business
Money Matters
Canadian household debt levels rising
Current debt-to-income ratio is 1.59:1
Young people tend to owe money for student loans and credit cards
Older people tend to owe money for mortgages and lines of credit
Peak debt: early 30s – why is that? Many people have no handle on
personal finances
Case Study
How would you deal with this scenario? Assume an annual income of $34,500 ($15/hr, 44 hrs/wk, 52 wks/yr)
Variable
expenses
Student loans (OSAP)
Credit Card #1
Credit Card #2
Credit Card #3
Balance$600/mo.
$27,000
$10,000
$12,000
$8,000
Minimum
monthly
payment
1% of balance
3% of balance
2% of balance
4% of balance
InterestPrime +
2.5%13.5% 19.99% 6%
The MediaCanadians spend 19 hours/week
on the net16 hours/week watching TV
35 hours/week = work week!The more you see something,
the more normal the thing seems
Violence, death, sex, drugs
The Impact of TV on “Reality”
George Gerbner (1994): TV has become our means of transmitting culture
TV programming is determined by corporations that want to sell things
Increased TV consumption might mean that we are allowing corporations to tell us who we are
Danger: TV programming is driven by demand, but history isn’t implications?
“Reality” TV
Albert Bandura (psychologist): people learn by observing and then modelling other people’s behaviour
What impact does the flood of American programming have on Canadian culture?
What impact does reality TV have on our expectations regarding appropriate behaviour in real life?
What impact do celebrities and their behaviour and attitudes have on our own behaviour and attitudes?
Violence and the Media
Does the media reflect the increased violence of our society? Or does the media desensitize us to violence, thereby making society more violent?
How do games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, or Call of Duty influence adolescent development? Think about the kinds of tasks each game presents its players
Batman and the Joker, 1966
Batman and the Joker, 1989
Batman and the Joker, 2011
Politics
Fewer and fewer young people vote with each passing election
Senior voter turnout is high; there also happens to be a 2:1 ratio of seniors to youth
The more education a Canadian has, the more likely they are to participate in the political process
Complaining about what’s wrong with Canada won’t solve the problems
Once you turn 18, VOTE!
Health and Beauty
The way we define health and beauty affects our behaviour and attitudes
The value we place on specific types of health and beauty also affects our behaviour and attitudes
What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be beautiful? How important is it to be “healthy”
and “beautiful” according to our definitions?
Health
In the past, health defined as the absence of disease
Today, take broader approach, focus is on preventative care and health promotion (must adopt healthy lifestyle to reduce likelihood of becoming sick 25% adults obese Child obesity tripled in last 25 years)
Reducing Harmful Behaviours
Governments have: Media campaigns Public awareness Programs promoting healthy behaviour
To change beliefs and perceptions need to increase knowledge and awareness of risks
EXBig focus on reducing smoking rates
Huge media campaigns Stricter laws
Canadian Health Care: Universal?
Staying healthy costs moneyHealth is directly related to
income: the more you make, the easier it is to stay healthy, and vice versa
Health is also connected to geography: urban dwellers tend to be healthier than rural folk
50 Shades of Beauty
Time and culture affect the definition of beauty
CMHA (2011): 70% of women and 35% of men are currently dieters
Study (2000): 76% of post-pubescent girls are unhappy with their body shape
Growing number of males (young and not-so-young) with eating disorders
Culturally-defined Beauty
The types of toys and clothes that are widely available reveal society’s definitions of beauty
Go to the drugstore and examine the products for sale: what types of beauty “problems” or “defects” do they “treat”?
What is the connection between land usage and the definition of beauty?
What is the connection between the looking-glass self and the need to physically conform?
SOLOMON ASCH & CONFORMITY
Please read Challenge and Change: Patterns, Trends, and Shifts in Society, p. 138
Answer Questions 1 & 3 at the bottom of the page
Answer the following question: Explain how a salesperson might use the
results of Asch’s experiment to help increase sales
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