Culture & Identity Notes C

• Identity is the dominant feature in an individual's personal identity, often carrying a stigma.
• Individuals with impairment are seen as having a stigmatized/spoiled identity due to the stereotypes found in society.
• It is difficult for individuals with impairment to use Goffman’s impression management because people would still see them through their impairment and not for who they really are.
• There are individuals with an impairment who challenge the stereotypes found in society, opening their businesses, getting employed and educated, and winning trophies and medals in sports competitions.
• Age has two factors: the biological factor which is how much we have grown and developed physically, and the social factor which is the responsibilities that are constantly increasing the more we grow up.
• Each age group has different norms, values, and expectations of behaviour.
• Age is seen as a social construction because we tend to construct our own stereotypes/perception of every age group.
• Age groups form a social identity and therefore, this becomes part of an individual's personal identity.
• In some societies, old people are seen as having high status in society, in others, they are seen as fragile, sick and lacking status.
• Children are protected in some countries but in others, they are not.
• There are more people over 65 in the UK than children under 15.
• Old people are living longer, they are healthier and are considered to be ‘younger’ than other generations.
• Religion is often an important socializing agent in minority ethnic communities.
• Postmodernists believe that culture itself has become fragmented as nowadays we cannot speak of a dominant, mainstream culture or different subcultures.
• Hollands (1995) found that girls’ roles in youth subcultures were becoming more similar to those of men because females were going out more frequently, spending more of their income on nights out and involving themselves in dancing and drug subcultures.
• Agents of socialization like family and school help to continue to establish one’s ethnic identity.
• Ethnic identities are transmitted from one generation to another through the process of socialization.
• Jacobson (1998) found that Islam has become one important aspect of identity among young British Pakistani Asians.
• Postmodernist Approaches reject the concept of youth subcultures as they believe these are metanarratives (an idea which tends to explain everything in general).
• Traditionally, girls used to stay in their private space which was their home rather than in the public space like pubs, clubs, and streets.
• McRobbie, a Marxist Feminist, identified many youth subcultures of the 70s and 80s which were patriarchal, including punk and skinheads.
• Individuals with these common features are gathered in groups and these are called ethnic groups.
• Instead of youth subcultures, Bennett (1999) prefers to describe these cultural activities of the young as heo-tribalism.
• The public space was male dominated.
• Females were less involved in these subcultures because of being a female, they had stricter parents and they were concerned about their safety.
• Lincoln (2004) found that this bedroom culture is still significant in lives of contemporary teenagers.
• The private space is now being used by boys as well due to the internet use and console games.
• Contemporary female youths are now part of youth subcultures outside the home due to the degree of freedom that the females have acquired.
• Postmodernists believe that youths tend to respond to the uncertainties and insecurities they feel during the transition to adulthood in a more individual way.
• Ethnicity refers to the different aspects of a particular culture.
• McRobbie and Garber (1976) found that girls’ sub culture took the form of what they called bedroom culture.
• This tends to help one form his or her ethnic identity and help one to embrace the values, norms, beliefs, traditions, culture, history, language, music and so on of a particular ethnicity.
• The process of socialization teaches individuals to embrace the values, norms, beliefs, traditions, culture, history, language, music and so on of a particular ethnicity.
• Laslett (198%) developed the concept of the ‘third age’ to describe how the increase in life expectancy and how people are retiring at a young age (compared to the past) has created a new generation of retired people who can live and enjoy their life in their third age.
• Freedom of choice is limited by social class and the unequal distribution of wealth and income in society.
• Working hours and work conditions are considered constraints.
• Some leisure activities are expensive, therefore are not in the budget of the working class.
• Leisure of young single people tends to be spent outside the house in the company of their peers, making them more leisure-centred than other age groups except the retired.
• Women are often restricted by their partners and need to get permission first.
• Women's leisure activities are often combined with aspects of childcare such as going swimming with them, driving them around.