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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Understanding the Life Course provides a uniquely comprehensive guide to the entire life course from an interdisciplinary perspective. Combining important insights from sociology and psychology, the book presents the concept�s theoretical underpinnings in an accessible style, supported by real-life examples.
From birth and becoming a parent, to death and grieving for the loss of others, Lorraine Green explores all stages of the life course through key research studies and theories, in conjunction with issues of social inequality and critical examination of lay viewpoints. She highlights the many ways the life course can be interpreted, including themes of linearity and multidirectionality, continuity and discontinuity, and the interplay between nature and nurture. The second edition updates key data and includes additional material on topics such as new technologies, changing markers of transitions to adulthood, active ageing, resilience and neuropsychology.
This comprehensive approach will continue to be essential reading for students on vocational programmes such as social work and nursing, and will provide thought-provoking insight into the wider contexts of the life course for students of psychology and sociology.
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Seitenzahl: 678
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Introduction
What this book is about
Why combine sociology and psychology?
Who this book is for and why it will be useful
Summary of the chapters: brief contents
1 Key Life Course Principles and Theories
Introduction
Changes affecting the contemporary life course in the UK
People’s perceptions of human ‘nature’ and lay theorizing
Sociology and psychology
Life course sociology and life span psychology
Social science research methods
Life span psychology, life course sociology and multi-disciplinarity
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
2 Traditional and Modern Psychological Approaches to Children
Introduction
Physical development and memory
Psychoanalytic development
The psychosocial approach
Attachment
Modern psychoanalytic theories and attachment
Cognitive development
Modern cognitive developmental theory
Learning theories
Newer developments: ecological systems theory, neuroscience/neuropsychology and resilience
Language acquisition
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
3 The New Social Studies of Childhood
Introduction
Criticisms of developmental psychology
The ‘new sociology of childhood’ theorists and other social perspectives
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
4 Adolescence and Youth
Introduction
Adolescence and psychology
Youth and sociology
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
5 Young Adulthood
Introduction
Young adulthood and psychology
Young adulthood and sociology
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
6 Middle Adulthood
Introduction
Middle adulthood and psychology
Middle age and sociology
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
7 Old Age
Introduction
Old age and psychology
Old age and sociology
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
8 Death, Dying, Grief and Loss
Introduction
Bereavement and psychology
The sociology of death and dying
Conclusion
Reflection and discussion questions
Recommended reading
Conclusion
References
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Understanding the Life Course
Sociological and Psychological Perspectives
2nd Edition
Lorraine Green
polity
Copyright © Lorraine Green 2017
The right of Lorraine Green to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition first published in 2010 by Polity PressThis second edition first published in 2017 by Polity Press
Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-9796-3
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Green, Lorraine (Lorraine Carol), author.Title: Understanding the life course: sociological and psychologicalperspectives / Lorraine Green.Description: Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2016. | Includesbibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016007715| ISBN 9780745697925 (hardback: alk. paper) |ISBN 9780745697932 (paperback: alk. paper)Subjects: LCSH: Life cycle, Human – Social aspects. | Developmental psychology.Classification: LCC HQ799.95 .G74 2016 | DDC 155 – dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016007715
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Sue Ferris, Ros Day, Karen Clarke and my previous students at the University of Manchester and the University of Nottingham for their impetus, support and insights in relation to writing the second edition of this book. My colleagues in the Centre for Social Work at Nottingham University were also supportive and great team players. My editor at Polity, Jonathan Skerrett, was consistently encouraging and patient, and Leigh Mueller was an excellent copy editor.
Introduction
What this book is about
This is a book about people’s lifelong experiences from birth to death and how they change, adapt, develop and decline throughout life, although not necessarily in a linear or predictable manner. Influences on our life courses include biology, geography and the environment, psychological development, the socio-historical context, and the national and international political and economic climate. This book is primarily concerned with how sociology and psychology perceive, research and theorize the life course, enabling students to think outside of the ‘box’ of their own parochial experiences and therefore dispel common misperceptions around people’s behaviour and our society. Therefore, the beliefs that biology and chronological ageing have an overwhelming influence on how we change or what we become, or alternatively that the problems or achievements some groups disproportionately experience are due more to their inherent individual failings or merits than to societal influences, are continually challenged within this book. Holding such uncritical age-related beliefs and viewpoints can culminate in inaccurate stereotypes (sometimes cross-cut by discriminatory ‘race’/ethnicity, gender or class assumptions). These include the pervading images of the innocent (or sometimes the demonic) child; the delinquent youth or vulgar Chav; the hypersexual young black man; the unattractive middle-aged spinster; and the infirm, confused older person.
Within everyday conversations, subjective viewpoints about people are frequently expressed as fact. These might include the beliefs that women are ‘naturally’ less technological and more emotional than men, that black people are lazy or less intelligent than whites, or that criminals or drug addicts were born bad or are evil. These are uncritical resorts to: (i) biology; and (ii) individual/group pathologization. It is therefore important to examine what ideas underlie these suppositions, what evidence corroborates or refutes these ‘common sense’ assumptions, and what counts as valid evidence. Many facets of individuals are the culmination of multiple influences, rendering it difficult to ascertain, for example, to what extent one’s intelligence (in itself a problematic concept) is linked to genes or the environment, or represents a complicated interaction between the two. Complex intersections between the overarching frameworks of society, such as the law and societal norms (structure), and the individual’s (semi-)autonomous behaviour (agency), are important. It is, however, difficult to quantitatively assess how far individuals’ and groups’ behaviour is influenced by society, culture and their own free will, and to what extent nature (biology and genetics) plays a part. This is sometimes referred to as the nature/nurture debate.
This book focuses on the United Kingdom (UK), but also has much relevance to a Westernized Euro-American and Australasian audience, despite political, social, educational and economic differences between countries – some significant, others relatively unimportant. Although UK research is preferentially drawn upon as a first step in this book, where little research is available on a particular aspect, research from similar Western countries substitutes or is used to reinforce points made. Many comparative examples are also drawn on purposively from different historical time periods, cultures and countries. They demonstrate how diverse people’s life courses can be across geography, history and culture, detracting from isolated biological or national understandings. Issues of difference in relation to social class, sex and gender, disability/illness, sexual orientation and ‘race’/ethnicity will also be analysed in terms of their impact on people’s lives. These differences are often socially exaggerated or distorted and used to create or reinforce social divisions and significant inequalities. These inequalities may be unacknowledged, actively denied, defended (as in the previous examples relating to gender and ‘race’) or manifest themselves as discriminatory stereotypes (as in the examples of the delinquent youth or doddery, disorientated old person). Assumed individual weaknesses and strengths and biological explanations are consequently drawn upon as a way of either ignoring or supporting injustices with strong social causes.
The term ‘life course’ is considered by most sociologists and many life course social science academics to be more flexible than other prevalent terms often used by traditional psychologists and biologists, such as ‘life span development’ and ‘the life cycle’. ‘Life course’ and ‘life courses’ are the preferred terms here because there are not always clear, linear, chronological trajectories through one’s life which replicate themselves with each generation in a circular manner. Furthermore, in modern societies we often ‘appear’ faced with endless choices about our identities and lifestyles. In post-industrial societies, people from similar backgrounds, sometimes born only a few years apart, can also experience fundamentally different lives due to rapidly changing social, technological, economic or political situations. In small tribal societies, one’s life and identity are already largely mapped out, changing little unless disrupted by Western interference.
Why combine sociology and psychology?
Some books deal with the entire life course from a single disciplinary angle such as sociology (Hunt, 2005) or life span psychology (Hendry and Kloep, 2002; Berger, 2005; Santrock, 2009; Boyd and Bee, 2014). Alternatively, particular stages of the life course, such as childhood or old age, are analysed from a single or multi-disciplinary perspective, or life course books focus on a particular aspect, such as disability (Priestly, 2003), identity (Hockey and James, 2003) or attachment (Howe, 2011). Some multi-disciplinary life course / human development texts are written principally for vocational students (e.g. Sudbery, 2009; Beckett and Taylor, 2010; Frost and McClean, 2014; Nicholson, 2014; Parrish, 2014; Walker and Crawford, 2014). Although many of these are very strong on psychology/biology (with Frost and McClean adopting a psychosocial, Nicholson ‘a material-discursive-intra-psychic’, and Sudbery and Parrish a biopsychosocial approach), their incorporation of sociology is therefore understandably limited, as is a detailed comparison between sociology and psychology. Few of these vocational texts, furthermore, deal with young and middle adulthood in depth. This book compares both sociological and psychological perspectives evenly in relation to the entire life course in a comprehensive, accessible and contemporary manner.
Although this book draws from many disciplines, the two primary disciplines most useful for understanding human behaviour across the life course are sociology and psychology. Biological perspectives are important, but need to be located within their relationship to particular societies and not deployed in a reductionist manner as if they were the only determining factor of behaviour. Similarly, anthropological or historical perspectives are useful comparatively as they dispel notions of the ‘universally natural’ or ‘unnatural’ in relation to behaviour across different societies.
Who this book is for and why it will be useful
This book was written principally for undergraduate and postgraduate social work / social care, health and education students and for practitioners and academics. It offers access to detailed core sociological and psychological research and theory, which can positively influence professional decisions and form an underpinning for practice. Although not everyone will work with people of all ages – for example, primary school teachers, geriatric nurses or child protection social workers – one rarely works with a certain age category in isolation. Understanding kinship ties with parents and other significant adults, and being cognisant of their life stage issues and problems, are therefore important for those working predominantly with children. Evaluating the impact of earlier life stages and previous experiences on individuals’ current situations is similarly necessary for those working with adults. Therefore, for those working with older people, comprehending the significance of historical and social events – such as wars, the advent of the NHS and free health care – and the effects of rapid technological advances for/on older people, as well as evaluating how society treats them (as wise and useful citizens or as weak and a drain on resources), are imperative. This book will be particularly useful to vocational degree students because, although they have less time than single honours pure degree students to study a particular discipline, they require multi-disciplinary knowledge to work effectively across inter-professional teams or organizations. The degree benchmarks for some professional degrees such as social work, furthermore, require students to acquire a holistic and contextualized understanding of human behaviour. It is consequently important that such professionals are able to understand both a psychological approach and how a sociological worldview may at times mediate, challenge or complement it.
This book is also ideal for students undertaking sociology and psychology (for example, behavioural sciences) degrees, as it offers a rare but solid and integrated multi-disciplinary account of the life course / human development, whereas most relevant books only cover the life course from one disciplinary angle. This text introduces and explains the important key terms and concepts used by both disciplines, and looks at the strengths and weaknesses of, and the similarities and differences between them, in the first chapter. It then sets sociology and psychology side by side for each age stage, contrasting and comparing how they research and theorize the life course.
The book purposively does not incorporate extensive practice exemplars and hypothetical case studies, as some of the other vocational texts do, in order to include as much research and theory as possible. Instead, useful discussion questions follow each chapter alongside recommended wider reading. These questions can be worked through individually by students or form the basis for lecturer-initiated group discussions. There is also much research discussed that illustrates how the trajectories of atypical life courses might progress, which will be useful to students. Disability, mental ill health or abuse may, for example, affect attachment, communication or learning for short periods or throughout the life course, but so does how society produces or understands, labels and treats people who have been abused, have mental health issues or are disabled, thereby illustrating the complex interactions between sociology and psychology, society and the individual. Furthermore, there is an extensive reference list at the end of the book to enable the reader to follow up on any literature they find interesting. This text will therefore not just act as a resource for when students are studying life course or human development modules, but should be useful throughout various degree programmes.
Childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, etc., are examined as chronological age/stage markers, whilst simultaneously being problematized as such through a critical analysis of common-sense age assumptions and stereotypes. Therefore, although the chapters are structured fairly traditionally for ease of reading and reference, no assumptions are made about the inevitability, accuracy or meanings of age categories. Some similarities amongst people of the same age seem relatively universal but people’s experiences of age, ageing and age categories generally vary greatly across culture and history. Adolescence, for example, only emerged in the mid twentieth century and, with growing longevity, old age is now often subdivided into a perceived third age of good health and comfort and a more dependent and less healthy fourth age. This book is also strong on empirical examples, constantly interlinking theoretical conceptualizations with research findings, interesting examples and pertinent statistics or quotations. It can be read chronologically through successive chapters but these can also be understood standing alone.
Summary of the chapters: brief contents
Chapter 1 introduces different theoretical concepts surrounding the life course, stressing linearity and multi-directionality as well as continuity and discontinuity, and adopting a multi-disciplinary perspective. The complex interplay between nature and nurture or genetics/biology and culture/society will also be examined. Such an analysis will be important because historical and ideological shifts often occur between seeing certain problems, such as crime or mental ill health, as predominantly biological or, alternatively perceiving them as overwhelmingly caused by the environment. As part of presenting an integrated perspective, it will be necessary to define and discuss the different elements and methods of sociology and psychology, their subdivisions of life span psychology and life course sociology and their similarities and differences. The importance of not resorting to ‘common sense’ or lay viewpoints when trying to understand the life course will also be critically covered.
Chapter 2 illustrates how infancy and childhood are perceived and theorized through developmental psychology, which explains how children progressively develop physically, cognitively and psychosocially. Pioneering theorists such as Erikson, Freud, Bowlby and Piaget are introduced and key research studies are analysed, alongside an evaluation of their contemporary validity and relevance. Traditional developmental psychology sees growth as an inherently linear, maturational process, and reaching certain psychological or physical milestones at particular ages as indicative of normal development. Although more recent developmental psychology takes the social context and different life course pathways into account, it pays far less attention to this and structural factors than sociology does. The ecological systems theory, neuropsychology and resilience theory, newer psychological developments, are also introduced and analysed in this chapter.
Chapter 3 both critiques and represents a challenge to traditional developmental child psychology and traditional sociology approaches, drawing from the insights and theories of critical developmental psychologists, cross-cultural psychologists and the ‘new sociology of childhood’ theorists. Developmental psychology is initially criticized for its apolitical conservative stance; its representation of the child as a ‘naturally’ developing being, relatively unaffected by external influences; its overemphasis on measurement; its biological determinism; its relative ignorance of cross-cultural differences; and its view of the child as unequivocally deficient. The new social studies of childhood conversely illuminates the multiple cultural and historical constructions of childhood, revealing how children today are far more competent and able to be autonomous than we frequently allow them to be and give them credit for. The chapter confirms childhood as a subordinated social status in which protectionist, paternalist decisions are frequently made on behalf of children, who are rarely seriously involved in important decisions about their lives. It also highlights the ways in which children are often both exploited and overprotected today and how social divisions like gender and social class profoundly affect their subsequent life course trajectories.
Chapter 4 examines the early teenage years from the beginning of puberty to early adulthood. Psychologists use the term ‘adolescence’, whilst sociologists disproportionately refer to the term ‘youth’ in preference, although ‘youth’ incorporates a more extended period. Early psychological developmental theory placed great emphasis on biological changes and assumed these caused distinctive emotional and cognitive transformations during puberty, although some contemporary psychologists are much more cautious. Psychologists’ understandings of adolescents’ attachment issues and their physical, intellectual and personality development are also examined. Following this, sociological themes pertinent to youth are evaluated. These include the periodic demonization of young people, which extends back to the nineteenth century and associated moral panics surrounding their behaviour; changes in youth unemployment and higher education; young people’s changing values and political beliefs; their consumption-driven behaviour; new technology; and how social inequalities related to social class, ‘race’/ethnicity and gender impact on all of these.
Chapter 5 explores young adulthood, extending from about 18 up to 40 years. Psychology concentrates here on physical, cognitive, moral and psychosocial changes and development. Psychological claims of a new developmental period, ‘emerging adulthood’, are evaluated from both psychological and sociological vantage points. The key sociological topics analysed are the contested and uncertain transitions into and markers associated with contemporary adult status; the role work plays for young adults and their dissonant expectations and subsequent experience of work; the importance of leisure, sport and new technology; and changing family, friendship and relationship structures and practices. These have become more heterogeneous and flexible due to significant technological, attitudinal, legal and social changes. How social inequalities and divisions impact on all of these is also analysed.
Chapter 6 investigates middle adulthood, despite its relative contemporary and historical neglect by both disciplines. Physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes are scrutinized with an emphasis on whether concepts such as the ‘empty nest syndrome’ or ‘the midlife crisis’ are universally applicable. Assumptions about inevitable midlife physical and intellectual decline are investigated and found to be deficient. There is moderate physical senescence in middle age, alongside some minimal intellectual decline, although gains can occur in some specific intellectual and cognitive areas. In the section on sociology, ageing, self-perception and body image during midlife are revealed as very important, particularly for women. The significance of and various changes in leisure pursuits and physical activity are analysed, as are lifestyle changes relating to travel, and the types of food eaten, how it is ingested, and when and where people eat. Positive and negative media representations of middle-aged people, depicting them either as an inspiration or as selfish and an impending drain on societal resources, are examined. The stress work places on midlifers, who often have other onerous caring family responsibilities, is also analysed, gender and social class being important mediators. The impact of new reproductive technology and attitudes towards it are evaluated with respect to later motherhood, as are different kinship and living arrangements, such as gay and lesbian relationships, long-distance partnerships and single person households.
Chapter 7 considers old age, potentially the longest life stage, extending from 60 years to a possible 120 years, the known upper limits of our life span. Old age is, however, a movable feast and seems more associated with institutional markers, such as compulsory retirement and pension ages, than any objective or strictly chronological factors. In other societies, old age may not be judged chronologically but by family hierarchy, or characteristics such as vitality or wisdom. In the section on psychology, various explanatory theories of ageing are examined alongside physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes. The societal negativity surrounding old age and previous assumptions about dramatic physical and mental decline are shown to be greatly overstated, many older people being relatively independent and possessing greater adaptive facilities than previously thought. Within sociology, a key theme is ageism, which can pertain to any age but has been particularly detrimental to how older people are represented and treated. Theories deployed to explain the negative treatment of the elderly, such as ‘structured dependency theory’ and ‘the civilizing process’, are also evaluated. How one’s specific cohort, generation and associated prior life experiences impact on the experience of old age is also reviewed, as is the impact of social inequalities. These can confer either significant cumulative advantage or disadvantage by old age in terms of health and longevity, income, housing and lifestyle. Depictions of older people as a demographic time bomb in terms of extensive future care needs are also critically evaluated.
Chapter 8 is devoted to death and dying and grief and loss. Traditional psychology mostly develops individualistic, linear theories to explain the emotional stages people purportedly go through when they know they are dying or have been bereaved. However, newer psychological theories appear more flexible and less stage orientated. They are cautious about labelling different forms of grieving as pathological, and more inclusive of the social context than earlier psychologists, but are still not sufficiently attentive to the impact of the context within which grieving takes place. Sociologists, conversely, pay minimal attention to individuals’ emotional states and feelings, focusing on how the different social and historical contexts within which death and dying take place impact upon our attitudes and responses to death. Sociologists show how the progressive medicalization and bureaucratization of death in modern societies, alongside increasing longevity, has led to us having less acquaintance with it. We therefore have become increasingly fearful about how to respond when we are dying or someone close to us dies or is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Sociologists also illustrate how social inequalities significantly affect how and when we will die and what we will die from, following the cumulative advantage or disadvantage argument previously presented. Despite this, sociologists rarely engage with the significant emotions death and dying engender in us.
This introductory section has therefore explained why possessing a multi-disciplinary understanding of the life course is important for students on many vocational degree courses and those studying social science degrees, illustrating how a deficit of such knowledge can leave students resorting to inaccurate, anecdotal viewpoints. It has also summarized the contents of the individual chapters and justified why a chronological perspective of the life course, albeit a critical one, is being adopted. The first chapter lays the conceptual and theoretical foundations for the subsequent chapters. It explains key aspects of psychology and sociology and their specific orientations to the life course, clarifies and illustrates key terminology and finally analyses the progress of interdisciplinary life course research.
1Key Life Course Principles and Theories
Introduction
This chapter introduces the concept of the life course and the disciplines of sociology and psychology through which the life course will principally be investigated. Initially, key changes in UK society impacting on people’s lives since the early 1970s will be outlined, many being discussed further in later chapters. Following this, there will be a consideration of why lay theories of human behaviour are flawed. The key tenets of sociology and psychology will then be explained, and their relationship to sociology of the life course, life span psychology and general social science research methods will be clarified, with key terms explained. Finally, the current state of the field of life course studies in relation to multi-disciplinarity, and its future potential, will be explored, alongside some classic examples of life course research. This chapter offers an underpinning for the following chapters and does not presuppose readers have any prior knowledge of social science. The other chapters can be read without this one but understanding this chapter will enrich the reader’s overall experience and it can be revisited to clarify key terms used.
Changes affecting the contemporary life course in the UK
Changes in work, the family, lifestyle and education
Any understanding of the life course, as well as being embedded within historical and cultural influences, needs to consider societal, technological and political changes. Irwin (2005) cautions that life course analysis frequently fails to engage sufficiently with the enormity of change in most domains of social life in the late twentieth century, such as re-organization of the family (and living arrangements) and expected roles and practices, with particular reference to gender. The demise of class-based solidarities, whereby families and communities intergenerationally were traditionally allied to specific political parties and philosophies but no longer are, alongside the associated rise of individualization, as opposed to collectivization, are also important. These occur when individuals are more concerned about themselves and their small kinship or friendship groups, rather than about the whole society’s wellbeing, and feel, often wrongly, that a multitude of life choices is open to them and that age-related life stages are increasingly less relevant. Where people live is also changing, and in Western societies around 90 per cent of the population now inhabit urban areas.
Rapid technological change is, furthermore, highly significant and associated with many social repercussions (Hunt, 2005). Today’s young adults have grown up with computers, the internet and mobile phones. Most people in their fifties upwards, who did not personally encounter computers until their twenties or thirties, will be much be less au fait with some aspects of ‘new’ technology. The popular UK television series Life on Mars, aired on BBC1 between 2006 and 2007, provides an excellent fictional illustration. A detective is ‘apparently’ involuntarily transported from contemporary society back to the 1970s, a society he initially experiences as completely alien. He is frustrated and initially immobilized by the lack of technological resources at his disposal, no longer being able use mobile phones, the internet and DNA markers as key work or lifestyle tools, frequently having to resort to face-to-face investigative policing, pen and paper and delving through old books. New technology has also contributed to significant medical advances, with both prototype and successful bionic hearts, lungs, pancreases, exoskeletons, eyes, noses, hands and even penises having been developed in recent years (Guardian, 2015c).
A transition has also occurred from being a factory-based producing, industrial society to being a service-orientated, consumerist society. This, alongside intermittent financial crises, heralded initially by the 1973 OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil crisis, has impacted on the availability of employment and the types of work now obtainable, and our lifestyles and attitudes towards purchasing goods. Many jobs today are part-time and temporary, offering comparatively less security, lower pay and poorer conditions than prior to the 1980s – a process known as casualization of the labour force.
Klein (2000) documents the transition in the late twentieth century from generic goods to branded designer goods, whereby shopping becomes a source of status, meaning and desire. Many people today affiliate to, and derive their self-perceived status from possession of, the newest offerings from these brands (for example, ‘having to have’ the latest PlayStation console, Apple iPhone or Nike trainers). Sandel (2012) argues that, in the West, consumerism and the prime emphasis placed on money and market philosophies have undermined important principles such as equality, fairness and democracy. The rise of consumerism, clearly evident since the 1970s (Garnett, 2007), and associated designer labels therefore places pressures on poorer families to compare themselves to others, aspiring to ever more expensive goods and services. When poorer families are comparatively worse off than other sectors of society they judge themselves against, precluding them from buying items and partaking in activities normal for their group, this is known as ‘relative poverty’. In some other countries, income may be far lower, but because people compare themselves to similar others, they may experience fewer negative psychological symptoms.
Although few in the UK die today of ‘absolute poverty’ in terms of starvation or lack of shelter, some old people still die of hypothermia nearly every winter because they cannot afford heating, and some communities are dispossessed and alienated, ravaged by poverty, crime and violence. Education has also changed and, despite political rhetoric surrounding lifelong education, this has never been incentivized and older people do not have access to higher education loans. The demise of means-tested ‘liveable’ grants and huge rises in university fees may also have deterred many working-class and mature students from going to university. Nevertheless, young adults are increasingly encouraged to enter higher education or post-18 vocational training.
Demographic changes
Life expectancy has increased phenomenally in the UK, and is now almost double what it was at the start of the Victorian era (Mathers, 2015), and from the 1980s until around 2001 the birth rate was steadily declining. This led to families becoming smaller and a rapidly ageing ‘greying’ population, with older people living longer and their numbers growing proportionally larger compared to other ages in the population. These changes link with many others, such as the death of the parent of a middle-aged child now becoming a life course marker. Life expectancy increased because of vastly improved environmental conditions and diet, alongside major advances in medical knowledge and technology. The birth rate initially declined because of successful contraception, such as ‘the Pill’ in the 1950s, the increasing social and economic independence of women, alongside sex-equality laws, long working hours and the steady decrease in full-time housewives. However, both birth rates and life expectancy vary according to age, gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity, disability and social class – and their interactions. One reason for increases in the birth rate, from 2000 onwards, is immigration alongside, more marginally, many women bearing children later than in previous generations. The number of people living in the UK by mid-2014 was estimated to be 64.6 million, an increase of 491,000 from the previous year, with 583,000 immigrants, 323,000 emigrants, 778,000 births and 568,000 deaths contributing to the wider picture. Between 2004 and 2014, the average percentage growth of the UK population was 0.7 per cent each year, higher that decade than in the fifty years preceding it, and a faster growth rate than the EU as a whole (0.3 per cent) (ONS (Office for National Statistics), 2015c).
In 2008, Britain’s birth rate was also at its highest for fifteen years (Savage, 2009), and it continues to increase. In England and Wales in 2014, 27 per cent of births were to mothers born outside of the UK, with Poland, Pakistan and India being the most common countries of birth for both mothers and fathers not born in the UK. These countries are very pro-family and patriarchal. In Poland, Catholicism is the dominant religion and forbids contraception, although it is not illegal. In Pakistan, 97 per cent of the population are Muslim and, although Islam’s teachings mostly permit contraception, there is significant resistance. In India, although approximately 15 per cent of the population are Muslim, over 78 per cent are Hindu and although Hinduism similarly does not forbid contraception, many Hindus feel that having a family is their duty.
Globalization
Globalization is a contested, complex concept but challenges the view that nation states such as England and France are self-enclosed, self-governing territories with ‘native’ citizens and clear national behaviour and cultural attributes. It puts forward the viewpoint that the globe is becoming more interconnected as people increase their knowledge of other parts of the world and have greater access to and communication with them. National boundaries, practices and identities are therefore becoming weaker and loosening. Economic globalization is related to the expansion of capitalism through international trade, and economic imperialism forged by multinational corporations. Political globalization focuses on transnational governance, for example, the United Nations or the European Union. Cultural globalization describes the interconnectivity between the global and the local in terms of social practices and customs. Economic globalization may lead to events such as recessions, in one area of the world, impacting significantly on other areas. Furthermore, the power of transnational companies can greatly affect many nations’ economies and employment conditions, and affect disease, crime and pollution.
The ‘global village’ metaphor, referring to the whole world becoming smaller (Robertson, 1992), holds true in relation to the potential that new technology – including computers, telecommunications and air travel – holds for instant/rapid communication and fast access to previously difficult-to-reach places of the globe (Urry, 2000). People also communicate differently because of this, and, for some, their key social relations and activities may be disembedded from their geographical locality and take place in virtual digital environments. However, some people have greater opportunities than others. A girl in India who assembles computer components for a Western company may not be able to purchase a computer and may have even less possibility of ever being able to travel outside her own country.
Some theorists consequently see globalization as entrenched Western imperialism of the globe, whilst others view the whole process as being ‘up for grabs’ once it has been set in motion, and Western countries are increasingly concerned about the potential power of nations like China (Jordan, 2006). There is, however, increasing evidence that global capitalism – its ability to influence the financial and welfare policies of individual nations and to move resources, money, labour and production to whatever parts of the globe are cheapest at that particular time – has resulted in increasing inequalities in modern society. Such processes have impacted particularly negatively in Europe on the financial security and employment prospects of young adults, midlife females and people near to retirement (Bucholz et al., 2009). The 100 richest people in the UK also have the same amount of combined wealth as the poorest 18 million people – 30 per cent of the population. Poverty also contributes to increased mental illness, higher crime levels and lowered life expectancy (McVeigh, 2014), the gap between rich and poor having substantially widened since the 1980s, also impacting on the country’s overall economic growth (Elliot, 2014). The welfare budget in the UK, furthermore, pays out huge amounts of corporate welfare in the form of tax allowances and grants to global companies like Amazon and Dell, at the same time as disability and other benefits are significantly reduced (Chakrabortty, 2015).
Temporary and permanent immigration into the UK have been increasing, particularly with the influx of new countries into the European Community and unrestricted movement within it (ONS, 2015c). However, in June 2016 in a referendum, the public voted to leave the EU (52% to 48%), with London and Scotland voting to remain but most other regions having a leave majority, and fears about immigration seeming paramount. In England and Wales, the 2011 census showed that, although 86% (48.2 million) of the population were white, in London only 45% (3.7 million out of 8.2 million) described themselves as White British. Britain’s ethnic-minority population increased from 9% according to the 2001 census to 14% in the 2011 census (Rogers, 2012), with UK projections of 20% by 2051 (Tran, 2010). Of children under 5, 6% were categorized as of mixed ethnicity in 2011, rendering it the UK’s biggest ethnic-minority group (The Economist, 2014). The UK is therefore now a country of many different ethnicities and ‘colours’ although the 2016 EU vote suggests it is simultaneously a divided and polarized country.
A key feature of globalization is hybridity, in which different cultural tastes, pastimes and goods are fused. The term ‘Asian fusion cuisine’ is now becoming mainstream in the UK. Curry has replaced the traditional Sunday roast as the favourite meal and is a strong competitor with the traditional fish and chip takeaway. Musical styles such as rock and Asian music – Bhangra – and Celtic and African music are mixed to create their own distinct forms. Globalization may, however, result in very different mosaics of people inhabiting the same urban conurbations, with some having minimal mutual comprehension or interaction. One elderly white, outgoing British female, for example, may never meet her neighbour, a first-generation elderly Asian female immigrant who never worked outside the home or learnt English fluently and, since her husband’s death, fears travelling much farther than the corner shop. In contrast, a second- or third-generation immigrant teenager may embrace some characteristics associated with her West Indian heritage and other characteristics associated with mainstream British behaviour and pastimes. Reported hate crimes in 2014–15, however, increased by 18 per cent from the year before. Of these, 80 per cent were classed as ‘race’ hate crimes, with others involving disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender victims (Guardian, 2015a). This suggests that an increasingly multi-ethnic and diverse society, despite some cultural hybridity, can mask salient racial, sexual and other tensions. The British Social Attitudes Survey also reported increases in the proportion of the population who admitted to being racially prejudiced between 2001 and 2013 (Taylor and Muir, 2014).
People’s perceptions of human ‘nature’ and lay theorizing
Lay theories and human ‘nature’
Sociology is concerned with the impact society and its institutions have on our behaviour and understandings, with particular reference to power structures and the relationships between individuals, groups and the wider society. Psychology is more preoccupied with the individual per se: their physical, cognitive, moral, social and personality development; individual differences; and how people learn and become motivated – although social psychology focuses more on group processes. Sociology and psychology take human behaviour seriously, studying it rigorously through ‘scientific’ research techniques, although much ongoing debate about what constitutes valid science, useful research or transferable knowledge exists within both disciplines.
The general public place great faith in numbers and statistics but some studies may have been conducted incompetently, or their results deliberately or inadvertently misinterpreted. Similarly, what may be regarded as fact and ‘the truth’ for hundreds of years – such as the hypothesis that the world was flat, not spherical – may be revised or discredited at any time (Magee, 1973). Nonetheless, the more researchers have tested a theory in different areas and repeatedly confirmed it, the more convincing it becomes. The general public also tend to associate research methods with either natural science laboratory experiments or questionnaire surveys but many different research frameworks, designs and methods for understanding reality exist.
As we live in society, we must interact with other people, to some extent cooperatively and collaboratively. We therefore continually try to understand, interpret and predict individual and group behaviour in a variety of situations/contexts, in a way we would not attempt to understand molecular biochemistry or nuclear physics, disciplines which might seem fairly irrelevant to our everyday lives. We acquire our ‘lay’ knowledge and theories through talking to and observing other people and monitoring their responses to us, and through reading books and watching films, the news, documentaries and reality TV programmes, many of which appear to offer authoritative theories about behaviour. We do not necessarily absorb all we see, hear, watch and read uncritically, but it may unconsciously influence our perceptions. For example, the many programmes on unemployed people – such as Benefits Street, aired on Channel 4 in 2014 – often depict them as lazy, workshy and welfare-dependent individuals, rather than attributing the families’ situations to wider disadvantage, deprivation and poor skills, educational opportunities and employment prospects (Green and Clarke, 2016). Consequently, we may acquire a rather skewed negative view about unemployed people. In relation to age-based assumptions, unless we look to talent shows such as The X Factor, most reality TV shows featuring teenagers represent them as problematic, reinforcing the historically enduring demonization of young people in media and public representations (see chapter 4). We thereby, often subconsciously, become amateur social scientists or lay theorists. There are benefits to this, in that, if our calculations are accurate in a particular situation, we may be able to procure an interview for our ‘dream job’, persuade someone highly attractive to go on a date with us or be regarded as a popular employee or a well-liked friend.
There are, however, key differences between lay and good social science theories. Whilst some lay theories may be correct (even if the reasoning behind them may be flawed), reputable research exposes many other lay theories to be incorrect even though the research findings are counter-intuitive, contradicting what we might reasonably expect to be ‘true’ given our beliefs, knowledge and past experience (Furnham, 1989). Perhaps because many people assume they are experts on human ‘nature’, they consequently draw on simple ‘common sense’ explanations and their own parochial experience of reality to explain complex, multifaceted phenomena. The main problem with lay theories is that they: (i) are often derived from people’s small pool of personal experience or hearsay; (ii) contain unacknowledged assumptions or contradictory premises people are unaware of or do not view as problematic; (iii) frequently confuse cause and association and cause and effect; (iv) rarely look for disconfirming examples; and (v) are often resistant to modification in the light of changing evidence (Furnham, 1989).
If we take masculinity and femininity as examples, these consist of certain behavioural or personality characteristics people often associate unequivocally with being male or female. Most social scientists today (with the exception of some evolutionary psychologists) would accept, on the basis of considerable research, showing vastly different manifestations of gender across cultures and history, that gender is a socially constructed phenomenon. Many ordinary people, however, often assume gender is a ‘natural’, biological, sex-based inevitability. For example, someone could put forward the theory men are ‘naturally’ better managers because they are more in control of their emotions than women. They may later assert, in relation to rape or male violence, that men are ‘naturally’ unable to control their sexual urges or are ‘naturally’ aggressive, without the lay person discerning the contradiction inherent in these conflicting statements. If lay people are challenged to provide further justification for their claims about others’ behaviour, they may attribute it to biology and talk vaguely about hormones or evolution but will generally not be able to offer any deeper analysis.
In contrast, social science theory and research will follow logical principles and procedures. Social scientists therefore will not assume, if two events seem related to one another, or occur together, or one follows the other (sometimes known as correlation or association), that one necessarily causes the other (causation). For example, if I start taking a particular medication and begin feeling tired, I may assume it is due to the medication’s side effects, but it may equally be something very different, such as an emerging underactive thyroid problem. Lay theories also often resort to the individual or their biology, rarely considering social factors. People most often object to sociological or social science findings because they claim they state the obvious (Giddens, 1987). Conversely, if social science findings run counter to common sense, the general public often reject and ridicule them (‘of course that can’t be so because everybody knows otherwise, or that wasn’t my or my Aunty Nelly’s experience’). This occurs more often if research findings challenge emotionally important individual or cultural beliefs or problematize political agendas.
Social science findings are, furthermore, frequently contrasted unfavourably with the unrealistic perception that natural science conclusively finds out certain facts which can be instantly applied to improve all our everyday lives. Yet there is as much dispute about and modification to natural science results as there is to social science findings, and often years of research are needed before the few promising findings can be applied to real-life situations. Another criticism concerns the incomprehensible nature of social science jargon, but every discipline uses terminology as a form of insider’s shorthand. The findings of natural scientists in white coats in laboratories, who use mystifying jargon and impressive technology, are frequently revered and seldom challenged (Sapolsky, 2000), but are rarely interpreted as emotionally threatening. The more successful social science concepts and findings also often become absorbed almost invisibly into our everyday understandings – for example, the concepts of in-groups, stigma, charisma and institutionalization. Despite politicians often debunking social science, they also enthusiastically utilize research which might benefit them, such as that identifying the features that promote interest and applause during public speeches (Platt, 1989).
To sum up, lay theories are problematic because they are generally based upon anecdotes, an individual’s own narrow experience, hearsay or uncritical acceptance of societal or media messages, and most ordinary people who criticize social science do not have an awareness of the logical premises and research methodology social science is based upon. Furthermore, the general public may experience some social science research findings as emotionally threatening to their core beliefs and values, and will therefore reject them. Other findings will, conversely, be ridiculed as ‘common sense’, although this purported ‘common sense’ could originally have emanated from social science but then slowly and unconsciously become embedded into wider societal understandings. ‘Common sense’ is also just as likely to be wrong as it is to be right (Platt, 1989), and it is therefore important that popular beliefs about human behaviour are subject to research in order to confirm or disconfirm them.
Sociology and psychology
Sociology
Sociology is a nurture discipline based around understanding the significant influence society has on us at different levels and how it impacts on our behaviour and wider lifestyles and on our norms, values and beliefs. These different levels of influence range from the micro context of friends, family and small groups to the mid or meso level of organizations or neighbourhoods. The macro level of political and social norms, major economic and other institutions, attitudes and legislation, and the interconnections between all levels and the individual, are also important. Consequently, our peer groups (acquaintances and friends of a similar age, often with similar backgrounds and interests) may have a profound influence on how we behave and our likes and dislikes. However, our peer groups are in turn also influenced by the families we live in (micro context), the schools we have attended and the neighbourhood environs we reside in (meso context), contemporary and past educational structures, media attitudes about young people, legislation, and prevailing wider political and social attitudes (the macro context). Therefore, other than ‘its empirical grounding in careful observation and description of facts, sociology as a discipline is characterized by its rigorous search for interconnections among different domains of society and its systematic use of comparisons’ (Beteille, 1996: 2361).
Thinking sociologically
C. Wright Mills (1959) claimed sociology is about understanding the relationship between society within its wider historical context and our own biographies and inner worlds, enabling us to comprehend and be able to explain our own and others’ social locations. If one person suffers long-term unemployment, then this is a personal issue with many potential causes or solutions, but thousands of people enduring long-term unemployment constitutes a social or political problem which cannot be blamed on the individual, individual solutions being largely ineffectual. Berger (1963) sees grasping sociology as progressing from being in a puppet show where we are unaware others are pulling our strings to having a wider awareness of how the society we live in works and influences us, this knowledge therefore perhaps enabling us to analyse and resist problematic societal pressures and norms. Bauman (1990) describes sociology as the sharpening up of our critical social thinking, through continually scrutinizing everything we previously accepted as normal, natural and inevitable or preordained. Abercrombie (2004) believes sociology’s main moral enterprise is to investigate ‘common sense’ assumptions about social life, however personally upsetting justified challenges to our assumptions may be, with Bruce (1999) contending sociology is more complex than the so-called ‘hard’ natural sciences because it deals with human goals, motivations, beliefs and values in the context of complex societies. A common theme threading these viewpoints together is one which conceives of sociology as a complex, social discipline, involving critical thought and forging connections at different societal levels, whilst simultaneously not taking anything for granted about social behaviour.
Socialization
For many years, sociologists used the term ‘socialization’ to refer to the potentially lifelong process of individuals learning and acquiring the norms (expected ways of behaving and thinking) and values of their societies via individuals/families and institutions such as school, work and the media. Behavioural approaches within psychology, such as Bandura’s social learning theory (see chapter 2), also explain socialization through learning via copying, modelling and reward and punishment, but only factor in a very superficial and immediate micro context. Lately, the concept of socialization has been criticized for depicting this process as an over-psychologized one-way practice from society hypodermically into the individual. Stanley and Wise (2000) therefore assert that socialization is a complex and uncertain, dynamic, multi-directional process involving individual agency as well as societal inducements and pressures. Sociology also offers many competing perspectives on society and human behaviour. These involve continual debates about how far the society (social structure) shapes the individual versus the extent to which the individual is able to exercise autonomous choices over their lives effectively (individual agency), and whether our society is generally a fair, democratic place or grossly corrupt and massively unequal.
Structural consensus and conflict theories
Some sociological perspectives are macro structural, focusing largely on how society determines individuals’ lives. Functionalist (consensus/order) theories often draw on organic metaphors, such as the body, presenting society as comprised of interrelating parts functioning harmoniously together for the benefit of everyone, with values being shared. Functionalists deny the existence of extensive societal conflict and unjust power inequalities, presenting society as a meritocracy in which those with the highest-status jobs procure them wholly through their own merit.
Conflict theories conversely perceive society as characterized by persistent conflict and inequality, the best-known theory being Marxism, but many feminist and racist theories are also structural conflict theories. A Marxist perspective construes capitalism as thriving when the sole purpose of economic activity is maximizing profit. Economic instruments of production (i.e. capital – money or financially valuable assets) are privately owned, and labour is provided by exploited, estranged workers (the proletariat), paid the lowest possible wages to produce commodities or services. The profits acquired from paying low wages are then appropriated by the owners of capital (the bourgeoisie), who expand their businesses and accrue ever-increasing personal wealth. Although Marx may have been over-confident about capitalism’s demise, he did envisage its global appropriation as the leading capitalist imperial nation states (and now transnational corporations) secure ever-expanding territories as sources of raw materials and labour to exploit and profit from (Marx, 1844/1959; Hughes et al., 1999: 70; Klein, 2000).
Micro theories and postmodernism
Both Marxism and functionalism are macro structural theories, in that they claim wider societal structures largely control and construct our beliefs and behaviour, but micro (social action) theories also exist. These focus on studying and theorizing human behaviour at an individual or small-group level, symbolic interactionism being the most prominent. Micro action theories give more weight to individual agency than to wider societal structures. Symbolic interactionism assumes that human beings are able to think, unlike animals, and to reflect upon their lives and their and others’ actions through the deployment and interpretation of symbols (Mead, 1927/1934). For example, driving a Rolls Royce car signals affluence, and shaking your head in most Western cultures indicates disagreement or disbelief. The concept of self, whereby individuals are able to reflect on how they appear to others and how others might judge them, is important within symbolic interactionism. There are therefore many ongoing debates about agency and structure and about conflict and consensus between different sociological perspectives.
A new contested perspective in sociology, which has gained ground since the early 1990s, is postmodernism. Premodernity refers to pre-industrial societies, such as European mediaeval societies or simple tribal societies today, in which people believe that supernatural forces, religion and/or chance or fate define their life pathways. Modernity is characterized by a belief in progress and the ability of science and rationality to resolve all humanity’s problems. Postmodernism, in contrast, proposes we live in a fragmented, chaotic uncertain ‘risk’ society in which science is revealed as being unable to predict or solve many contemporary problems (Beck, 1992), and new technology and signs and symbols assume prime importance. Postmodernism repudiates the grand narratives or overarching structural theories of Marxism and functionalism, claiming our lives are much less predictable, ordered and coherent than has been assumed. Some theorists, however, reject the premise of a postmodern society, claiming we currently inhabit high/late modernity, in which some aspects of modernity, such as a belief in progress and science, are still evident but far less certainty exists concerning many aspects of our lives. Late modernity is said to be characterized by rapid social change and flux caused by disembedding, the ability to interact and forge relationships with people throughout the globe without being face-to-face – for example, through Skype; the dissolution of traditional values such as those around marriage, romantic love and gender; a more self-reflexive approach to our lives; and the rise of ‘the risk society’, in which the risks we face are often manufactured, such as terrorist attacks or environmental pollution, rather than naturally occurring disasters, and are often not confined to our geographical location (Giddens, 1991; Beck, 1992).
Psychology
At its simplest, psychology has been described as ‘what goes on in people’s minds’ (Beckett, 2002: 2), or the study of the mind and of behaviour relating to humans and animals (Hayes, 1994: 1). However, there appears to be no generally accepted definition of what constitutes psychology as an academic discipline (Furnham, 1989), although it is more focused on the individual than sociology is. McGhee (2001: 6) asserts, ‘there is no single best way of thinking about behaviour and experience, no single perfect model for creating psychological knowledge, no single solution to the puzzles of mental life. Rather we should take the view that psychology is multifaceted and requires many different perspectives on knowledge.’
Different psychological schools of thought
Psychology is therefore perhaps better subdivided into specific areas. These include: cognitive psychology, which deals with thoughts and mental processes such as learning, perception, representation, memory and language; individual differences, i.e. how one individual differs from another, in, for example, intelligence or personality; physiological psychology, which focuses on the brain and the nervous system – for example, how conditions such as stress impact on these; social psychology, which examines how people interact with each other and includes studying attitudes, prejudice and group behaviour; occupational psychology, which deals with work, focusing on areas such as satisfaction and motivation; and developmental and life span psychology, both concerned with one’s whole life. Psychology generally, as a discipline, seems profoundly influenced by biology, concentrating on hormones and physiological changes associated with age, unchanging genetic heritability or more flexible Darwinian evolutionary theory. Darwinian theory asserts that those species or members of species that survive over many generations have physically and mentally adapted most effectively, their features or characteristics slowly evolving in tandem with the changing environment to enable them to have an optimum chance of survival – a ‘survival of the fittest’ hypothesis.
