To define what is meant by life chances To explain how an individuals life chances are influenced by gender ethnicity social class and age Life is like a lottery discuss this statement ID: 466358
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Slide1
Life chances
To define what is meant by life chances.To explain how an individual's life chances are influenced by gender, ethnicity, social class and age.
Life is like a lottery. – discuss this statement.Slide2
Connector
What happened to the famous ship in the picture?When did it happen?Why did it happen?How were people recued?Who do you think was rescued first?
Have you heard the phrase ‘women and children first
’?
Do you think this principle was applied to the rescue of people from the Titanic? Slide3
Titanic and life chances
All passengers travelling first class had the chance to board the life boats, while third class passengers were held below deck at gun point. As a result, those travelling first class had a much greater chance of survival, in fact, 45% of women travelling 3rd class died, 16% of those travelling 2nd class and only 3% of women travelling 1st class died. Therefore, the upper class women were the most likely to survive the sinking of the Titanic as a result of their favourable life chance of having been wealthy and female.
Well, yes,
women and children first
was the motto of the rescue of people from the
Titanic, but it was also
first class first
.
What do you think that means? Slide4
Life chances
Life chances refer to opportunities, advantages or disadvantages people may have which can affect how well they succeed in relation to their education, health, employment, income and housing. Life chances are not distributed equally because factors such as class, gender, age and ethnicity affect a person’s life chances. Some say that inequality is inevitable in a capitalist society such as our own in which competition creates both life’s winners and losers. Here, some have higher life chances because society is organised in a way that gives much to some and little to others.
On the other hand, some argue that anyone can improve their life chances if they choose to. For example, a person born with low life chances can use the free education system to improve their life chances.
5
Mins
Slide5
Task 1
Work in pairs.Write a subheading: Social class and life chances. Complete the grid worksheet to show how social class position affects the lives of upper, middle and working class people. 20 MinsSlide6
Lifestyle and life chances
Upper class
Middle class
Working class
Source and amount of income
Welfare system / benefits or low paid manual jobs.
Income – low.
Healthcare
Private healthcare providers, e.g. Bupa.
Leisure activities
Type of education
Can send their children to top of the league table state schools or more affordable private schools.
University.
Qualifications
Housing
Employment
Holidays
Shops they shop in
Inheritance and ownership of land, etc.
High.
Professional occupations and ownership of land, etc.
Quite high.
Usually the NHS, but some can afford private healthcare.
NHS.
Skiing, attending dinner parties, shooting, ‘lunching’, etc.
Galleries and museums, dinner parties.
Cinema, pub, TV.
Public (very expensive, private boarding) schools.
Oxbridge.
Local state schools.
Increasingly also FE in colleges or 6th Forms.
Increasingly high, but not always – don’t need it.
University and post-grad.
Traditionally not past compulsory education.
Own several homes, often have a large estate.
Own 1 – 2 houses, e.g. one by the seaside.
Usually tenants. Also council housing.
Top jobs in private firms and public sector, e.g. civil service.
Professional occupations, e.g. Teachers, doctors, accountants,
Manual jobs, high unemployment.
Skiing, tropical islands abroad.
Summer and winter hols abroad.
UK based hols by the seaside, Butlins, etc
Harrods, Fortnum & Mason,...
M&S, Waitrose, John Lewis
Primark Slide7
Task 2
Write a subheading: Life chances of having good health by gender and class.Cut out the cards and sort them under the headings to show who has better health as a result of different life chances. Glue them into your book. 20 Mins Slide8
Women
Men
Working class
Middle class
People of this sex are more likely to suffer ill health.
People of this sex are less likely to seek medical help when ill.
People of this sex tend to live longer.
People of this class have higher incomes so can afford a better diet so tend to be healthier.
People of this class live in poor quality housing, e.g. cold and damp so tend to be more ill.
People of this class tend to live in a better natural environment which helps to keep them healthy.
People of this class tend to need more medical help, but it is not always available to them.
People of this class tend to live in areas where there are more GP surgeries and more dentists.
People of this class end to be healthier and live longer.
Babies of this class are more likely to be born underweight, stillborn and die in infancy. Slide9
Exam questions
Explain what sociologists mean by ‘life chances’. (4 marks)Identify two social factors that affect life chances and opportunities. (2 marks) 10 Mins Slide10
Home learning
Read the Item and answer the 4 questions into your book (you will have to use your own knowledge as well).Due – next lesson. Slide11
What is social inequality?
What are life chances?
Does social class still matter?
What is ethnicity? What inequalities are based on ethnicity?
What are different forms of stratification? What is the Functionalist view on stratification?
What is social mobility? Does it happen in the UK?
What is gender? What inequalities are based on gender?
How do Sociologists study age? How do they view youth and older age?
Revision and end of Topic exam question
What is social class? How is social class measured?
How are wealth and income distributed in the UK?
How do we explain poverty?
What is poverty? How is it measured? Who is likely to experience poverty?Slide12
Possible HW answers
See the following 2 slides. Slide13
Dental health
Working class children are more likely to have teeth decay than middle class children.The material factors that can affect this are that visits to the dentist, even through the NHS, have to be paid for. Therefore, some working class families may not be able to afford dental check-ups so their children suffer tooth decay. Also, working class may not be able to afford fresh, healthier food so their children eat more processed food which can be damaging to their teeth. The cultural factors that lead to working class children suffering tooth decay are their parents’ values. Working class tend to hold fatalistic, ‘live for today’, values so they do not think it’s important to take care of one’s health for the long term health thus they may be more likely to not brush their teeth regularly or avoid sugary foods.
The social environment factors that lead to working class children suffering tooth decay are a lack of dentist surgeries in more deprived areas so even if the parents want to take their child to the dentist, there may not be a dentist in their area. Slide14
Smoking
Working class people find it a lot harder to quit smoking, even if they want to and try to than middle class people. The material factors that can affect a person’s chances of quitting smoking are that buying cigarettes may seem like a treat, while buying anti-smoking patches may seem like a medical expense so working class people may not be prepared to spend the little money they have on the patches. The cultural factors that can affect a person’s chances of quitting smoking are the values they hold. Working class people value immediate gratification, while middle class value deferred gratification so they are more likely to persevere when it comes to trying to quit, while working class are more likely to seek the immediate gratification of smoking a cigarette so they are less likely to persevere. The middle class also have the cultural capital so they know how the medical system works and what help is available to help them quit smoking.
The social environment factors that lead to working class finding it harder to smoke are the people around them who are more likely to be smokers thus discouraging them from smoking. Also, middle class are more likely to go to restaurants and work in places where smoking is banned which encourages them to stop smoking.