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Social cohesion is usually maintianed by
behaviours, these behaviours fit into different
categories
Sociologists call customs and conventional
behaviours “Folkways”
Behaviours a typical member of society would
usually practice
Social Mores: Behaviours regarded as
essential to the welfare and survival of the
group
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Ex. behaving in a non violent manner, if you
do, viewed as harmful
Social Mores change over time, rising falling
expectations, shifts in political or economic
climate
Four areas how social mores have changed in
Canada
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Growing tolerance for depictions of violence
in the media
Psychologists worry the media is providing
young people with poor role models
Saturday morning cartoons is where exposure
to violence starts
The Media Awareness Network (2001),
Canadian organization that tries to assist
parents in moulding healthy television habits
in their children
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By the time most children are 12 years old they
have seen up to 12 000 violent deaths on
television
Children's television programs actually contained
68 percent more violence than programs for
adults
Some say children recognize that the cartoon and
other media violence is fake and does not cause
them to act violently
Psychologists argue that violence is a learned
behaviour and that early and continued exposure
to it can condition children and adults to act in
violent ways
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Concern over the movies and music created
for the teenage market, if have conflict and
violence in the media, some think will
eventually internalize the behaviour
School shootings: W.R. Meyers highschool,
Taber, Alberta and Columbine High School in
Colorado
Organized religion and the family are less
able to counter the messages of the media
Media contributed to desensitization to and
tolerance for violence
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Psychologists believe that desensitization to
violence creates a climate of fear
4/5 Women say they think violence in media
contributes to violence in society, 35% say
they do not watch violent shows for this
reason
Whether violence in media contirbutes to
violence or makes the population fearful it
effectively diminishes the well being of
Canadians
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Many celebrities suffer from drug problems,
media downplays this, stories are presented
as another one of rich and famous
Does downplaying this tragedy make fans
more likely to experiment with drugs?
Study of 800 young people, drug policies
based on three misconceptions: drug use
usually leads to criminal behaviour, drug use
usually leads to addiction, most adolescents
are pressured to use drugs
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Factors came together in the 90’s that changed
the way that Canadians viewed the workplace
Government had become too big and costly and
that its role in the economy should be reduced
Pension plans and financial investors began to
invest only in the most promising companies
Pressures of globalization forced Canadian
companies to reduce production costs or go out
of business
The growing perception that economy should be
privatized, efficient and globalized had
significant impact on the workplace
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Employees were expected to do more with
less
Departments were merged, perks reduced
and benefits cut back
Social mores have shifted so employees
expect to work harder and put in more hours
than 20 years ago
Work-Related Stress: Distress caused by work
pressures, and is seriously threatening many
Canadian’s health and well being
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What causes work related stress?
Studies have found that it is most prevalent
where mental pressure is persistent and the
sense of personal control low
Many people have little control over their work
lives, stress is unaviodable
Develop coping strategies to deal with the
problems
Burnout: a syndrome od emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and reduced personal
accomplishment that can occur among
individuals who do people work of some kind
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Treatments for work stress are short-term
including: rest counselling and drug therapy
Sources of stress are long-term because of
the attitude of employer who expect more
from their employees
Burnout sufferers lack skills to change their
own contributing behaviours
People get sick more often and pay the
psychological cost of devoting less time and
energy to their families
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Difference between Canada’s existing health
care system and Aboriginal attitudes toward
healing
Western view sees human body as a machine,
role of medical personnel is to repair the
machine
First nations and Inuit traditions, all parts of
patients life must be healed, healing process
of restoring balance in patients life
Emphasizes the physical, emotional, social,
and spiritual aspects of healing
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Social mores, government delivered health care
equally to all Canadians including Aboriginals
Anthropologists have said necessary to respect
cultural differences among population when
designing effective health programs
Priority for Aboriginal Health Care must be
development and implementation of holistic
approaches
Although there are differences between western
and Aboriginal health views, Assembly of First
Nations recognizes that both have a role to play
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More than 85% indicated that a return to
traditional methods would be a good method
of promoting Aboriginal wellness
Health Canada recognizes that programs are
more likely to be successful in Aboriginal
communities if they take into account the
importance of traditional healing approaches
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1. In what ways does the media contribute to
Canadian’s desensitization of violence
2. In the first column of a three column chart, list
three factors that lead to work-related stress and
burnout. In the second column list strategies
individuals can use to better cope with their stress.
Third column, describe ways that society could
attempt to change the factors themselves to decrease
work related stress
3. What is the difference in outlook between Canada’s
existing health care system and Aboriginal attitudes
toward healing? What do you think mainstream
medicine can learn from Aboriginal attitudes toward
healing? How might society as a whole benefit?