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Emerging Trends & Challenges
* The statistical study of a population:
* Time-based
* Size of population
* Composition of population
* Distribution of population
* Migration, immigration, and emigration rates
* Groupings by age, sex, nationality/ethnicity, religion
* Marital status and family type affiliation (census family)
* Birth and death rates
* Education, income, and occupation
* Residence (housing)
* Demography helps social scientists to understand changing values
within a society, which in turn sheds light on underlying causes of
change
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* Conducted every 5 years (last census year: 2011)
* One member of every household in Canada is required to
complete the census, either in hard copy or online, and return it
by the specified date
* You are legally required to respond truthfully, to the best of your
ability, and in a timely manner, to the census questionnaire
* Representation in the House of Commons, as well as provincial
subsidies, are based on census information
* Penalty: Fine of not more than $500, imprisonment for up to three
months, or both (Statistics Act, 2005, Subsection 31)
* The census is like the family photo album of a nation
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* Family: the most basic unit of organization and affiliation among
humans
* How we define family reveals much about our beliefs and values
* Gender roles, importance of propagation of species vs. self, etc.
* If a society’s definition of family changes, it generally signals that
the society’s beliefs and values have also changed
* Culture also has tremendous influence on family structure
* Expectations for yourself growing up here vs. elsewhere, typical
house design in Brampton, suburban vs. urban vs. village design
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* NUCLEAR FAMILY: mother, father, dependent child(ren) in one
house
* EXTENDED FAMILY: multiple generations all in one house
* LONE-PARENT FAMILY: mother OR father, dependent child(ren) in
one house
* BLENDED FAMILY: man and woman, either or both previously
divorced, now living together (married or common-law), with or
without children from previous relationships, all in one house
* SAME-SEX FAMILY: first recognized on the 2006 census; two men or
two women, married or common-law, with or without dependent
children, all in one house
* MARRIED/COHABITING COUPLE: heterosexual, childfree couple in
one house
* Census family: all of the above family structure categories are
recognized by the Canadian census
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* The results of the 2006 census revealed:
* Dual-income families are the norm (67%); responsibilities and power
shared roughly equally between the two earners
* Only 25% of Canadian mothers with young children identified as
homemakers (stay-at-home mothers): compare with 60% in 1976
* Homosexual couples are getting married at a higher rate than
heterosexual couples: between 2001-2006, the number of samesex couples in Canada rose by 33%, while the number of oppositesex couples rose by 6%  gay marriage legalized July, 2005
* Common-law relationships are becoming more common (February,
2011: the Supreme Court awards common-law couples the same
legal status as married couples)
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* Ado = adolescent (Fr.)
* THE TWEEN
* Boy or girl, 8-13 years old
* Marketing and advertising are major contributors to its emergence as
a distinct developmental stage
* Tweens are influenced to act older than they are, at younger ages
than ever before  adopt adult consumer behaviour
* Increased importance of tweens in society
* On average, couples and individuals are having fewer children
* Predominance of the dual-income family structure
* Older parents with a proclivity to indulge
* Higher incidences of divorce
* Children more aware of their rights
* Children encouraged to express themselves at an earlier age
* Remember what we learned about the prefrontal cortex?
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* SEXUALIZATION OF CHILDREN:
* The fashion and health & beauty industries are targeting younger and
younger audiences, but they are using the same lure as that used on
adults: sexuality and sexual desirability
* The industries are also attacking their audience’s self-esteem
* Tweens are learning to value physical beauty above all else, all while
being made to feel poorly about themselves
* Rise of eating disorders, skewed body image, and narrowed
definitions of beauty
* Questions for the women: do you wear make-up? If so, why?
How
long have you been wearing make-up? What made you decide to
do so?
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* DELAYED TRANSITIONS
* Fledgling adults: adults still living in their parents’/guardians’ home
(never left OR returned)
* Pursuing more education  incurring greater debt
* Experiencing less societal pressure to leave
* Choosing to stay at home for financial reasons (difficulties finding
suitable employment after graduation, increased cost of living)
* Delaying marriage until later into their 20s or 30s
* HELICOPTER PARENTING
* Over-involvement in a child’s life
* Desire to make the child’s life as easy as possible
* Trend first came to attention of social scientists during the 1990s
* Prevents the child from becoming independent
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* CONSUMERISM
* Capitalist societies focus their efforts on economic growth
* The only way to ensure economic growth is for consumers to buy more
and more each year
* Where does all of the “stuff” we buy come from?
* How does the production of all of that “stuff” affect the rest of the
world?
* ETHICAL CONSUMPTION
* An attempt to reduce the harmful impacts of consumerism on the rest
of the world
* Fair Trade
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* Conformity and social belonging are key needs in an adolescent’s
life
* Leon Festinger: Social Comparison Theory
* People need to compare themselves against others in order to see if
they “measure up”
* Combine the two needs above  competitive emulation, or
“keeping up with the Joneses”
* Consumerism, conformity, and comparison: a vicious cycle
* Other challenges to social relationships:
* Abraham Maslow: hierarchy of needs
* Muzafer Sherif: in-group and out-group dynamic
* Robert Merton: deviance and social strain typology
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* http://www.flickr.com/photos/betterworksinc/5854234616/
* http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
*
* Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
* Theory (pub. 1943) to explain behavioural motivations
* Needs at the bottom must be addressed before an individual can
consider meeting needs that are higher up on the pyramid
* Maslow estimated that 98% of people never reach the top level
* The Social needs (3rd from the bottom) are what drive the adolescent
need to conform and belong
* What challenges to adolescent social relationships can you explain
or identify using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
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* Muzafer Sherif (1906-1988)
* Researcher, group dynamics: how easily can individuals come together
to form a group?
* Theory, pt. 1: bring individuals together in a group, make them work
toward a common goal, and they will create a group structure complete
with a hierarchy and roles  in-group
* Theory, pt. 2: form two in-groups, bring them together for the purpose of
competition, and the two groups will become hostile toward one another
 in-group vs. out-group
* The two groups will oppose or attack each other as long as they think
they are competing against each other
* The only way to convince the two groups to work together: make the
two groups think they are both facing an external threat
* Conclusions: every group will develop a unique culture, language,
modes of behaviour, and status structures; every in-group will find an
out-group; “us vs. them” mentality invariably leads to conflict
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* Deviance: individual or group behaviours that violate popular
social norms, and cultural and moral standards
* Mainstream groups usually regard deviant behaviour negatively
* Robert Merton: strain theory
* Society causes deviance
* Society pressures people to conform: individuals choose whether or not to
“play by the rules” of society
* Subculture: an alternative system of values and beliefs that
opposes mainstream society’s cultural/moral/behavioural norms
* Adolescence: time of heightened participation in subcultures as
one tries to determine one’s place in the world
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* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mertons_social_strain_theory.svg
*
* What motivates a person to accept and follow societal
expectations regarding goals and the behaviours necessary to
achieve those goals?
* Deviance: assessment of means and ends
* CONFORMISTS: accept society’s cultural goals, and the means by
which to attain those goals; rule followers; doctors, lawyers,
teachers, etc.
* RITUALISTS: accept society’s means but not its goals; non-profit
lawyer, independent bookshop owner, etc.
* INNOVATORS: accept society’s goals but not the means; visionaries;
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg
* RETREATISTS: reject society’s goals and means; they feel alienated
from and/or disenfranchised by society, and so prefer to isolate
themselves from it; hippies, gangs
* REBELS: reject society’s goals and means; rather than removing
themselves from society, they seek to change it; Occupy protesters,
Arab Spring
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* Social networking
* Why do you think communicating via technology is so important to an
adolescent? Connect your answer to one of the theories about which
you have just learned.
* Cyberbullying and sexting
* Why do you think adolescents engage in these behaviours? Connect
your answers to at least two of the theories about which you have just
learned.
* How and why are adolescents more negatively affected by these
activities? Connect your answers to at least two of the theories about
which you have just learned.
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* Melvin Seeman: social alienation
* Powerlessness: individual believes s/he is incapable of achieving a
desired outcome – lack of required skills/means
* Meaninglessness: individual cannot see the point of his/her actions
* Normlessness: individual no longer feels any connection to societal
values/rules
* Social isolation: individual withdraws from society, usually due to
feelings of normlessness
* Self-estrangement: individual denies/negates personal interests and
chooses impersonal, external activities to meet needs
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* Gabor Maté: peer orientation and its role in increasing suicide
rates
* Children are forming attachment relationships with their peers
instead of their parents
* Children look to their peers instead of their parents for guidance and
a sense of identity
* If children rely mainly on their peers for socialization, and if they are
then rejected by the group, the greater will be their feelings of
alienation
* Suicide becomes an option if one feels rejected by one’s “whole
world”
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* Emile Durkheim on suicide:
* Imagine someone whose friends are very important to her.
The
friends have great influence over her decisions and actions. Now
imagine that the friends break up with her. For that girl, suicide may
seem preferable to having no friends.
* Three types of suicide according to Durkheim:
* ALTRUISTIC: individual believes s/he is dying for the greater good
(his/her death will benefit the group somehow)
* EGOISTIC: individual believes that s/he is alone and powerless,
usually feeling guilty about something s/he thinks is wrong with
him/her
* ANOMIC: individual does not respond well to sudden change; feels lost
and starts to see life as meaningless (usually triggered by death of
someone close to the individual)
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* Now it’s your turn to fill this page out.