Young People in Society

Explain how political, economic and social constructs can be used to categorise society. Look at how Irish society stratifies according to social class and gender.

Sociologists develop theories and concepts to help reveal the structure of social life and they engage in numerous different forms of empirical investigation to test and develop these theories. They are interested in how people communicate and create meaning and understanding, but they are also interested in questions of power and inequality. They use a variety of sources such as historical documents, observations, survey research to help develop reliable information about how society operates.

Define social stratification
Social stratification is a system where people are ranked hierarchically which leads to groups of people being classified into layers and strata (class, caste, slavery and estate).
Class – social class system is a system of stratification that results from unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige.
Caste – this is a fixed arrangement of strata from the most to the least privileged.
Estate – this consist three different strata or layers – aristocracy, clergy and commoners.
Slavery – this is the oldest and most extreme form of stratification or inequality in which some people are literally owned by others as property.

All social stratification systems share four basic principles each reflecting how these systems cause inequalities based on class, gender, ethnicity, age, religious affiliation and consequences at an individual and at a collective level in society, no one social stratification system is unique, each system is a characteristic of the society it relates to and it is not simply a reflection of differences at an individual level, nor is it a new concept as afore mentioned but it is a system that has and will persist over generations and although stratification systems may not be an exact replica in each society, fundamentally stratification systems are universal albeit widely variable, they also incorporate ideological beliefs while also engendering shared identities (Macionis et al, 2005).

Do all societies stratify? If so, in what way?
Virtually all societies have some form of stratification or structured inequalities that are organised and that persist over time. It is universal but variable and seems to be found everywhere. At the same time, what is unequal and how unequal it is varies from one society to another. For example,
i) Social stratification persist over generation - in all societies, parents confer their social positions on their children, so that patterns of inequality stay much the same from generation to generation. (Macionis et al, 2005). ii) Some individuals do also experience social mobility – it may be downward or upward. Society celebrate the achievements of those who rose to prominence from modest beginnings. This usually happens in society as some people are regarded as more important than others, more worthy of respect or seen as more useful than others in certain situations. It is also evident that people could move downward as a result of illness, unemployment, economic break-down, business setback etc. However, social standing of most people remain unchanged for a life time – like the Royal Family in England.

What system of stratification is in operation in Ireland? Is it an open or close system of stratification?

The social stratification in Ireland today is undefined. However, the class system seem to be in operation in Ireland and it is considered a close system. A closed system does not afford a person the same opportunity, and as a result a person’s position in life is solely determined by the family group they are born into. Identity and belonging dominate the social class in modern Ireland. This can be to the majority of people defined by two categories:

the first being wealth (Middle class). If you are wealthy you have a lot more opportunities in education, professionals or higher managerial e.g. senior government workers, doctors, farmers, company directors etc. and;

secondly being poor (Lower class). – these are people in lower scale in the society e.g. school teachers, driver, machine operator, bar-worker waitress, cleaner, call-centre worker etc. The rate of lower class status rocketed since recession. (Hyde et al, 2007:65-66)

Describe the system of stratification found in Ireland. How is it broken down? (include tables and diagrams here if relevant)

During the Celtic Tiger it was perceived that Ireland as a whole was very wealthy and many people were classed as ‘wealthy’ or ‘upper class’. However since the recession hit the social status regarding the wealth of the country has deteriorated. Today, a larger number of the population are working or middle class. The growing unemployment rate has forced many people, including well educated individuals to rely on state benefits. This has been a huge factor in the rapid decrease in the social status of the country.
Social mobility in Ireland appears to be going in the wrong direction. Not only is the social stratification in Ireland defined by its economic status, but also by a number of other factors; for example; a person’s religion. In the past the influence the Catholic Church had on people determined the way they lived there life. Catholic priests were understood to be very well respected figures in society and anyone of the catholic religion were accepted as part of the community however individuals of a different faith were viewed as outsiders. Nowadays a person’s faith does not have as big an influence on their social status and many people from different religious backgrounds are accepted in Irish communities.
Does class/socio-economic position, impact on your health? Please provide evidence, statistics to support your answer.

There are differences among people in the amount of access they have to the resources of wealth and prestige in most societies. Such differences among people in terms of income and status are usually referred to as social class differences. The categories that people have been assigned to by virtue of their occupation have been compared with patterns of illness in society. The lower your place in the social class scale, the worse is likely to be your health status and visa-versa (Hyde et al, 2007).

Although race, gender, age etc have influenced socio-economic status, classification by occupation tends to be more common; hence in Ireland, a person’s social class is measured according to his or her occupation while social class of children is determined by parents’ occupation (Donohoe and Gaynor, 2003). According to Donohoe and Gaynor, there are huge inequalities between the classes in the distribution of wealth in the country. It is estimated that 10 per cent of the population own nearly half the wealth in the country, therefore 90 per cent of the population share the other half, but not equally. (Ibid:71 in McDonld B, 2009)

Health inequalities are often observed along a social rise. This means that the more favourable your social circumstances such as income or education, the better your chance of enjoying good health and a longer life. While there is a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor, the relationship between social circumstances in health is in fact a graded one.

Source of data 'Inequalities in Mortality 1989-1998'
A series of studies by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) found that the number of people living with a chronic condition is expected to increase dramatically by 2020 and that disproportionately more of these people will belong to the older population. Where data was available, IPH also found that people living in more deprived areas of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland were more likely to have a chronic condition compared with those living in more affluent areas (Balanda et al, 2010)

According to World Health Organisation, health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and is a fundamental human right. Therefore, good health is determined by multitude of factors outside the direct influence of the healthcare sector. Health inequalities refer to the avoidable and unjust gap in health dispersal between those at the top and bottom ends of the social scale.

From the statistic below, the disparity is that people in higher socio-economic groups are more likely to enjoy more years of good health than those in lower groups.

Socio-economic group 15 -24 25 – 34 35 – 44 45 – 54 55 - 64

(Death rate per 1,000)
Farmers
0.9
0.8
1.4
5.6
14.8
High professional
0.2
0.3
0.8
3.5
12.8
Salaried employees
1.0
0.6
1.5
3.6
15.2
Skilled manual
0.9
0.7
1.9
6.2
18.7
Unskilled manual
1.9
1.5
3.4
10.7
31.6

(Source: Cleary and Tracy1997, cited in B. McDonald 2005:107)

‘Poor social and economic circumstances affect health throughout life. People further down the social ladder usually run at least twice the risk of serious illness and premature death as those near the top’ (Wilkinson and Marmot 2003:10).

Define Gender
Gender refers to one’s socially acquired psychological and cultural characteristic (one’s learned masculinity or feminity). Nevertheless surgery is now common for those who think they are trapped in the wrong body to change biological sex attributes.

Are men and women treated equally in Irish society? Provide evidence/statistics to support your answer.

Gender differences in health and humanity are complex and not yet fully understood. The social factors of health have both similar and different effects on men and women. Women seem to have a biological advantage over men in terms of life expectancy. Men tend to die younger than women, and research suggests that the work they do and issues like job security and unemployment often affect men’s health. The Inequalities in Mortality Report by Balanda found that on the island of Ireland the all-cause mortality rate for men was 54% higher than for women. (Balanda and Wilde, 2001).

Throughout the EU-27, women tend to live longer than men although men tend to spend a greater proportion of their shorter lives free of disability. In 2010 Eurostat reported that in the EU-27, the expected number of healthy life years (the number of years spent without disability) remaining at age 65 was 8.7 years for men and 8.8 years for women. Considerable differences were observed, across EU-27 member states, with healthy life expectancy ranging from 3.3 years to 14.1 years for men and from 2.8 years to 15.5 years for women (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit, 2010).

On the other hand it also appears that women often bear extensive caring and nurturing responsibilities and a higher prevalence of poverty. The stress of making ends meet impacts on the health of those who are less well off, in particular women (Daly and Leonard, 2002). In Ireland the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions showed that, in 2006, women had a higher risk of poverty than men, and people living in female-headed households had a higher risk of poverty than those in male-headed households (CSO 2007). In Northern Ireland women also had a higher rate of poverty than men, with a quarter of men (25%) in poor households compared to 29% of women (Hillyard et al 2003:51).

Table 10.4: Mean scores on CASP-19 domains by sex, with ELSA scores for comparison

Men
Women

Tilda
Elsa
Tilda
Elsa

Mean 95% CI
Mean S.D.
Mean 95% CI
Mean S.D
Total
42.3 42.0 - 42.6
40.6 8.9
42.6 42.3 - 43.0
40.8 8.8
Control
7.2 7.1 - 7.2
7.7 2.5
7.1 7.1 - 7.2
10.2 2.5
Autonomy
10.8 10.6 - 1.09
10.1 2.7
10.7 10.6 - 10.8
10.2 2.7
Pleasure
13.6 13.5 - 13.7
12.9 2.4
13.8 13.7 - 13.8
13.1 2.3
Self-Actualisation
10.6 10.5 - 10.8
9.9 3.2
10.8 10.7 – 10.9
9.8 3.2

Women, with a score of 42.6 on CASP-19, experience a slightly better quality of life than men, who score 42.3

Examining the separate quality-of-life domains indicates no differences between men and women in terms of control and autonomy, although women derive greater pleasure from life and attain greater self-realisation than men. The domain patterns also show considerable divergence from ELSA wave 4 data. Older men in England score higher than their male counterparts in Ireland on the control domain, but lower on the other three domains. Older women in England likewise score higher on the control domain, but lower on autonomy, pleasure and self-realisation, than older women in Ireland.

Some may argue that gender is not an issue in relation to social stratification in Ireland; others may argue that it is men who think this. It is clear that men as a whole hold a higher social status than women. ‘In 2007, a woman's wage was on average about two-thirds of a man's and after taking into account the longer hours put in by men, the hourly rate for women's wages is about 87% of men's’.
Conclusion

While opportunities have increased to enable people to move into a better position in society, inequalities still do exist.

Although people are stratified according to attributes such as race, ethnicity, gender etc., what most determines a person’s life chances or eventual position in Irish society is not their gender but the class or occupational position of the family into which they are born.

Health systems should be built on equal principles – public health services should be provided according to need, not ability to pay, they should not be driven by profit, and should offer the highest standards of care to all.

TASK 2

Review current trends in societal change, for example, migration patterns and unemployment and how these might shape social expectations.

Define migration
Individuals or ethnic groups are immigrants who came from another country and to live or work in a host country on legal basis. The Irish Law controls these status based on the condition to which it is given to applicants. However, the individual have no privilege to services such as employment, education, health services and many more.

What are the current trends in migration in Ireland?

. In recent history, Ireland has become a country of immigration with movement, relocation and resettlement occurring for thousands of individuals. While immigration to Ireland is no longer a new phenomenon, rapidly increasing numbers combined with a perception of difference for example, skin colour, clothing or religion etc. ‘Immigration has been a striking feature of Irish demographics in recent years which is the main reason for increase in Irish population from 3.9 million in 2002 to 4.2 million as recorded in 2006 census – thus reveals that 10 per cent of the present population are immigrants (CSO 2007), resulting in definitions and experiences of modern Irish society being challenged and changed’. (Lalor et al, 2007)

The level of inward migration is such that 10% of the population (400,000 people) are foreign nationals. Many of these are migrant workers from EU member states. Between 2004 and 2006 this people 230,000 received PPS numbers in Ireland with more than half of these received by Polish people. Amongst the ethnic group who have also come to live in are approximately 60,000 Chinese, 63,000 applications for asylum were made including different African countries with Nigerian being the majority (30,000) and other English speaking countries respectively. (Lalor et al, 2007)

Has this always been the case? Please give reasons for your answer for your answer
Who is emigrating
In previous decades marked by emigration, such as the 1950s and 1980s, the vast majority of people who left Ireland were young. This appears still to be the case today, with approximately 86% of emigrants aged between 15 and 44 years of age. Unlike many other European countries experiencing post-war emigration such as Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain, males and females left Ireland in the 1950s in roughly equal numbers. In the 1980s, more males left Ireland than females, a trend that is also true of current emigration trends. Just under 80,000 Irish males emigrated from Ireland between 2009 and 2012, whereas the number of Irish females leaving in the same period was 57,000. This notable difference perhaps demonstrates the enormous downturn in the construction industry that has taken place since 2008 – although this has to be explored further. Interestingly, more females (both Irish and foreign females) from the 15-24 age category left than from the 25-44 age category from 2006 to 2012. By contrast, more males (both Irish and foreign males) in the 25-44 age category emigrated than in the 15-24 age group. We want to explain why these trends are occurring. Our study also aims to discover which age categories within the wide ranging 25-44 band are leaving. Is it predominantly people in their late twenties or is it people in their early thirties? Why are some people within this broad category (25-44 years old) leaving and others not? Emigre aims to answer these key questions.
Approximately 36,000 people emigrated from Ireland in 2006, of whom just over 15,000 were Irish. Following the demise of the Irish economy since 2008, the figures for annual emigration have increased substantially. In 2012, over 87,000 emigrated from Ireland. Approximately 46,500 were Irish, which represented an increase of over 300% on the 2006 figure. Nonetheless, it is important to keep in mind that in 2012, for example, over 20,000 Irish emigrants returned to the country. Due to the precarious economic situation of the UK, the U.S. and many other EU countries, as well as the difficulty attaining sponsorship in locations such as Australia, current emigration trends are quite complex. Consequently, projects such as Emigre are needed to provide a clearer picture of contemporary emigration from Ireland.

Why are people leaving/emigrating from Ireland now? Provide evidence to support your answer.
Why are they leaving
Ireland experienced an unprecedented period of economic growth from the early 1990s to 2007. Having reached a peak of over 70,000 in 1989, annual emigration decreased substantially thereafter. Nevertheless, it never came to a halt. Even during the so-called ‘boom’ years, emigration continued, with approximately 30,000 people of all nationalities leaving on average every year between 1995 and 2007 for a variety of reasons. The recent economic crisis has resulted in Ireland’s unemployment rate going from 4.4% in 2006 to over 14% today. During the same time period, emigration amongst Irish people has increased three-fold. Consequently, Ireland’s economic situation has had a notable impact on Irish emigration. Considering thousands of Irish people left when Ireland’s economy was prospering, however, not all Irish people who are leaving today are going due to the economic situation. This project will demonstrate the variety of reasons behind people’s decisions to leave Ireland. It also intends to discover who is more likely to return in the future.

What problems could this cause for people remaining at home if any?

Do you think the recession influences people’s attitudes to immigrants? (give 2 reasons for your answer)

Conclusion

TASK 3

Discuss how cultural values/beliefs to diversity could influence/shape our attitudes to immigrant workers in Irish society.

Define culture

List the five components f culture

Explain what is meant by values/belief

List some of the key myths ad misinformation surrounding migrant workers in Irish society. (Pick 3 of the and explain each)

What legislation is there in Ireland to show that equality is valued? Talk briefly about 2 of these.

Do you think racism/discrimination towards immigrants has increased?

Please give reasons/evidence to support your answer

Currently, in Ireland, adult asylum seekers are not entitled to seek third level education or post leaving certificate courses. If an asylum seeker wishes to enter full time education he or she will have to pay non-European Union (EU) fees and that means he or she will have to withdraw their asylum claims and then apply for a student visa which means that the applicant will have to return to his or her country of origin to make the visa application. Children under 18 years are, however, entitled to first and second level education.

Experience of Racism
The respondents felt that they had experienced racism at both individual and institutional levels. One respondent who considered himself to be somewhat integrated into Irish society still felt that there was racism. The other three respondents felt that institutional racism was a dominant feature of the Dispersal and DP policy. This institutional racism manifests itself through the withdrawal of child benefit, negative media portrayals and the comments made by politicians and by those in power. The three respondents also experienced, at some point, individual racism as indicate:
They see their experience as the institutional racism that exists when they spoke about the negative media portrayals on the television and newspapers and how this has influenced individual racist attitudes towards minorities:
Asylum seeker family life is greatly impeded, in the sense that accommodation centre personnel decide what the residents eat, when they eat, where they will stay, who they will share the room with and other personal details that most Irish people select by personal choice and take for granted. For example, sleeping arrangements can be very difficult in terms of privacy and maintaining an intimate relationship.

Conclusion

TASK 4

Evaluate the implications of societal change for the health and social care sector.

Define elderly

How many elderly people live in Ireland? (use tables, graphs, statistics, to support your answer)

Are people living longer now than in the past? (give 2 reasons for your answer)

Does the fact that people are living longer going to have an impact on the health and care sector.--------------------------------------------------

Please give 2 reasons

Conclusion