Emerging Trends & Challenges

*ADOLESCENTS & FAMILIES

DEMOGRAPHY*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

*THE CANADIAN CENSUS*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

*THE MEANING OF FAMILY

*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

*CANADIAN FAMILY STRUCTURES*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

*MODERN FAMILY TRENDS*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 same-sex couples in Canada rose by 33%, while the number of opposite-sex 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)

* SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

*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?

* SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

*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?

* SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

*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

*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

* SOCIALIZATION TRENDS & CHALLENGES AMONG MODERN ADOS

*CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

*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

*MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

* 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?

*MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

*IN-GROUP vs. OUT-GROUP*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

*DEVIANCE & SOCIAL STRAIN TYPOLOGY

*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

*MERTON’S DEVIANCE TYPOLOGY

*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

*MERTON’S DEVIANCE TYPOLOGY

*ADOLESCENTS & TECHNOLOGY

*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.

*SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

*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

*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”

*SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

*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)

*SOCIAL CHALLENGES FOR ADOLESCENTS

*KEY TERMS & IMPORTANT NAMES

*Now it’s your turn to fill this page out.