Saturday, June 30, 2018
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Friday, June 15, 2018
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Lesson 19 - Subcultures
Group a - Hipsters
Are you a hipster?
Hipster song
Group b - Hippies
1960s hippies
Modern day hippies
Group c - Goths
History of Goths
Goth culture
Group d - Geek/Nerd Culture (including Anime fandom)
Geek culture
Short documentary
Group e - Mods and Rockers
Mod fashion
Mods fighting Rockers
Are you a hipster?
Hipster song
Group b - Hippies
1960s hippies
Modern day hippies
Group c - Goths
History of Goths
Goth culture
Group d - Geek/Nerd Culture (including Anime fandom)
Geek culture
Short documentary
Group e - Mods and Rockers
Mod fashion
Mods fighting Rockers
Monday, June 11, 2018
Lesson 18 - Deviance
What is deviance?Like most of the new words we look at, the original meaning of "deviate" is to turn away from a path or route. For example, the a ray of light deviates when it passes through a piece of glass. The word later came to mean doing something different or unexpected. When we look at society, deviance means not following cultural norms. This can take many different forms: anyone from a criminal to an LGBT person can be a deviant. As deviance is based on social norms, what is considered deviant differs from culture to culture. In many cultures, eating raw meat or fish could be considered deviant, but raw fish, horse and chicken are all eaten in Japan. In fact, sashimi is so popular in Japan that not eating it could be considered deviant.
Types of deviance
There are 4 different types of social norm which people can deviate from, going from least to most serious.
The least serious norms are called folkways. These are things like waiting in a line and generally being polite to others. As with all norms folkways change from one culture to another. Taking your shoes off to enter someone's house is a common folkway in Japan, but not in some other cultures. Greetings are a good example of folkways which differ among cultures, from bowing in Japan, to shaking hands in most western countries, to kissing on the cheek in Mediterranean cultures.
The second type of norms are mores. Mores are more serious, they tell a society what is right and wrong, what is ethical and moral. Being unfaithful to a partner would be an example of a more, it isn't illegal but many people would say it's morally wrong. Religions are often a source of mores. Religious rules, like not eating pork in Islam or Judaism, or sex before marriage in many religions are mores. In societies where different religions coexist, differing mores can lead to arguments betweeen religious groups. These mores can affect even non-religious people's views of right and wrong. For example, a non-religious person might still think it is wrong for a couple to live together before they are married.
Even more serious than mores are taboos. People will react with disgust and anger when taboos are broken. Some taboos are fairly universal, they are found in almost every culture. These include incest and cannibalism (eating other humans). Other taboos are also religiously based, such as abortion, and so are only considered taboo by some people.
The final form of norm is a law. A law is a norm which has been defined by the government, and is protected by the police and courts.
Sanctions
Deviance, breaking social norms, is usually met by sanctions. Sanctions are societies ways of making people behave by punishing deviant behaviour. The strength of the sanction is usually appropriate to the level of the norm being violated. Violations of folkways will normally attract funny looks and some tutting, but most people will not say anything to you unless you are a close friend or family. Taboos are likely to result in ostracism, excluding people from the group. Breaking laws will result in formal sanctions (if you are caught), which include fines (having to pay money) and time in prison.
Lesson 17 Reading
Article 17a - 1,000 women die in ‘honor killings’ annually
Article 17b - Vietnam plans etiquette code for social media users
Article 17c - How US abortion debate got to this point
Article 17d - Northern Irish abortion law violates women's rights
Article 17e - Are HK’s social norms cold, or convenient?
Friday, May 18, 2018
Lesson 14 - Immigration
Migration
Migration is the movement of people from one place to another, usually a different country. The movement into a country is called immigration, and movement away is called emigration. As it is necessary to leave one country to arrive in another, every migrant is both an emigrant (from their home country) and an immigrant (to their new country). In a particular country, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants is called the net migration. As the net migration in most developed countries is positive (more people coming than going), it is common in these countries for people and the media to focus on immigration.
Opposition to immigration
In all times in history where large migrations have happened, at least some of the local population are opposed to immigration. Some people have argued that anti-immigration sentiment was one of the reasons the UK voted to leave the EU, and that Donald Trump was elected president of the US. Opposition to immigration has been rising in the EU with the recent large numbers of immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East, and Australia have created island camps to keep potential immigrants away from the mainland until the government can decide whether or not to allow them in to the country.
The reasons people give for anti-immigration sentiments are varied, some based on facts and others on fictions. One of the most common arguments against immigration is that immigrants will take jobs away from the local population. There are only a certain number of jobs in the economy, and if there are more people, there must be more unemployment. This argument has been proven to be false many times. It does not work because it takes an overly simplistic view of the economy. In reality the number of jobs in an economy is not fixed. If, for example, you have more people shopping at the local supermarket, the supermarket earns more money, and might need to hire extra staff. However, there is some evidence that immigration has a small effect on wages, meaning people might earn less money if there is high immigration. Also, as discussed in Lesson 12, many developing countries have aging populations and need immigrant workers to keep the same size workforce.
Another completely false argument is that immigrants cost the country money by receiving welfare from the government. However, as most immigrants are of working age (i.e. not children or retired pensioners) as a group they pay more in taxes than they receive in welfare. A related and more realistic argument is that immigrants put pressure on local services, such as schools and hospitals. Again, this may be true in some situations and false in others. For example, in the UK, immigration has meant more students in schools. On the other hand, there is a higher percentage of immigrants working in hospitals in the UK than the percentage of the whole population, so UK hospitals would be under more pressure without immigrants. People also argue that immigrants cause more crime. Although this might be true in some situations it is certainly false in others. The final argument that is used against immigrants is that they change the culture of a country. Although this is certainly true, it can be argued whether or not this is a bad thing. In addition, technology changes culture at a much faster rate than immigration.
Economic migrants and refugees
One important distinction to be made when talking about immigration is between economic migrants and refugees. An economic migrant is someone who chooses to leave their home country because they believe they have better economic opportunities living abroad. A refugee is someone who runs away from their home country, because they fear for their life or their freedom. For example, many refugees leave countries where there are wars, such as Syria and Yemen currently. People may also escape from countries where the government imprisons people for their political beliefs, such as Iran or Cuba. Although Japan has signed a UN agreement to accept refugees, in reality it only accepts 0.1% of people who apply for refugee status.
Lesson 14 Reading
Article 14a - People voted to leave EU because they feared immigration
Article 14b - Trump's wall isn't going to stem the flow
Article 14c - Japan had 20,000 applications for asylum
Article 14d - Japan toughens screening rules for refugees
Article 14e - Suicide revives concerns about Japan immigration detention
Migration is the movement of people from one place to another, usually a different country. The movement into a country is called immigration, and movement away is called emigration. As it is necessary to leave one country to arrive in another, every migrant is both an emigrant (from their home country) and an immigrant (to their new country). In a particular country, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants is called the net migration. As the net migration in most developed countries is positive (more people coming than going), it is common in these countries for people and the media to focus on immigration.
Opposition to immigration
In all times in history where large migrations have happened, at least some of the local population are opposed to immigration. Some people have argued that anti-immigration sentiment was one of the reasons the UK voted to leave the EU, and that Donald Trump was elected president of the US. Opposition to immigration has been rising in the EU with the recent large numbers of immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East, and Australia have created island camps to keep potential immigrants away from the mainland until the government can decide whether or not to allow them in to the country.
The reasons people give for anti-immigration sentiments are varied, some based on facts and others on fictions. One of the most common arguments against immigration is that immigrants will take jobs away from the local population. There are only a certain number of jobs in the economy, and if there are more people, there must be more unemployment. This argument has been proven to be false many times. It does not work because it takes an overly simplistic view of the economy. In reality the number of jobs in an economy is not fixed. If, for example, you have more people shopping at the local supermarket, the supermarket earns more money, and might need to hire extra staff. However, there is some evidence that immigration has a small effect on wages, meaning people might earn less money if there is high immigration. Also, as discussed in Lesson 12, many developing countries have aging populations and need immigrant workers to keep the same size workforce.
Another completely false argument is that immigrants cost the country money by receiving welfare from the government. However, as most immigrants are of working age (i.e. not children or retired pensioners) as a group they pay more in taxes than they receive in welfare. A related and more realistic argument is that immigrants put pressure on local services, such as schools and hospitals. Again, this may be true in some situations and false in others. For example, in the UK, immigration has meant more students in schools. On the other hand, there is a higher percentage of immigrants working in hospitals in the UK than the percentage of the whole population, so UK hospitals would be under more pressure without immigrants. People also argue that immigrants cause more crime. Although this might be true in some situations it is certainly false in others. The final argument that is used against immigrants is that they change the culture of a country. Although this is certainly true, it can be argued whether or not this is a bad thing. In addition, technology changes culture at a much faster rate than immigration.
Economic migrants and refugees
One important distinction to be made when talking about immigration is between economic migrants and refugees. An economic migrant is someone who chooses to leave their home country because they believe they have better economic opportunities living abroad. A refugee is someone who runs away from their home country, because they fear for their life or their freedom. For example, many refugees leave countries where there are wars, such as Syria and Yemen currently. People may also escape from countries where the government imprisons people for their political beliefs, such as Iran or Cuba. Although Japan has signed a UN agreement to accept refugees, in reality it only accepts 0.1% of people who apply for refugee status.
Lesson 14 Reading
Article 14a - People voted to leave EU because they feared immigration
Article 14b - Trump's wall isn't going to stem the flow
Article 14c - Japan had 20,000 applications for asylum
Article 14d - Japan toughens screening rules for refugees
Article 14e - Suicide revives concerns about Japan immigration detention
Lesson 13 - Urbanisation
Urbanisation
Urbanisation is the movement of people from rural areas (the countryside) to urban areas (cities), measured as a percentage or a ratio. For most of human history only a small minority of people lived in cities (less than 20%). The major historical event that changed this was the industrial revolution, starting in the UK in the 18th century. New technology meant less farmers could produce the same amount of food, so people started to move to cites looking for work in the new factories. Public transport like trains allowed cities to get bigger and still be accessible to workers. Since the middle of the 20th century, urbanisation has spread from Europe and America to the rest of the world. In 2007 the global population passed 50% living in cities for the first time in history.
Rural flight
Seen from the perspective of the countryside, we can also talk about rural flight. This is the same thing as urbanisation, just thinking more about the effects on the places people leave rather than where they go to. Rural flight is often seen as a problem, as more young people move away from an area, local services and businesses lose money. When these businesses start closing, this makes it harder for the remaining people to live in the area. This can eventually lead to ghost towns, where all the population moves away. Local governments in many rural areas are creating programs to encourage people to stay, worried that the local culture (and their jobs) might be lost.
Positive effects of urbanisation
It may seem obvious that cities pollute the environment. If we imagine the difference between Tokyo and Shirakawago in Gifu, it is clear which is more natural. However, in many cases urbanisaton is actually good for the environment. By keeping the same number of people in a smaller area, the effect they have on the environment is actually lower. People can walk or use public transport rather than drive, and goods need less transportation to reach their customers. Likewise things like electricity and water cause less disruption to the environment when they are travelling over a smaller environment. Perhaps the biggest effect urbanisation has on the environment though is simply by people taking up less space. The more people live closer together, the more space there is for natural habitats where animals and plants can live. As the world population increases, it may be necessary for an even higher percentage of people to live in even bigger cities, and allow the countryside to exist without human interference.
Lesson 13 Reading
Article 13a - Ageing villages of northern Finland
Article 13b - Rural America Is Aging and Shrinking
Article 13c - Nigeria, China, India to account for 35% growth
Article 13d - Two-Thirds of World’s Population Will Live in Cities by 2050
Article 13e - Free cow offer fails to attract Japanese to the countryside
Urbanisation is the movement of people from rural areas (the countryside) to urban areas (cities), measured as a percentage or a ratio. For most of human history only a small minority of people lived in cities (less than 20%). The major historical event that changed this was the industrial revolution, starting in the UK in the 18th century. New technology meant less farmers could produce the same amount of food, so people started to move to cites looking for work in the new factories. Public transport like trains allowed cities to get bigger and still be accessible to workers. Since the middle of the 20th century, urbanisation has spread from Europe and America to the rest of the world. In 2007 the global population passed 50% living in cities for the first time in history.Rural flight
Seen from the perspective of the countryside, we can also talk about rural flight. This is the same thing as urbanisation, just thinking more about the effects on the places people leave rather than where they go to. Rural flight is often seen as a problem, as more young people move away from an area, local services and businesses lose money. When these businesses start closing, this makes it harder for the remaining people to live in the area. This can eventually lead to ghost towns, where all the population moves away. Local governments in many rural areas are creating programs to encourage people to stay, worried that the local culture (and their jobs) might be lost.
Positive effects of urbanisation
It may seem obvious that cities pollute the environment. If we imagine the difference between Tokyo and Shirakawago in Gifu, it is clear which is more natural. However, in many cases urbanisaton is actually good for the environment. By keeping the same number of people in a smaller area, the effect they have on the environment is actually lower. People can walk or use public transport rather than drive, and goods need less transportation to reach their customers. Likewise things like electricity and water cause less disruption to the environment when they are travelling over a smaller environment. Perhaps the biggest effect urbanisation has on the environment though is simply by people taking up less space. The more people live closer together, the more space there is for natural habitats where animals and plants can live. As the world population increases, it may be necessary for an even higher percentage of people to live in even bigger cities, and allow the countryside to exist without human interference.Lesson 13 Reading
Article 13a - Ageing villages of northern Finland
Article 13b - Rural America Is Aging and Shrinking
Article 13c - Nigeria, China, India to account for 35% growth
Article 13d - Two-Thirds of World’s Population Will Live in Cities by 2050
Article 13e - Free cow offer fails to attract Japanese to the countryside
Lesson 12 - The aging population
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the number of years the average person in a population lives. For most of human history life expectancy was somewhere around 35-40 years. This does not mean that almost nobody lived to the age of 50, this is an average number. In other words, very high rates of infant mortality (children who die before their 1st birthday) balanced out the people who lived until 70 or 80.
Today, life expectancy world wide is over 70 years, and over 80 in developed countries such as Japan, the US and Western European countries. What has changed? In the 1800s a French scientist called Lois Pasteur created the Germ Theory of Disease, which said that many diseases are caused by micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. This understanding lead to modern medicine, in particular vaccines which protect against viruses and antibiotics which allow people to have surgery without getting bacterial infections.
Infant mortality rate and population growth
It is probably not surprising to learn that in places where the infant mortality rate is higher, the average number of children women have is also higher. Very simply if you want 2 children but you expect half of your children not to reach their 1st birthday, it makes sense to have 4 children. However, in reality people are not so calculating. What usually happens is that as the infant mortality rate decreases, people continue to have large numbers of children, causing population growth. Only when the infant mortality rate drops below 5% people start having on average 2 children. This has now happened in most of the world, except Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara desert). This is why some people argue that the only way to stop the world population growing out of control is to improve healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce the infant mortality rate.
Aging populations
In countries other than Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular in developed countries, the birth rate has already dropped. For the first time in history we have a large number of people living past their 70th birthday, without an increasing number of children being born. This leads to a new problem. The ratio between the working population and the retired population is changing, meaning more people needing healthcare but fewer people to care for them, and more people receiving pensions but fewer people paying taxes. In Europe and America these problems have been offset by immigration, although this has upset some people in the pre-existing population. In Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea however, levels of immigration are not high enough to compensate for the declining birth-rates.
Lesson 12 Reading
Article 12a - Singapore
Article 12b - Canada
Article 12c - Malaysia
Article 12d - China
Article 12e - South Korea
Article 12f - EXTRA - world
Life expectancy is the number of years the average person in a population lives. For most of human history life expectancy was somewhere around 35-40 years. This does not mean that almost nobody lived to the age of 50, this is an average number. In other words, very high rates of infant mortality (children who die before their 1st birthday) balanced out the people who lived until 70 or 80.
Today, life expectancy world wide is over 70 years, and over 80 in developed countries such as Japan, the US and Western European countries. What has changed? In the 1800s a French scientist called Lois Pasteur created the Germ Theory of Disease, which said that many diseases are caused by micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. This understanding lead to modern medicine, in particular vaccines which protect against viruses and antibiotics which allow people to have surgery without getting bacterial infections.
Infant mortality rate and population growth
It is probably not surprising to learn that in places where the infant mortality rate is higher, the average number of children women have is also higher. Very simply if you want 2 children but you expect half of your children not to reach their 1st birthday, it makes sense to have 4 children. However, in reality people are not so calculating. What usually happens is that as the infant mortality rate decreases, people continue to have large numbers of children, causing population growth. Only when the infant mortality rate drops below 5% people start having on average 2 children. This has now happened in most of the world, except Sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara desert). This is why some people argue that the only way to stop the world population growing out of control is to improve healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa to reduce the infant mortality rate.Aging populations
In countries other than Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular in developed countries, the birth rate has already dropped. For the first time in history we have a large number of people living past their 70th birthday, without an increasing number of children being born. This leads to a new problem. The ratio between the working population and the retired population is changing, meaning more people needing healthcare but fewer people to care for them, and more people receiving pensions but fewer people paying taxes. In Europe and America these problems have been offset by immigration, although this has upset some people in the pre-existing population. In Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea however, levels of immigration are not high enough to compensate for the declining birth-rates.
Lesson 12 Reading
Article 12a - Singapore
Article 12b - Canada
Article 12c - Malaysia
Article 12d - China
Article 12e - South Korea
Article 12f - EXTRA - world
Lesson 11 - Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation, or sexuality, describes which sex or sexes a person is attracted to (remember the difference between sex and gender). The sexual orientation we are probably most familiar with is heterosexuality (hetero- means "different"), people who are attracted to the opposite sex. The opposite of this, being attracted to the same sex, is called homosexuality (homo- means "same"). In addition you may have heard heterosexual people called straight, homosexual people (usually men) called gay, and women lesbian. People attracted to both men and women are called bisexual (the same bi- as in "bicycle", meaning "two").
The demographics of sexuality
Demographics is the statistics of a society. For example, the number of people above or below a certain age, the percentage of people without a job, and the average income of the population are all part of demographics. We can also talk about a demographic (singular) to mean a certain section of the society. For example, you would all belong to the "female, 18-20, in further education" demographic.
When talking about sexuality or sexual orientation, it is common to talk about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people as a single demographic. It might seem strange to include transgender, which is not a sexual orientation, in this demographic. However, both transgender and non-heterosexual people are often the target of similar discrimination (as we will discuss below) and therefore are often grouped together.
Finding what percentage of a population is LGBT can be difficult for several reasons. One is that due to the discrimination this demographic faces and pressure to conform to societal norms some LGBT might be embarrassed or afraid to admit their sexuality, to researchers or even to themselves. Another is the definition of what it actually means to be homosexual. Does having a single homosexual experience or partner in your life mean that you automatically count as being bisexual? A significant number of people who have had such an experience still consider themselves to be heterosexual. Because of such difficulties, estimates for the percentage of LGBT worldwide can vary dramatically, from as low as 1% and as high as 10%. The most recent data for Japan found that 7.6% of people aged 20 to 59 were LGBT.
Discrimination towards LGBT people
Discrimination towards LGBT people is known as homophobia. Although it is likely that the most common form of discrimination in the world is sexism (women make up just over half of the world's population), some of the most extreme discrimination is towards LGBT people. In the US LGBT people are the most common victims of hate crimes. One reason for this is religion. The Bible says that it is "an abomination" for men to lie together, and homosexuality is banned in Islam. Although it is sometimes difficult to separate from religious views, conservative attitudes towards the family can also contribute towards homophobia. Another reason may be fear of one's own hidden desires. As mentioned above, more people have had gay experiences than admit to being gay. Studies have found that straight men are more homophobic towards gay men, and straight women more homophobic towards lesbians, than the other way around. This study found that homophobic men are more aroused by gay porn. And in the US, there seems to be a continual stream of politicians and Christian leaders who are very publicly homophobic, and then are found out to be secretly gay.
Causes of sexuality
Although it is not clear exactly why some people are gay, the idea promoted by some homophobic groups that being gay is a "lifestyle choice" (like joining a gym or deciding to get your nose pierced) is not accepted by any serious academics. In the past some groups offered therapy to "cure" gay people. Such conversion therapies are unsuccessful and potentially very dangerous.
Because of this some people talk about the "gay gene". Although there is almost certainly not a single gene which decides sexuality, this is a way of suggesting sexuality is determined by your DNA. However, studies of identical twins (who have 100% the same DNA) have found that when one twin is gay, the other is straight more than 50% of the time. This shows that sexuality is not decided 100% by DNA. Another interesting finding is that in families with several brothers, younger brothers are more likely to be gay. This is thought to be because of changing levels of hormones in the mother's body after carrying several male babies.
Lesson 11 Reading
Article 11a - NHK tries to clear up LGBT misconceptions
Article 11b - Japanese man seeks damages after death of same-sex partner
Article 11c - Japan’s Only Openly Gay Lawmaker Says Same-Sex Marriage Will Take Years
Article 11d - China’s LGBT people came out as a protest against an online ban on gay content
Article 11e - property heiress becomes accidental LGBT champion
Sexual orientation, or sexuality, describes which sex or sexes a person is attracted to (remember the difference between sex and gender). The sexual orientation we are probably most familiar with is heterosexuality (hetero- means "different"), people who are attracted to the opposite sex. The opposite of this, being attracted to the same sex, is called homosexuality (homo- means "same"). In addition you may have heard heterosexual people called straight, homosexual people (usually men) called gay, and women lesbian. People attracted to both men and women are called bisexual (the same bi- as in "bicycle", meaning "two").
The demographics of sexuality
Demographics is the statistics of a society. For example, the number of people above or below a certain age, the percentage of people without a job, and the average income of the population are all part of demographics. We can also talk about a demographic (singular) to mean a certain section of the society. For example, you would all belong to the "female, 18-20, in further education" demographic.
When talking about sexuality or sexual orientation, it is common to talk about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people as a single demographic. It might seem strange to include transgender, which is not a sexual orientation, in this demographic. However, both transgender and non-heterosexual people are often the target of similar discrimination (as we will discuss below) and therefore are often grouped together.
Finding what percentage of a population is LGBT can be difficult for several reasons. One is that due to the discrimination this demographic faces and pressure to conform to societal norms some LGBT might be embarrassed or afraid to admit their sexuality, to researchers or even to themselves. Another is the definition of what it actually means to be homosexual. Does having a single homosexual experience or partner in your life mean that you automatically count as being bisexual? A significant number of people who have had such an experience still consider themselves to be heterosexual. Because of such difficulties, estimates for the percentage of LGBT worldwide can vary dramatically, from as low as 1% and as high as 10%. The most recent data for Japan found that 7.6% of people aged 20 to 59 were LGBT.
Discrimination towards LGBT people
Discrimination towards LGBT people is known as homophobia. Although it is likely that the most common form of discrimination in the world is sexism (women make up just over half of the world's population), some of the most extreme discrimination is towards LGBT people. In the US LGBT people are the most common victims of hate crimes. One reason for this is religion. The Bible says that it is "an abomination" for men to lie together, and homosexuality is banned in Islam. Although it is sometimes difficult to separate from religious views, conservative attitudes towards the family can also contribute towards homophobia. Another reason may be fear of one's own hidden desires. As mentioned above, more people have had gay experiences than admit to being gay. Studies have found that straight men are more homophobic towards gay men, and straight women more homophobic towards lesbians, than the other way around. This study found that homophobic men are more aroused by gay porn. And in the US, there seems to be a continual stream of politicians and Christian leaders who are very publicly homophobic, and then are found out to be secretly gay.
Causes of sexuality
Although it is not clear exactly why some people are gay, the idea promoted by some homophobic groups that being gay is a "lifestyle choice" (like joining a gym or deciding to get your nose pierced) is not accepted by any serious academics. In the past some groups offered therapy to "cure" gay people. Such conversion therapies are unsuccessful and potentially very dangerous.
Because of this some people talk about the "gay gene". Although there is almost certainly not a single gene which decides sexuality, this is a way of suggesting sexuality is determined by your DNA. However, studies of identical twins (who have 100% the same DNA) have found that when one twin is gay, the other is straight more than 50% of the time. This shows that sexuality is not decided 100% by DNA. Another interesting finding is that in families with several brothers, younger brothers are more likely to be gay. This is thought to be because of changing levels of hormones in the mother's body after carrying several male babies.
Lesson 11 Reading
Article 11a - NHK tries to clear up LGBT misconceptions
Article 11b - Japanese man seeks damages after death of same-sex partner
Article 11c - Japan’s Only Openly Gay Lawmaker Says Same-Sex Marriage Will Take Years
Article 11d - China’s LGBT people came out as a protest against an online ban on gay content
Article 11e - property heiress becomes accidental LGBT champion
Monday, May 7, 2018
Lesson 9 - Social mobility
Social mobility
Social mobility is the change in the social position of a person or group. It may seem obvious that a person cannot change their race or ethnicity, and while sex change operations do exist, transsexuals are discriminated against more than either men or women. However, even with these groups it is possible that the social position of the entire group can change. For example, before 1865 it was legal to own black people as slaves in some US states. While black people still suffer discrimination, and are certainly a disadvantaged group in the US, it would be hard to argue that the abolition of slavery did not improve the social position of black people at least a little.
Intragenerational mobility and
This is how an individual's social position changes during their lifetime (intra- means "inside" or "within"). For example, if you get a promotion or change to a job that has a higher social status, your social position increases. Alternately losing your job can result in downwards social mobility. In general people will earn more money as they progress through their career, but this is not always going to be the case.
Intergenerational mobility
This is a change in social position from one generation to the next (inter- meaning "between", think "international"). This is defined by your social position now, compared to that of your parents when they were your age. In general, we might expect that intergenerational mobility will usually be positive, that is, people will generally be in a better situation than their parents, due to advances in medicine and technology. However, both in the UK and the US, millennials (people born after 1981) are in a worse situation than their parents were at the same age. This is thought to be due to the financial crisis which started in late 2007.
Absolute and relative mobility
Mobility can also be described in absolute and relative terms. If your wage has increased by 5%, then you are doing better in absolute terms. However, if the average national wage has increased by 10% during the same time period, you are actually worse off, relative to the rest of society. A similar situation can happen intergenerationally due to inflation. Inflation is when the value of a country's currency decreases in value. In general, most countries experience some level of inflation the majority of the time. Ask your parents or your grandparents, and they will tell you they could buy more with 1000 yen when they were young than you can now. Until 1953, people still used 1 rin coins, worth 1/1000th of 1 yen (i.e. 1000 rin = 1 yen). This means that your 1500 yen today can be worth less than 1000 yen in the past. Therefore, when people compare wages and prices between different times in history, they will talk about wages adjusted for inflation.
Social status
Money is not the only way of judging social position. Some jobs carry more status (i.e. we respect people who do those jobs) than others, even if the pay is the same. For example, religious leaders often command a large amount of respect, and therefore influence (i.e. people listen to what they say) despite having a job that is not known for paying a lot of money. This said, some religious leaders have a huge amount of money, despite telling people that money is not important! Another good example of a job where the level of respect outweighs the money earned is teaching. When I first learned Japanese, I read that 先生 was used for "people who earn a lot of money, and teachers"!
Social mobility is the change in the social position of a person or group. It may seem obvious that a person cannot change their race or ethnicity, and while sex change operations do exist, transsexuals are discriminated against more than either men or women. However, even with these groups it is possible that the social position of the entire group can change. For example, before 1865 it was legal to own black people as slaves in some US states. While black people still suffer discrimination, and are certainly a disadvantaged group in the US, it would be hard to argue that the abolition of slavery did not improve the social position of black people at least a little.
Intragenerational mobility and
This is how an individual's social position changes during their lifetime (intra- means "inside" or "within"). For example, if you get a promotion or change to a job that has a higher social status, your social position increases. Alternately losing your job can result in downwards social mobility. In general people will earn more money as they progress through their career, but this is not always going to be the case.
Intergenerational mobility
This is a change in social position from one generation to the next (inter- meaning "between", think "international"). This is defined by your social position now, compared to that of your parents when they were your age. In general, we might expect that intergenerational mobility will usually be positive, that is, people will generally be in a better situation than their parents, due to advances in medicine and technology. However, both in the UK and the US, millennials (people born after 1981) are in a worse situation than their parents were at the same age. This is thought to be due to the financial crisis which started in late 2007.
Absolute and relative mobility
Mobility can also be described in absolute and relative terms. If your wage has increased by 5%, then you are doing better in absolute terms. However, if the average national wage has increased by 10% during the same time period, you are actually worse off, relative to the rest of society. A similar situation can happen intergenerationally due to inflation. Inflation is when the value of a country's currency decreases in value. In general, most countries experience some level of inflation the majority of the time. Ask your parents or your grandparents, and they will tell you they could buy more with 1000 yen when they were young than you can now. Until 1953, people still used 1 rin coins, worth 1/1000th of 1 yen (i.e. 1000 rin = 1 yen). This means that your 1500 yen today can be worth less than 1000 yen in the past. Therefore, when people compare wages and prices between different times in history, they will talk about wages adjusted for inflation.
Social status
Money is not the only way of judging social position. Some jobs carry more status (i.e. we respect people who do those jobs) than others, even if the pay is the same. For example, religious leaders often command a large amount of respect, and therefore influence (i.e. people listen to what they say) despite having a job that is not known for paying a lot of money. This said, some religious leaders have a huge amount of money, despite telling people that money is not important! Another good example of a job where the level of respect outweighs the money earned is teaching. When I first learned Japanese, I read that 先生 was used for "people who earn a lot of money, and teachers"!
Lesson 7 - Race and ethnicity
Race and ethnicity
In addition to gender and social class, race and ethnicity are further ways of categorising people in society into groups. As with the other way of categorising groups, very often one group holds more power than others, which can lead to discrimination towards the less powerful groups.
Race
Race is a way of categorising people based on the way they look. The traditional categories of race are Caucasoid (white), Negroid (black) and Mongoloid (Asian and Native American). However, both Negroid and Mongoloid are now considered offensive, so it's best to avoid using these words! We can also see one of the big problems with the idea of race immediately. These groupings fail to account for all types of people. For example, people from Greece are white, but they are very similar to people from Turkey. People from Turkey are similar to people from Saudi Arabia, who are similar to people from Afghanistan, who are similar to people from Pakistan, who are similar to people from India. So, are Indian people "white"?
The problem is that there is no obvious way to say where the line is between one race and another. In fact, many scientists argue that race does not exist, biologically at least. This does not mean the idea of race can be ignored. Although race may not be real biologically it is definitely real sociologically. People do see others as being different, and treat them differently, based on factors such as skin colour. For example, race was used as an excuse for slavery in the US until 1865. Sociologically, race can be defined as categorisation based on physical traits society thinks are important. So, the colour of a person's skin, or the shape of their eyes might be used to categorise them as a particular race. However, there may be no genetic basis for these groups. For example, people in Africa and the native Aborigines from Australia are considered "black" because of their skin colour, but they have no more genes in common than either group does with white European people. Likewise, there is some evidence that North East Asians (Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc.) and South East Asians (Thai, Vietnamese etc.) are two very different groups of people, despite having eyes which, to Europeans at least, look similar.
Ethnicity
While race is based on biological traits and differences in physical appearance, ethnicity is based on culture. Groups like the Ainu in Japan would be considered a separate ethnicity. Ethnicity includes the country you or your parents come from, the language you speak, your religion and and cultural traditions. Everybody has at least one ethnicity (you could have more if your parents are from different ethnic backgrounds). So if we talk about ethnic food, we just mean food which is from a different culture to our own. From a European or American perspective, Japanese food is just as ethnic as Thai or Vietnamese food.
Racial and ethnic discrimination
Unfortunately discrimination based on race and ethnicity is common around the world. Racial discrimination is called racism. We do not have an equivalent word for ethnic discrimination, although xenophobia (from Greek xeno - strange, and phobia - fear) is used to refer to discrimination based on the country somebody is from. In the UK and US recently there has been an increase in discrimination towards Muslim people, which has been called Islamophobia.
Discrimination can be in the forms of explicit or implicit biases. An explicit bias is when a person is aware that they discriminate against another group. Although this might have been very common during the days of slavery in the US, most people today would not admit to discriminating, and would probably be very upset if you said they were racist! However, implicit biases are still common. The study mentioned when talking about workplace discrimination is one example of implicit bias. Other studies have shown people see a black man as more of a threat than a white man, even if they do not see themselves as having any racial bias.
Lesson 8 reading
Article 8a - Japan's hidden caste of untouchables
Article 8b - Indian Castes and Feudal Japanese Classes
Article 8c - Under ‘Abenomics,’ rich thrive but middle class on precipice
Article 8d - ‘Freeters’: free by name, nature
In addition to gender and social class, race and ethnicity are further ways of categorising people in society into groups. As with the other way of categorising groups, very often one group holds more power than others, which can lead to discrimination towards the less powerful groups.
Race
Race is a way of categorising people based on the way they look. The traditional categories of race are Caucasoid (white), Negroid (black) and Mongoloid (Asian and Native American). However, both Negroid and Mongoloid are now considered offensive, so it's best to avoid using these words! We can also see one of the big problems with the idea of race immediately. These groupings fail to account for all types of people. For example, people from Greece are white, but they are very similar to people from Turkey. People from Turkey are similar to people from Saudi Arabia, who are similar to people from Afghanistan, who are similar to people from Pakistan, who are similar to people from India. So, are Indian people "white"?
Ethnicity
While race is based on biological traits and differences in physical appearance, ethnicity is based on culture. Groups like the Ainu in Japan would be considered a separate ethnicity. Ethnicity includes the country you or your parents come from, the language you speak, your religion and and cultural traditions. Everybody has at least one ethnicity (you could have more if your parents are from different ethnic backgrounds). So if we talk about ethnic food, we just mean food which is from a different culture to our own. From a European or American perspective, Japanese food is just as ethnic as Thai or Vietnamese food.
Racial and ethnic discrimination
Unfortunately discrimination based on race and ethnicity is common around the world. Racial discrimination is called racism. We do not have an equivalent word for ethnic discrimination, although xenophobia (from Greek xeno - strange, and phobia - fear) is used to refer to discrimination based on the country somebody is from. In the UK and US recently there has been an increase in discrimination towards Muslim people, which has been called Islamophobia.
Discrimination can be in the forms of explicit or implicit biases. An explicit bias is when a person is aware that they discriminate against another group. Although this might have been very common during the days of slavery in the US, most people today would not admit to discriminating, and would probably be very upset if you said they were racist! However, implicit biases are still common. The study mentioned when talking about workplace discrimination is one example of implicit bias. Other studies have shown people see a black man as more of a threat than a white man, even if they do not see themselves as having any racial bias.
Article 8a - Japan's hidden caste of untouchables
Article 8b - Indian Castes and Feudal Japanese Classes
Article 8c - Under ‘Abenomics,’ rich thrive but middle class on precipice
Article 8d - ‘Freeters’: free by name, nature
Lesson 8 - Caste and class systems
Social strataThe word strata means layer, and is often used in geology to talk about layers of rock which build up over millions of years. We talk of social strata, or social hierarchy, to describe the different levels of society. These levels are usually determined by how much power, money or respect different groups of people have (very often these three things come together!)
All societies have some kind of stratification, even those who say they do not. For example, communism is a political belief that everyone should be equal. However, in every communist country (such as the USSR) there is still a hierarchy, with political leaders and party members above non-party members, and farmers considered better than business people and academics.
Usually the higher up the social hierarchy you go, the fewer people there are at each level, which is why you often see hierarchies shown as a pyramid.
Types of social hierarchy
The two most common types of social hierarchy are caste and class systems. The main difference between these two systems is that caste systems are more fixed, in a class system there is more social mobility.
Caste systems
In a caste system a social stratum is for life. People are born and die in the same caste. They are only allowed to marry people in their own caste, and most often your caste determines the jobs you can do. Although South Asian countries such as India still have a form of caste system in place, caste systems are mostly historical. The social systems throughout Europe in the middle ages were caste systems, as was Japan during the Edo period.
European Caste System
Class systems
Most countries in the modern world have class, rather than caste, systems. A class system is usually divided into upper, middle and lower, often called working, class. These classes are mostly based on money, although in the UK the upper class are people who have inherited their money and have titles such as Lord or Sir in their names. The middle class is often divided into upper middle class and lower middle class, the upper middle class being truly rich, company presidents etc., while lower middle class are normal business people, doctors, teachers etc. Another division often used in modern societies is between "blue collar" and "white collar" jobs. Blue collar workers are people doing manual labour other than farming. Jobs such as construction, manufacturing and car maintenance are typical blue collar jobs. White collar jobs are low level office jobs, such as sales, call center work and administration.
Although in class systems it is possible to move between one class and another, it is not necessarily easy. In general, the children of people with more money live longer, are healthier, do better at school and earn more money when they are older. In the US, the biggest predictor of whether or not a child will graduate from collage is their parents' income.
Lesson 9 reading
Article 9a - Japan racism survey reveals one in three foreigners experience discrimination
Article 9b - Can Language Save Communities Under Threat From A Globalised World?
Article 9c - Picturing Okinawa: The black and white of cultural identity
Article 9d - Why Japan should consider banning blackface
Article 9e - Japan’s resident Koreans endure a climate of hate
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Lesson 5 - Violence against women
Violence against women
WARNING - some of the information in this lesson may be upsetting to read
The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
Violence against women includes two major categories, intimate partner violence and sexual violence. The World Health Organisation suggest that around 35% of women worldwide have been a victim of one of these kinds of violence at some point in their lives.
Intimate partner violence
This includes any behaviour by an intimate partner (i.e. boyfriend or husband) or ex-partner "that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours."
In addition to physical violence, this can include non-physical harm such as controlling behaviour and bullying. Therefore the term domestic abuse may be more accurate than domestic violence.
The majority of violence against women is committed by intimate partners or ex-partners. Around 30% of women have suffered violence of this kind. 38% of all murders are a man killing his partner.
Sexual violence
This is "any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting."
This definition goes beyond rape and groping to include any form of sexual coercion, for example a superior at work using his position to initiate a sexual encounter with a member of staff. In other words, if he tells her she will not be able to get a job or a promotion without sleeping with him.
Causes of violence against women
Although it is difficult to say exactly why one man is violent towards women, there are some clear patterns in the statistics.
Men are more likely to be violent towards women if:
WARNING - some of the information in this lesson may be upsetting to read
The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."
Violence against women includes two major categories, intimate partner violence and sexual violence. The World Health Organisation suggest that around 35% of women worldwide have been a victim of one of these kinds of violence at some point in their lives.
Intimate partner violence
This includes any behaviour by an intimate partner (i.e. boyfriend or husband) or ex-partner "that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm, including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours."
In addition to physical violence, this can include non-physical harm such as controlling behaviour and bullying. Therefore the term domestic abuse may be more accurate than domestic violence.
The majority of violence against women is committed by intimate partners or ex-partners. Around 30% of women have suffered violence of this kind. 38% of all murders are a man killing his partner.
Sexual violence
This is "any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting."
This definition goes beyond rape and groping to include any form of sexual coercion, for example a superior at work using his position to initiate a sexual encounter with a member of staff. In other words, if he tells her she will not be able to get a job or a promotion without sleeping with him.
Causes of violence against women
Although it is difficult to say exactly why one man is violent towards women, there are some clear patterns in the statistics.
Men are more likely to be violent towards women if:
- They have a low level of education (i.e. not graduated high school)
- They were abused as a child
- They saw domestic violence towards their mothers
- They have alcohol problems
- Their society has unequal gender norms (i.e. accepts violence towards women)
- They have a sense of entitlement over women (i.e. they think they have the right to treat women how they want)
Women are more likely to suffer violence from men if:
- They have a low level of education
- They were abused as a child
- They saw domestic violence towards their mothers
- They have attitudes accepting violence, male privilege or women being subordinate (i.e. "below" men in society
n.b. this map lists Saudi Arabia as not allowing women the vote, but this changed in 2015.
Lesson 4 - Workplace discrimination
Workplace discrimination
Workplace discrimination is any kind of discrimination, treating people differently due to their gender, race, age etc., which happens in the workplace. It can also include things which do not necessarily happen at work but are related to employment. For example, refusing to hire someone based on gender or race, or sexual harassment which occurs between employees outside of the office are also forms of workplace discrimination.
Japanese law says it is illegal to discriminate based on the following criteria:
Nationality
Religious or political beliefs
Social status (including race)
Gender
Age
Child care
Disability
Union membership
Full or part-time employment
Discrimination can include different pay for the same work, preferential hiring or promotion. Although all of these forms of discrimination are illegal, it is often very difficult to know if a company is breaking the law or not.
Gender pay gap
Although most countries make equal pay for equal work a legal requirement, in every country around the world, women earn less money than men. How is this possible if it is breaking the law? Just because there is a gender pay gap, this does not necessarily mean any laws are being broken. The gender pay gap describes the average money that men and women earn in their lives. If a woman stops working to have children, or chooses a lower-paying job or part-time work, this will increase the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is a very contentious issue. Some people argue that such factors mean there is no real gender pay gap, but this is a fairly extreme view. Others may argue that the existence of a wage gap shows we still live in a male dominated society. Like most things which cause such arguments the truth is complicated. Women working fewer hours in their lives does account for some of the wage gap, but not all of it. Women choosing jobs which pay less is also a factor, but this raises the question, should people be paid less for these jobs?
Hiring practices
It is also illegal in most countries to discriminate when hiring new employees. However, how can the government be sure if this is happening? If a company chooses to hire a man over a woman, how is it possible to prove that the man was not just better in the interview? Another issue here is that much discrimination happens unconsciously. The people who are discriminating do not realise they are discriminating! One study in the US found that a resume with a name that sounded white was more likely to be chosen than a resume with a name that sounded black. However, this does not mean that the companies were consciously choosing white people over black people. It is possible that they made this decision unconsciously. Some studies have shown that interviewers unconsciously make a decision in the first 30 seconds of an interview, and then reinterpret what interviewees say to fit their decision.
The "glass ceiling"
The "glass ceiling" is a phrase to describe the fact that women find it harder than men to get promoted at work. Like the gender pay gap the glass ceiling can be a controversial issue, with some arguing it doesn't exist, because some women do become company presidents and political leaders. However, many more men than women reach these top jobs. For this reason it has been suggested that a labyrinth or maze is a better metaphor. Even though it is possible for women to reach the top, it is harder than for men.
Harassment
Harassment is also a type of discrimination. The most commonly known form of harassment is sexual harassment, which can include unwanted advances, physical contact or language. Other kinds of harassment which are common in Japan are power harassment, a manager bullying their staff, and more recently maternity harassment, towards pregnant women and recent mothers. Like other forms of discrimination it can be difficult to define when behaviour becomes harassment. Behaviour that some people find upsetting may be considered a joke by others.
Lesson 5 articles
Article 5a - The dubious cost of sexual assault in Japan
Article 5b - #MeToo movement confuses media in JapanJournalist in alleged rape case calls for change in Criminal Law
Article 5c - #MeToo, say victims of sexual harassment in Japan
Article 5d - Violence against women
Article 5e - '#MeToo' campaign spreads in Japan, but some sexual violence victims face backlash
Article 5f - Saying #MeToo in Japan
Workplace discrimination is any kind of discrimination, treating people differently due to their gender, race, age etc., which happens in the workplace. It can also include things which do not necessarily happen at work but are related to employment. For example, refusing to hire someone based on gender or race, or sexual harassment which occurs between employees outside of the office are also forms of workplace discrimination.
Japanese law says it is illegal to discriminate based on the following criteria:
Nationality
Religious or political beliefs
Social status (including race)
Gender
Age
Child care
Disability
Union membership
Full or part-time employment
Discrimination can include different pay for the same work, preferential hiring or promotion. Although all of these forms of discrimination are illegal, it is often very difficult to know if a company is breaking the law or not.
Gender pay gap
Although most countries make equal pay for equal work a legal requirement, in every country around the world, women earn less money than men. How is this possible if it is breaking the law? Just because there is a gender pay gap, this does not necessarily mean any laws are being broken. The gender pay gap describes the average money that men and women earn in their lives. If a woman stops working to have children, or chooses a lower-paying job or part-time work, this will increase the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is a very contentious issue. Some people argue that such factors mean there is no real gender pay gap, but this is a fairly extreme view. Others may argue that the existence of a wage gap shows we still live in a male dominated society. Like most things which cause such arguments the truth is complicated. Women working fewer hours in their lives does account for some of the wage gap, but not all of it. Women choosing jobs which pay less is also a factor, but this raises the question, should people be paid less for these jobs?
Hiring practices
It is also illegal in most countries to discriminate when hiring new employees. However, how can the government be sure if this is happening? If a company chooses to hire a man over a woman, how is it possible to prove that the man was not just better in the interview? Another issue here is that much discrimination happens unconsciously. The people who are discriminating do not realise they are discriminating! One study in the US found that a resume with a name that sounded white was more likely to be chosen than a resume with a name that sounded black. However, this does not mean that the companies were consciously choosing white people over black people. It is possible that they made this decision unconsciously. Some studies have shown that interviewers unconsciously make a decision in the first 30 seconds of an interview, and then reinterpret what interviewees say to fit their decision.
The "glass ceiling"
The "glass ceiling" is a phrase to describe the fact that women find it harder than men to get promoted at work. Like the gender pay gap the glass ceiling can be a controversial issue, with some arguing it doesn't exist, because some women do become company presidents and political leaders. However, many more men than women reach these top jobs. For this reason it has been suggested that a labyrinth or maze is a better metaphor. Even though it is possible for women to reach the top, it is harder than for men.
Harassment
Harassment is also a type of discrimination. The most commonly known form of harassment is sexual harassment, which can include unwanted advances, physical contact or language. Other kinds of harassment which are common in Japan are power harassment, a manager bullying their staff, and more recently maternity harassment, towards pregnant women and recent mothers. Like other forms of discrimination it can be difficult to define when behaviour becomes harassment. Behaviour that some people find upsetting may be considered a joke by others.
Lesson 5 articles
Article 5a - The dubious cost of sexual assault in Japan
Article 5b - #MeToo movement confuses media in JapanJournalist in alleged rape case calls for change in Criminal Law
Article 5c - #MeToo, say victims of sexual harassment in Japan
Article 5d - Violence against women
Article 5e - '#MeToo' campaign spreads in Japan, but some sexual violence victims face backlash
Article 5f - Saying #MeToo in Japan
Lesson 3 - Media representations of gender
The Media
One social institution which has a large effect on the socialization of gender is the media. The media is the social institution which gives information to the members of a society. Print media includes newspapers, books and magazines, while TV, cinema, radio and the internet are called digital media. Three important parts of the media for socialization are news, stories and advertising.
News
Although the news tell us about true events which have happened, objective facts, it also gives information about how a society feels about these events, subjective opinions. When we see a story about a man being arrested for stealing, we also see that our society considers stealing to be a bad thing. In this way the media promotes social norms.
Because some of the information in the news is subjective, it is possible for different people in the media to have different opinions about a news story. In general the bosses of news companies will hire and promote people who have similar opinions to themselves, and so companies tend to have a set of values held by most of the employees. When these values affect the way companies tell the news this is called media bias. To see examples of this, look at any policy in the news and how differently it is reported in the Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers. The Asahi has a left-wing bias and the Yomiuri has a right-wing bias. In reality, all people, and therefore all news companies, have some kind of bias. When we read or watch the news it is important to understand that this bias can affect how the news is presented to us.
News can influence gender norms in very subtle ways. For example, if a report says that someone is a "woman doctor", it suggests that a woman being a doctor is in some way unusual or not normal. It is very unlikely that a news report would talk about a "man doctor" in the same way. News can also influence norms by the choice of adjectives used for men and women. Women in the news are more often described by their physical appearance than men, which reinforces the idea that a woman's value is more based on how she looks than what she does.
Stories
We watch, read and hear many stories through books, radio, TV and cinema. Novels, movies and TV
dramas are all stories which can reinforce social norms. For example, there are many TV shows and anime series which show mothers as housewives and fathers going to work. Many stories show women as being victims who need rescuing by the male hero. It is very unusual to see a movie where a woman or girl is a strong leading character, although some movies like Pixar's Brave have opposed this trend recently.
An American cartoonist called Alison Bechdel created a test, called the Bechdel test to show gender inequality in stories. A story passes the test if two female characters have a conversation that is not about a main character. Only about half of movies pass the test, and in those that do often the conversation is about marriage or children. These trends in movies and TV reinforce the idea that it is men who do things and achieve things, while women's job is to be either mothers or a romantic prize to be won by the male hero when he completes his task.
Advertising
Advertising can influence gender norms in many ways. By showing boys or girls playing with a toy the company selling the toy is telling society which toys are normal for boys and girls to play with. This can in turn affect what boys and girls think are normal jobs for themselves in the future. For example, if a toy tool set is for boys, this tells children that a job which uses these tools like a carpenter is a man's job. If a toy oven is for girls, it tell children that cooking is a woman's job.
However, advertising can have much deeper affects than this. The most successful adverts don't just tell potential customers "buy this product because it's good", they say "you need this product for your life to be complete", "if you buy this product your life will be great" or (more often) "if you don't have this product you are a failure!" In this way advertising can influence societies' ideas of what means success and failure for men and women. In general it seems that for men success is seen as having a good career and making lots of money, whereas for women it is being attractive to men and having children. These differences can be seen in these two adverts from TBC.
The idea of pink is for girls, blue is for boys was originally an advertising strategy. If both boys and girls can wear the same clothes, parents don't mind giving their younger son the clothes their older daughter wore when she was younger, but if pink is a girl's color that boys don't wear, parents will have to buy new clothes for the younger boy, giving more money to the clothes companies who ran the adverts.
Lesson 4 articles
Article 4a - Workplace bullying widespread at fire departments, survey shows
Article 4b - Rising 'power harassment' scourge now affects 33% of workforce_ survey
Article 4c - Japanese women suffer widespread 'maternity harassment' at work
Article 4d - Still a struggle for working women
Article 4e - Sex harassment in the workplace
Article 4f - Japan to define workplace LGBT discrimination as sexual harassment
One social institution which has a large effect on the socialization of gender is the media. The media is the social institution which gives information to the members of a society. Print media includes newspapers, books and magazines, while TV, cinema, radio and the internet are called digital media. Three important parts of the media for socialization are news, stories and advertising.
News
Although the news tell us about true events which have happened, objective facts, it also gives information about how a society feels about these events, subjective opinions. When we see a story about a man being arrested for stealing, we also see that our society considers stealing to be a bad thing. In this way the media promotes social norms.
Because some of the information in the news is subjective, it is possible for different people in the media to have different opinions about a news story. In general the bosses of news companies will hire and promote people who have similar opinions to themselves, and so companies tend to have a set of values held by most of the employees. When these values affect the way companies tell the news this is called media bias. To see examples of this, look at any policy in the news and how differently it is reported in the Asahi and Yomiuri newspapers. The Asahi has a left-wing bias and the Yomiuri has a right-wing bias. In reality, all people, and therefore all news companies, have some kind of bias. When we read or watch the news it is important to understand that this bias can affect how the news is presented to us.
News can influence gender norms in very subtle ways. For example, if a report says that someone is a "woman doctor", it suggests that a woman being a doctor is in some way unusual or not normal. It is very unlikely that a news report would talk about a "man doctor" in the same way. News can also influence norms by the choice of adjectives used for men and women. Women in the news are more often described by their physical appearance than men, which reinforces the idea that a woman's value is more based on how she looks than what she does.
Stories
We watch, read and hear many stories through books, radio, TV and cinema. Novels, movies and TV dramas are all stories which can reinforce social norms. For example, there are many TV shows and anime series which show mothers as housewives and fathers going to work. Many stories show women as being victims who need rescuing by the male hero. It is very unusual to see a movie where a woman or girl is a strong leading character, although some movies like Pixar's Brave have opposed this trend recently.
An American cartoonist called Alison Bechdel created a test, called the Bechdel test to show gender inequality in stories. A story passes the test if two female characters have a conversation that is not about a main character. Only about half of movies pass the test, and in those that do often the conversation is about marriage or children. These trends in movies and TV reinforce the idea that it is men who do things and achieve things, while women's job is to be either mothers or a romantic prize to be won by the male hero when he completes his task.
Advertising
Advertising can influence gender norms in many ways. By showing boys or girls playing with a toy the company selling the toy is telling society which toys are normal for boys and girls to play with. This can in turn affect what boys and girls think are normal jobs for themselves in the future. For example, if a toy tool set is for boys, this tells children that a job which uses these tools like a carpenter is a man's job. If a toy oven is for girls, it tell children that cooking is a woman's job.
However, advertising can have much deeper affects than this. The most successful adverts don't just tell potential customers "buy this product because it's good", they say "you need this product for your life to be complete", "if you buy this product your life will be great" or (more often) "if you don't have this product you are a failure!" In this way advertising can influence societies' ideas of what means success and failure for men and women. In general it seems that for men success is seen as having a good career and making lots of money, whereas for women it is being attractive to men and having children. These differences can be seen in these two adverts from TBC.The idea of pink is for girls, blue is for boys was originally an advertising strategy. If both boys and girls can wear the same clothes, parents don't mind giving their younger son the clothes their older daughter wore when she was younger, but if pink is a girl's color that boys don't wear, parents will have to buy new clothes for the younger boy, giving more money to the clothes companies who ran the adverts.
Lesson 4 articles
Article 4a - Workplace bullying widespread at fire departments, survey shows
Article 4b - Rising 'power harassment' scourge now affects 33% of workforce_ survey
Article 4c - Japanese women suffer widespread 'maternity harassment' at work
Article 4d - Still a struggle for working women
Article 4e - Sex harassment in the workplace
Article 4f - Japan to define workplace LGBT discrimination as sexual harassment
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Lesson 2 - Gender and Sex
What is the
difference between gender and sex?
Sex is a
biological category that distinguishes between male and female. Sex is
determined by DNA. Females have two X chromosomes and males have an one X and
one Y. In addition there are a small number of people (1 in between 1500 and 2000 people) who are intersex. This means they are neither male or female, having a different number of chromosomes or sexual organs that do not match their chromosomes.
Gender is the set
of social and psychological characteristics that a society considers proper for
its males and females.
Gender Socialization
The
characteristics considered proper for males are called masculine and those for
females are called feminine. Generally deviating from gender norms, that is, displaying characteristics that don’t
align with your sex, is considered strange or unusual by society. This is why
people often tell young boys “boys don’t cry” and so on. Gender affects both
how people are expected to look and act. For example, it is much more common
for women and girls to have long hair than men. Wearing make-up even more that
having long hair would be considered strange for most men.
However, it is
clear that gender is socially constructed when we look at different cultures' ideas of masculinity and femininity. One easy example to look at is the kilt.
In most societies skirts are definitely clothes for women, but in Scotland,
there is nothing unusual in men wearing a kilt. Although they don’t call it a
skirt, it doesn’t look much different.
Social norms can change over time. This is a picture of US president Franklin D. Roosevelt as a boy. In 1884, it was perfectly normal for young boys and girls to wear dresses. The idea that pink is for girls and blue for boys only started in the US in the 1940s. Before people believed the opposite. Another example is women wearing trousers. In the west, trousers were thought of as men's clothes until the mid 20th century. Now in England, most schools allow girls to choose between skirts and trousers. Last year some boys wore skirts to school because they were not allowed to wear shorts in summer.
Gender and Career Choice
Although there are
definite differences between men and women on average, there are many
exceptions to these generalizations. For example, men are on average taller
than women, but there are many women who are taller than many men. These
generalizations also affect psychological characteristics. Men are thought to
be more aggressive than women, and women more caring. However, these
characteristics may be influenced by what society considers proper for each
gender, causing people who do not fit these generalizations to alter their behavior
to fit typical gender roles. The same happens with certain jobs. Because one
job is more popular with men, for example, it becomes thought of as a man’s
job, which can put women off from wanting to work in that field.
These work gender norms can affect children from a young age. A recent study found that the most popular jobs with young boys in Japan were professor, baseball player and soccer player. For girls it was working in a food shop such as a baker, nurse and pre-school teacher.
Listen to American historian Ada Palmer talk about how the socialization of gender affects progress towards gender equality.
Lesson 3 article
Gender equality and the mass media
These work gender norms can affect children from a young age. A recent study found that the most popular jobs with young boys in Japan were professor, baseball player and soccer player. For girls it was working in a food shop such as a baker, nurse and pre-school teacher.
Listen to American historian Ada Palmer talk about how the socialization of gender affects progress towards gender equality.
Lesson 3 article
Gender equality and the mass media
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Lesson 1 - What is society?
What is Society?
Society is a group of people who share a culture and a territory. Society and culture are related, but different. Society is the people, and culture is the things and ideas that form their way of life. This video describes society as being like a smartphone, and culture being the applications on the phone.
The Sociological Perspective
In sociology, the study of societies, two ideas are important, seeing the general in the particular, and seeing the strange in the familiar.
1 - seeing the general in the particular. This means seeing how individual things, ideas, events etc. relate to general trends in the culture. For example, Akiko's favourite band might be Bigbang, and maybe her favourite TV show is Winter Sonata. In sociology, we look at how these likes relate to the culture she lives in. So with Akiko, we might notice that there was a "Korean boom" in Japan in the last 10-15 years.
2 - seeing the strange in the familiar. The things and ideas that make up our culture seem normal to us because they are familiar, they are all around us. However, many things that are normal in Japanese culture can seem strange to people from other cultures. It might be normal to you to take off your shoes when you arrive at a friend's house, or that you don't talk on your phone on a train, but there are other cultures in the world where these things are not normal. When we see these things as strange or interesting, we can start to ask why they are the way they are.
Culture
Culture contains both material culture (things, like food, clothes etc.) and non-material culture (ideas, like how we should behave at a friend's house).
Non-material culture is made of three parts: symbols, values and norms.
1 - A symbol can be anything which has a specific meaning that is understood by people who share a culture. For example, a red light means "stop" and a green light means "go" in many, maybe all, modern cultures.
2 - Values are the ideas of what is right and wrong, or good and bad in a culture. For example, individualism is more valued in the west than countries like Japan and China. In Japan, it is more common for students to live with their parents when they are at university or college than in the west, and for people to live with their parents until they get married.
3 - Norms are the rules and expectations that guide behaviour in a society. They are the things we think are normal. For example, shaking hands with someone when you meet them is normal in the Uk and the US. In other countries, like Spain, it is normal to kiss someone on both cheeks when you meet them. This definitely would not be considered normal in Japan.
All of these things (sometimes called social facts) can influence us and control our behaviour.
Social Norms and Socialization
The process of learning these social norms is called socialization. Our socialization starts when we are still babies, when our parents tell us not to throw our food on the floor, not to pull people's hair and to go to sleep. It can also be positive. Every time a parent says "well done" to a child they are teaching the child what they did is socially acceptable. This kind of socialization in the family is called primary socialization.
Secondary socialization happens outside the family. Teachers at school, our peer group, the media, workplaces and religions can all provide secondary socialization. This is most obvious with teachers, bosses at work and religious leaders, who directly tell you what is good and bad behavior. However, much socialization is less direct. Advertising is constantly telling you what clothes are fashionable to wear. Every time a classmate reacts to something you do, their reaction contributes to your socialization.
You can read more about socialization on this blog post.
Social Institutions
Schools and churches, as well as things like the police and hospitals, are all examples of social institutions. An institution is a structure in society which fills a certain need. We need education, so we have schools and libraries. We need people to care for us when we are hurt or sick, so we have hospitals.
The way social institutions differ from one society to another is both affected by that society, and in turn affects that society. For example in the southern USA until 1954 schools could be segregated, which meant there would be one school for black students and one school for white. This segregation affected black students' negatively. Since schools have become more integrated, the gap between black and white students' test scores has become smaller, as well as other improvements for black students.
Some of the information is from this video and this one. You can watch them if you want, but they are quite difficult.
Lesson 2 article
Why Japanese Girls Want To Be Bread Makers Rather Than Breadwinners
Society is a group of people who share a culture and a territory. Society and culture are related, but different. Society is the people, and culture is the things and ideas that form their way of life. This video describes society as being like a smartphone, and culture being the applications on the phone.
The Sociological Perspective
In sociology, the study of societies, two ideas are important, seeing the general in the particular, and seeing the strange in the familiar.
1 - seeing the general in the particular. This means seeing how individual things, ideas, events etc. relate to general trends in the culture. For example, Akiko's favourite band might be Bigbang, and maybe her favourite TV show is Winter Sonata. In sociology, we look at how these likes relate to the culture she lives in. So with Akiko, we might notice that there was a "Korean boom" in Japan in the last 10-15 years.
2 - seeing the strange in the familiar. The things and ideas that make up our culture seem normal to us because they are familiar, they are all around us. However, many things that are normal in Japanese culture can seem strange to people from other cultures. It might be normal to you to take off your shoes when you arrive at a friend's house, or that you don't talk on your phone on a train, but there are other cultures in the world where these things are not normal. When we see these things as strange or interesting, we can start to ask why they are the way they are.
Culture
Culture contains both material culture (things, like food, clothes etc.) and non-material culture (ideas, like how we should behave at a friend's house).
Non-material culture is made of three parts: symbols, values and norms.
1 - A symbol can be anything which has a specific meaning that is understood by people who share a culture. For example, a red light means "stop" and a green light means "go" in many, maybe all, modern cultures.
2 - Values are the ideas of what is right and wrong, or good and bad in a culture. For example, individualism is more valued in the west than countries like Japan and China. In Japan, it is more common for students to live with their parents when they are at university or college than in the west, and for people to live with their parents until they get married.
3 - Norms are the rules and expectations that guide behaviour in a society. They are the things we think are normal. For example, shaking hands with someone when you meet them is normal in the Uk and the US. In other countries, like Spain, it is normal to kiss someone on both cheeks when you meet them. This definitely would not be considered normal in Japan.
All of these things (sometimes called social facts) can influence us and control our behaviour.
Social Norms and Socialization
The process of learning these social norms is called socialization. Our socialization starts when we are still babies, when our parents tell us not to throw our food on the floor, not to pull people's hair and to go to sleep. It can also be positive. Every time a parent says "well done" to a child they are teaching the child what they did is socially acceptable. This kind of socialization in the family is called primary socialization.
Secondary socialization happens outside the family. Teachers at school, our peer group, the media, workplaces and religions can all provide secondary socialization. This is most obvious with teachers, bosses at work and religious leaders, who directly tell you what is good and bad behavior. However, much socialization is less direct. Advertising is constantly telling you what clothes are fashionable to wear. Every time a classmate reacts to something you do, their reaction contributes to your socialization.
You can read more about socialization on this blog post.
Social Institutions
Schools and churches, as well as things like the police and hospitals, are all examples of social institutions. An institution is a structure in society which fills a certain need. We need education, so we have schools and libraries. We need people to care for us when we are hurt or sick, so we have hospitals.
The way social institutions differ from one society to another is both affected by that society, and in turn affects that society. For example in the southern USA until 1954 schools could be segregated, which meant there would be one school for black students and one school for white. This segregation affected black students' negatively. Since schools have become more integrated, the gap between black and white students' test scores has become smaller, as well as other improvements for black students.
Some of the information is from this video and this one. You can watch them if you want, but they are quite difficult.
Lesson 2 article
Why Japanese Girls Want To Be Bread Makers Rather Than Breadwinners
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