 Chapter 4 Growing Trends in Canadian Society

Trends and Society  The way we think and behave are influenced by constant reinforcement of social ideas and ideals.  Technology  Economics  Health  Politics  Media

Technology  Technological advancements have both negative AND positive effects on society.  Technology today is present in every aspect of life:  Learning, education  Gaming, TV, social activities  Smart-phones, tablets, computers  Social networking via internet  Medicine and health  Transportation, infrastructure

Task  In 2 groups, discuss and debate the pros and cons of technology  Group A: Pro  Group B: Con  Brainstorm the positive and negative ways that technology has affected STUDENTS and SCHOOLS, specifically. We will discuss each group’s ideas through a formal debate.

Economy  Understanding economy is a way of understanding human behaviour; why we work, how we spend money, etc.  The Canadian economy is affected in a number of different ways:  Employment/Unemployment trends  Migration/Immigration  Debt vs Income

Employment  The Employment Standards Act:  Workers cannot work more than 5 hours in a row w/out 30 min. break  Employers cannot assign more than 8 hours of work per day  A work week cannot exceed 44 hours  Young workers have the same rights as others listed under the ESA.

Student Employment  As per Ontario’s Ministry of Labour:  A person must be at least 14 years of age in order to work.  The student minimum wage, applicable to anyone under the age of 18, is $9.60/hr, whereas the general minimum wage is 10.25/hr

How Does This Affect You?  Studies show that students who worked MORE than hours/wk and lower chances of academic success:  Sleep patterns  Later bedtimes  Shorter sleeps  Falling asleep in school; lack of concentration, participation  Missing school due to sleep

Unemployment  Challenges of finding a job [especially for young workers] can lead to short-term or long-term unemployment  Recessions/Depressions can cause large numbers of unemployment  Competition for jobs  Future earning power  Mental/physical stress  Change in living dynamics of family/society

Migration/Immigration  Unemployment is primary motivator  People [most young people] will migrate to find work and earn a living  Influx in immigration patterns changes job availability and increase job competition  More immigration, most often means, less jobs

Debt vs Income  Ratio of debt to income of Canadian households has risen 150 % in last decade:  For every $1, earned; $1.51 is owed.  Debt affects a country’s financial system as a whole  Makes household vulnerable and creates risks  Older Canadians (30-35 yrs) more likely to have debt from mortgages, lines of credits  Younger Canadians (18-29 yrs) more likely to have debt from student loans, credit cards

What Can We Know From One’s Debt vs Income levels?  The way people spend money can reveal a great deal about their behaviour and personality  Ex: a budget tracks spending and reveals pattern in one’s behaviour [also money managing skills]

Work & Identity  Employment and unemployment, both are significant factors in defining an individual, as well as the role they play in family, society etc.  People often define themselves through their occupations  Motivations for choosing certain occupations tells a lot about someone’s personality

“I’ and “Me”  Theorized by George Herbert Mead  Mind defined through set of mental processes  “Me”= social self  Understanding of we observe through reflection of situations  “I” = true self  Person’s actions/reactions, which can be in reaction to situation or self-initiated  People are aware of themselves in social situation

The Looking-Glass Self  Theorized by Charles Cooley (1902)  Identity and personality created through social interaction, called looking-glass self  How we ENVISION we appear to other people  How we envision the judgment of that appearance  Sense of self that develops through this interaction  Behaviour is learned when other people provide feedback: take social cues from reactions of others and create person we are

How are these theories relative to the understanding of Canadian economy?  Through employment, unemployment and/or migration, immigration, a person understands him/herself in a specific context/environment (workplace)  Person’s actions within this context, become a part of who they are.  A person without work, looks for social reactions of people in his/her environment that in turn, modify his/her behaviour  To understand someone and their behaviour patterns, it is essential to understand his/her environment

Media  Has ability to entertain, create, influence, motivate and clarify.  Has infiltrated almost every part of human life, especially a teen’s life  Increased forms of media = constant flow of information

Media Consumption in Canada  On average Canadians watched average of 22 hrs/wk of TV (StatsCan 2006)  Teens average 13hrs/wk of TV NOT including video games  Time teenagers spend consuming media is equal to a workweek for many adults  Average of 19hrs/wk spent on the internet

How Does This Affect You?  Often, media consumption happens simultaneously  Internet surfing while watching TV  Access to different forms of media, changes consumption rates  For Canadians: increased consumption rates b/c of increased access, available in hotels, restaurants, schools, etc.  Due to this, teenagers have ability to perform higher-order thought processes HOWEVER…

How Does This Affect You? [Cont.]  …impact of constant information through different media outlets allow messages to become common and normalized, to the point where they are not registered in the brain

Media and Culture  Media is not only source of information but also reinforces behaviour  Transmitting culture  TV has taken over task of passing on history, stories we value, often filtered through lenses of corporations looking to sell ideas/images  Canadian cultural stories [seen on TV] influenced by American values b/c Canadian shows, movies remain unknown outside of Canada due to lower budgets and less marketing exposure.

Influence of Media Figures  Movie stars, stage actors, athletes and other TV icons send messages about how to act, what to buy, what we should want and what changes we need to make in ourselves.  Ex. Oprah Winfrey: strong media presence and possess ability to motivate and make social change on grand scale  Negative actions: celebrities well known for gregarious behaviour need for attention; through changing romantic partners, alcohol and drug abuse etc, celebs promote idea that dangerous behaviour is normal and expected

Violence in Media  Since more time is spent watching TV than in class, average American child will view more than acts of violence before age 18  Average TV program displaying 812 acts of violence per hour  Canadian stats very similar, since much of our TV is from American sources

“The Medium is the Message”  What does this mean?  Coined by Marshal McLuhan (1964)  Message presented by medium is only part of what is communicated; the medium itself influences how message is perceived  Focuses on looking beyond obvious to see changes or effects enabled, enhanced, extended o accelerated by medium providing the message

Desensitization to Violence  Because violence has become more commonplace in TV shows, video games, news etc, teenagers today, show greater desensitization of violence through popular media  To maintain rating and audience attention, TV pushes what is considered “extreme” to new levels  Years ago shows promoted family values; adult problems were kept hidden  Full House and The Cosby Show

Desensitization to Violence [cont.]  Today, TV shows include more graphic description, detail, reflecting today’s households. Intimate topics, situations between adults and graphic details of deaths are depicted more explicitly.  Video games such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto not only who graphic portrayal of violence, but also ask players to commit violence  To complete goals, characters must have attitude that there is nothing wrong with inflicting pain or death of other characters

How Does This Affect You?  These media outlets have power to not only create foundation for desensitization to violence but also influence behaviours of people.  The normalization of such behaviour in turn changes societal values

Task  Complete the Media Assignment on creating your own advertisement.  This is a one-page assignment. The questions asked should be addressed on the back on your advertisement.  This is DUE NEXT CLASS : THURSDAY!

Politics  By definition, politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country.  Canada is a democracy; that means that Canadians citizens (18 and older) have the right to vote in municipal, provincial and federal elections.  Citizens vote on the system of government through elected representatives

Political Participation  In Canada, any citizen over the age of 18 is allowed to vote.  However, many citizens do not take advantage of this right and participation in voting declines each year.  Please see figure 4.19 on page 142 for further understanding  Highest voter turnout was 79.4% in 1958

How Does This Affect You?  Decline in votes from young people; higher number of senior voters.  Twice as many seniors over 55 years of age than population of young people from ages 18-24; seniors therefore, decide the outcome of elections.  Seniors and their elected candidates then decide the policies and rules that will inevitably effect Canadian economy, that young people will grow up according to.

What Can Politicians Do?  In the 2011 National Youth Survey, the most common barrier or reason for young people not voting was that they feel their input is unimportant  Resolution?  Canadian government trying to encourage young people to vote  Politicians use social media: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter etc

Education as a Factor  it is found that the more education a person has, the more likely he/she is to vote  Idea of social responsibility is encourage through popular media and the classroom  Classes that deal with voting processes and civic responsibility are included in curriculum and are mandatory to achieve high school diploma

Making an Informed Vote  Education about political process and how it affects citizens both on individual level and communal level helps citizens, especially young citizens on making an informed vote  Being informed thus, changes the attitudes and behaviours of people and also effects what activities they take part in

Task  Write an opinion piece approx 2 pages about: i) how well Canada’s system of government meets the needs of a large, diverse country; ii) what ideas, principles, and responsibilities are most important in governing ourselves; iii) why it is important to be active citizen in Canadian democracy; or iv) what should motivate someone to run for election as a Member of Parliament.

Health and Beauty  Essential questions:  What shapes the health care system?  How does it change?  How does Canadian culture value define beauty?  Why do people think and act the way they do, based on these values?  How health and how we think about health changes our behaviours.

Promoting Health Behaviours  In past, health was defined by absence of disease  Today, the focus is on adopting healthy lifestyles to reduce likelihood of disease or becoming sick  To combat high obesity rates, Canadian health has been focused on promoting awareness of nutrition, healthy eating and physical activity  In Canada, about 25% of adults are obese and childhood obesity rates have almost tripled in last 25 years  Obesity leads to development of diabetes and high blood pressure

Reducing Harmful Behaviour  Federal and provincial government have been focused on reducing harmful behaviours, such as smoking  Campaigns highlighting harmful effects  Laws establishing smoke-free areas  Combination of knowledge and awareness of risks, changes beliefs and perceptions and in turn, changes laws, alters social norms and promotes particular behaviours

Barriers to Health Care  Though Canada has a public healthcare system, over 25% of health care services are paid for through private sources  Out of own pocket  Through private insurance  Access to healthcare  Those living in rural areas (in comparison to urban areas) are more likely to have HBP, be obese and higher rate of clinical depression

Culture and Beauty  Definition of beauty has varied over time  In ancient China, 10-cm ‘lotus foot’ considered sign of beauty; caused severe pain, imbalance, and osteoporosis  During Elizabethan era, women with high forehead were considered beautiful; women plucked their hairs and covered their skin with lead-based paints  Corseting was popular during late 18 th -19 th century; women suffered from shallow breathing and restricted veins

Beauty and Identity  Self-identity or how one sees him/herself influenced by a number of things:  Family  Peers  Popular media  Teens specifically vulnerable to outside influence regarding body image  Image of people who have desirable body defined by society in popular media, TV, magazines etc

Body Image  According to CMHA, 70% of women and 35% are dieting  10-20% of extreme dieters die from complications associated with stress of dieting on body  Undergoing extreme weight loss or weight gain influences how teenagers view their surroundings  Self-reflection is component of who we are  Large group of Canadian girls unhappy woth their body shape

Body Image (cont.)  Men also being influences by images seen in popular media  Wanting to be more muscular; defined biceps, pectoral muscles, chiselled abdominal musclles etc  Same psychological characteristics as women  Developing eating disorders  Taking steroids  Low self-esteem, need to be accepted, inability to cope with social pressures