Answer to Question #311476 in Sociology for Pre

Question

4.1.Discuss and provide one example of the following.

(i)Culture as tradition.(4)

(ii)Culture as a symbol system.(4)

(iii)Culture as distributed along lines of power in society.(4)

4.2.Discuss the guidelines for gender-fair teaching in schools.Explain why there might be problems in schools with the implementation of some of the guidelines.Give two examples of possible challenges.(10)

Answer 1

4.1. (i)Traditions is a representation of an essential pieces of culture. They are important as they assist in forming both family and societies' structures and foundations. They also reinforce values which include freedom, integrity, good education, selflessness among many more. Culture describes the shared characteristics of the entire group, which has been amassed throughout its history. For example, the tradition to remove your shoes when entering a home in Japan is a shared custom passed down from parent to child.

(ii)Culture can be on the other hand be referred as a symbol which is a tangible display that spells out the ideology of a given culture. It's also an a collection of beliefs, traditions, values of a certain group of people among others. Examples of symbolic culture include concepts, mythical inventions and social constructs.

(iii)Power of a given region or other groups can be influenced by by the size of a cultural group. Cultural power lends itself to social power that influences people's lives by controlling the prevailing norms or rules and making individuals adhere to the dominant culture voluntarily or involuntarily. Similarly, power and culture are the foundation of the society. The cultural orientation of the people within a society or group determines their definition of power and how they react towards those in authority. Power complements culture in the sense that it enforces cultural values and norms.

4.2. Gender-fair education involves the experiences, perceptions, and perspectives of girls and women as well as boys and men (DE, USA 1995). It aims to promote the teaching and learning of gender equity, highlighting female experiences as products of historical and cultural processes. It became apparent from the findings that there are major curriculum challenges and teachers in managing the curriculum implementation in their schools which includes lack of resources, inadequate training and heavy workloads.