EMA 23 5 14
How does society shape people’s lives?
The aim of this essay is to explore how society shapes people’s lives. The meaning of the word “shaping” in this context means to “influence or affect” (The Open University, 2013, YO32 p 29). This essay will focus on Childhood: Body image and stress related eating disorders, from Block 4, Unit 3 and Psychology: Social influence, happiness and natural and synthetic happiness from Unit 5.
Society has shaped us to embrace a rather different body image to that of 100 years ago to the point where being slim is now considered the norm (The Open University, 2013 Unit 3, 3.2). There has been a shift from the plumper body image seen in paintings dating back to the 19th century, to the ultra slim catwalk models of today. As there has been a shift in body image, there has also been a shift in eating habits (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.2). It is now less likely for families to sit down together and eat the more traditional three meals a day, with young people now more likely to favour energy dense fast food diets (NSHD) (n.d.). The National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) (n.d.) recommends that young people should take regular exercise and have a minimum of 3 thirty minute sessions of exercise per week and drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
The pressure society places on young people to conform to the ideal body image has led to many adolescents developing stress-related eating disorders (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.4). There are three main eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and binge eating (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.6). Disordered eating is a mental illness in which the patient severely restricts their calorie intake. Although girls are mainly affected by anorexia a significant number of boys are also affected (the Open University, 2013). AN is quite different from BN giving sufferers of BN cause to overeat and then purge to make themselves sick,
The aim of this essay is to explore how society shapes people’s lives. The meaning of the word “shaping” in this context means to “influence or affect” (The Open University, 2013, YO32 p 29). This essay will focus on Childhood: Body image and stress related eating disorders, from Block 4, Unit 3 and Psychology: Social influence, happiness and natural and synthetic happiness from Unit 5.
Society has shaped us to embrace a rather different body image to that of 100 years ago to the point where being slim is now considered the norm (The Open University, 2013 Unit 3, 3.2). There has been a shift from the plumper body image seen in paintings dating back to the 19th century, to the ultra slim catwalk models of today. As there has been a shift in body image, there has also been a shift in eating habits (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.2). It is now less likely for families to sit down together and eat the more traditional three meals a day, with young people now more likely to favour energy dense fast food diets (NSHD) (n.d.). The National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) (n.d.) recommends that young people should take regular exercise and have a minimum of 3 thirty minute sessions of exercise per week and drink a minimum of 2 litres of water per day.
The pressure society places on young people to conform to the ideal body image has led to many adolescents developing stress-related eating disorders (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.4). There are three main eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and binge eating (The Open University, 2013, Unit 3, 3.6). Disordered eating is a mental illness in which the patient severely restricts their calorie intake. Although girls are mainly affected by anorexia a significant number of boys are also affected (the Open University, 2013). AN is quite different from BN giving sufferers of BN cause to overeat and then purge to make themselves sick,
References: Layard, R. (2005) Happiness: Lessons from a New Science, New York, Penguin. National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) (n.d.) [Online]. Available at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ health/ publications/ eating-disorders/ index.shtml (Accessed 14 May 2014). National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD) (n.d.) [Online]. Available at http://www.nshd.mrc.ac.uk/(Accessed 21 May 2014). The Open University (2013). Block 4, Unit 3, Childhood: society, food and children. 3.6 different eating disorders [Online]. Available at http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anorexia-nervosa/Pages/Introduction.aspx (accessed 23 May 2014) The Open University (2013). Block 4, Unit 3, Childhood: society, food and children. 3.2 healthy eating [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=441400#downloads (accessed 23 May 2014). The Open University, 2013. YO32-13J. Block 4, Unit 3 Childhood: society, food and children. 3.2 healthy eating [Online]. Available at https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=441400#downloads (Accessed 30 April 2014). The Open University, 2013. “Block 4 society, Unit 5”. Psychology, society, selves and happiness, p47. Milton Keynes, The Open University. The Open University, 2013. “Block 4 society, Unit 5”. Psychology: society, selves and happiness, p48. Milton Keynes, The Open University. The Open University, 2013. YO32 People, work and society access module. Assessment guidelines, p29. Milton Keynes, The Open University. White, A. (2006) “University of Leicester produces the first ever world map of happiness” [Online]. Available at http://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ ebulletin/news/press-releases/2000-2009/2006/07/nparticle.2006-07-28.html (Accessed 24 April 2014). World Health Organisation (WHO) (2004) ‘Fight childhood obesity to help prevent diabetes, says WHO & IDF’, WHO, 11 November 2004 [Online]. Available at http://www.who.int./ mediacentre/ news/ releases/ 2004/ pr81/ en/ (Accessed 20 May 2014). Youngs, I. (2004) ‘My wartime menu’, BBC News Online, 30 June 2004 [Online]. Available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 1/ hi/ magazine/ 3847041.stm (Accessed 23 April 2014).