Discuss some of the ways in which the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality.

Orginal Assignment Instructions:  write one essay, drawing on material from two out of the three strands. You are able to choose which two out of the three strands you want to focus on: ‘Making lives’ (Book 1, Chapters 5–9), ‘Connecting lives’ (Book 2, Chapters 1–5) and ‘Ordering lives’ (Book 2, Chapters 6–10). All three of these strands contain material relevant to the essay question.

The essay question asks you to discuss some of the ways in which the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality. On the one hand, this suggests that individuals’ lives are not fixed or given, but that they are produced in active ways by individuals and society. In short, individuals have choices in making and remaking their lives. On the other hand, this also suggests that different people have more or less freedom to make their own choices depending on a variety of factors, for example, class and socio-economic position, gender, race and ethnicity, disability and sexuality. The key point, then, is the relationship between difference and inequality and the ways in which some differences become inequalities. Therefore, the ways in which the different strands tackle the second module question ‘How are differences and inequalities produced?’ will be a helpful guide in exploring how some, but not all people’s ability to make their lives in characterised by inequality. This second module question shows how people respond to difference and inequality in their own way, but are affected by wider social expectations, constraints and possibilities.

Below are some possible areas to focus on, but they are only indicative. There are other possible areas to focus on.

Remember that you cannot cover everything in this essay. Choose material from only two out of the three strands of DD102 study materials.

Making lives frames the discussion of the ways in which the ability of individuals to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequalities through the idea that people in the contemporary UK live in a consumer society. A good starting point is to discuss Bauman’s concepts of the seduced and the repressed (Understanding Social Lives, Part 1, Chapter 5) which illustrate how inequalities are as much a feature of consumer society as they were of industrial society. Chapter 6 discusses how big retail power can lead to inequalities in the choices some people have, both in the UK and abroad. Zukin’s claim, that consumption allows people to be both creative and controlled (Chapter 7), points to both differences in consumption and inequalities. Finally, Chapter 8 looks at how the application of nudge theory is limited in its ability to influence people to make particular choices because people are both different and unequal.

Connecting lives frames the discussion of how the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality through the idea of connections and disconnections. People are not all connected in the same ways and to the same extent, and disconnection is a feature of many people’s lives. The discussion of collective identities in Understanding Social Lives, Part 2, Chapter 1, shows how these refer to difference as well as similarity, and this would be a good starting point. The chapter explores gender identities, identities based on race and ethnicity and class identities and looks at how the intersection of identities can lead to inequalities. Although gender and race and ethnicity are often assumed to be fixed identities of the body, the chapter shows how they are also produced socially and how some identities, but not all, have different meanings and values attributed to them subject to the situation or context. Chapter 2 continues the discussion of class, gender, race and ethnicity but adds disability into the mix to show how these different identities interact in ways that can produce inequalities in sport and wider society. Issues of residential segregation, and the ways in which this can create unequal connections and disconnections, are explored in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 looks at how migration can also produce unequal connections and disconnections.

Ordering lives frames the discussion of ways in which the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality through the issue of social order and its relationship to disorder. Of importance here is the inequality present in regards to which groups in society have the power to define social order and disorder in ways that stick, and which groups lack this power. A good starting point would be the approaches to homelessness in Understanding Social Lives, Part 2, Chapter 6. One perspective suggests that homelessness and therefore homeless people are a problem population and need to be ‘ordered’ while a different perspective sees homeless people as people who are at risk and vulnerable and homelessness as a social issue. Chapter 7 examines the contrasting approaches to understanding crime and deviancy, whether crime arises from nature or nurture, or the extent to which the key to understanding crime is to be found in questions of power and social control. Chapter 8 continues a focus on questions of power and social control in its discussion of two contrasting approaches to understanding riots. The conservative ideological approach sees riots as destructive and disorderly, while the radical approach sees riots as having a transformative potential. Chapter 9 is also important because it discusses the issue of social inequality directly; what kind of problem it is, and two different views on its causes and solutions to it.

Writing tips

This question requires you to write an academic essay by drawing on material from two out of the three strands of DD102 study materials: ‘Making lives’ (Book 1, Chapters 5–9), ‘Connecting lives’ (Book 2, Chapters 1–5) and ‘Ordering lives’ (Book 2, Chapters 6–10).

Although there is no one right way of approaching this essay, we suggest that several key points need to be borne in mind:

• Before you start writing, make sure you have chosen only two out of the three strands to draw upon and that you have identified the examples and evidence from these strands that you are going to use in discussing two or three ways in which the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality. Trying to include examples and evidence from all three strands will lose you marks.
• You will need to think carefully about a structure for your essay to avoid the pitfall of simply presenting a list of inequalities. There is no one way of structuring the essay, as it depends what you choose to focus on, but getting a clear structure is crucial for this essay. For example, the most straightforward approach is perhaps to look at how some individuals have less choice in making and remaking their lives because of a variety of factors including class and socio-economic position, gender, race and ethnicity, disability and sexuality. Hence, the relationship between difference and inequality is important: different groups of people face unequal choices and constraints in their ability to make and remake their lives.
• A good answer to this question will effectively bring together material from two out of the three strands. It is best not to do this by simply running through two strands in turn and drawing out examples of inequality from each. Though it is important to highlight to the reader, by referencing, where you are using each strand, it is just as important to integrate material by making general points and then illustrating them using material from the two strands in a roughly equal way. For example, you could make the general point that the ways in which the ability of people from different socio-economic classes are able to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality. This could be illustrated by Bauman’s argument in ‘Making lives’, which shows how market-led consumerism produces inequalities between the ‘seduced’ and the ‘repressed’, and then by evidence from ‘Connecting lives’, which shows how patterns of segregation in housing can make and remake economic and class inequalities so that they become entrenched over time. Alternatively, (remembering you can use material from only two strands) you might want to show how the process of labelling groups of people leads to inequalities in the ability of people to make and remake their lives. This could be illustrated by Becker’s arguments in ‘Ordering Lives’ which show how some groups of people become defined as deviant. If using Making and Connecting Lives, you might instead wish to use evidence from ‘Connecting lives’ which provides evidence of how labels such as ‘chav’ or ‘street people’ constrain people’s ability to make and remake their lives. There are many other examples that you could choose to use, so do think carefully about those that will help you in putting your answer together in the most effective way. Remember that although it is good to use a mixture of evidence to support a point, you generally only need one or two examples. You don’t need to use three examples if they all say the same thing.
• ‘Discuss’ means more than just describing and then providing evidence of some of the ways in which lives are made and remade in unequal ways. You need to think critically about the claim that the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequalities, the concepts you are using and the evidence you are providing. Try to provide a conclusion that critically considers your findings about the ways in which the ability of people to make and remake their lives is characterised by inequality: which groups of people have more or less freedom than others in their ability to make and remake their lives so that inequalities persist over time?
• Good answers will also be clearly structured and written, address the question in a direct and focused manner, and present evidence and reasons for their conclusions.
• Finally, remember to reference the sources you are drawing on, both in the body of your essay and in a reference list at the end of your essay, and to include a word count. Your reference list at the end of your essay is excluded from the word count but in-text citations within the essay are included.