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Higher Modern Studies 2012-13: Discussion and Help Thread

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Original post by HannahRH_
Okay I have done the first two with success (I hope!) How would I go about the social.economic factors if the question was like the 2007 question:
To what extent do social and economic inequalities continue to exist in the UK?

Thanks :smile:


Yeah, I did this one recently. I went with the argument they do still exist. I started of with Health inequalities (mention 2008 WHO report on Glasgow) and then spoke about the Gender Pay Gap and Glass Ceiling. Then mentioned race inequalities where employment opportunities and pay is concerned. For the other side of the argument I mentioned the 2006 equality act ( think this was in the marking scheme) and then used stuff my teacher gave me about BT and their policy on female workers. Hope this is useful !!
Original post by JessicaLee123
Race gender for where? you mean health and wealth topic?

Yeah me and some other people doing devolved Scotland think its going to be a devolution question involving reserved/devolved powers, MSPs role in decision making ( less likely ) or Co op and conflict between H and W


Yeah :smile:
Original post by roarwalk49
Yeah, I did this one recently. I went with the argument they do still exist. I started of with Health inequalities (mention 2008 WHO report on Glasgow) and then spoke about the Gender Pay Gap and Glass Ceiling. Then mentioned race inequalities where employment opportunities and pay is concerned. For the other side of the argument I mentioned the 2006 equality act ( think this was in the marking scheme) and then used stuff my teacher gave me about BT and their policy on female workers. Hope this is useful !!



What kind of health inequalites did you mention? And i did the same with you for the others. :smile: i just think its easiest to talk about gender and ethnic minorities for me personally
Original post by KeeKeeDee
Do not give me the credit, this is Ecosse_14's advice but I've been following his structure for a while without even realising it!

Introduction - give a brief introduction to what the policy being discussed actually is, your decision on it and list a few arguments you're going to give.

Arguments for your proposal - bullet point around 3 arguments supporting your decision
Argument 1 - Argue your case, referring to the sources given and backround knowledge
Argument 2 - See above
Argument 3 - See above

Arguments against your proposal and rebuttal - bullet point around 3 arguments which contradict your decision
Argument 1 - Say briefly what other people might say against your decision, back it up with a source if you can't use the source anywhere else and then totally rip it shreds to be honest. Say the argument then say 'however' and argue how the reason is not valid and you have evidence against it.
Repeat for the other 2 arguments

Conclusion - Sum it all up, summarising your arguments and stating whether they should reject or accept the proposal.


General advice
1. Read what the actual task says, what your role is and try and understand what the proposal is.
2. Look at all of the stats/diagrams in source C and get an idea what they're about.
3. Read sources A & B, decide which is for and which is against the proposal and whilst you're reading them, underline it and write notes throughout them on things that agree with the stats/contradict source C as this will form the basis of your report.
4. Decide if you're going to accept or reject the proposal and then write the report.

Make sure you use all of the sources (and try and use them several times). When you're writing an argument dont give evidence from source A, source B, source C1, source C2, etc in that order. Instead mix it up a bit, maybe start with C3, go onto A, then C1(a), or whatever, as this is what markers want to see. Make sure you use as much backround knowledge as possible too and annotate in your margin wherever you have used a source or BK. Also, write in a very argumentative language and refer to the ministers or committee or whatever. For example, 'Committee, I strongly suggest that you implement this proposal immediately'. It might sound sad but try and get really into it and really argumentative as if you were actually standing having a very heated debate with someone.


Great! Thank you! :smile:
Nah. i dont think so because last year it was government reducing gender/race was it not? :P I think itll be lifestyle more likely than income affecting health, social and economic inequalities continue to exist or government reducing poverty.! dont think its government irresponsibility thing because that came up in 2011 and it seems to skip a few years till it asks that q again but who knows thats just my guesses lmao!
Original post by JessicaLee123
What kind of health inequalites did you mention? And i did the same with you for the others. :smile: i just think its easiest to talk about gender and ethnic minorities for me personally


Health inequalities I mentioned include the 28 year gap in life expectancy around Greater Glasgow, life expectancy in Calton (Eastside of Glasgow) is 54, lower than post war Iraq and then in Dumbarton it is 79. Also, children in poor quality housing have an 86% higher chance of developing asthma. In Shettleston 37% of pregnant women smoke. Also, in the Scotsman paper it was said that men in Glasgow on average live 6 years less than men in the capital. Sorry there is not a lot, that was of the top of my head!!
Reply 566
Does anyone think for A2, it may be about How some pressure groups can effect decision making in central government?
Reply 567
really struggling to find points for "To what extent do ethnic minorities influence the outcome of elections in the USA" any help appreciated
Original post by roarwalk49
Health inequalities I mentioned include the 28 year gap in life expectancy around Greater Glasgow, life expectancy in Calton (Eastside of Glasgow) is 54, lower than post war Iraq and then in Dumbarton it is 79. Also, children in poor quality housing have an 86% higher chance of developing asthma. In Shettleston 37% of pregnant women smoke. Also, in the Scotsman paper it was said that men in Glasgow on average live 6 years less than men in the capital. Sorry there is not a lot, that was of the top of my head!!



Nopes, thats awesome! thank you.! What could you possibly say for improving health inequalities? Could you use the smoking ban and 17% decrease in heart attacks. cant think what else :tongue:
Original post by JessicaLee123
Nopes, thats awesome! thank you.! What could you possibly say for improving health inequalities? Could you use the smoking ban and 17% decrease in heart attacks. cant think what else :tongue:


Yeah definitely, mention any govt action on the issues as their just as relevant
Reply 570
I have a feeling the DME will be on minimum price alcohol. How would you argue for or against it despite the failure?
Reply 571
What I do for those questions is firstly talk about predicted projection for the ethnic minorities then I talk about the 2012 results then I talk about how gender was a influence and age then conclusion that to a certain extent do ethnic minorities influence the outcome of elections in the USA I got 14/15 in my prelim doing it like this
Reply 572
Original post by roarwalk49
Yeah, I did this one recently. I went with the argument they do still exist. I started of with Health inequalities (mention 2008 WHO report on Glasgow) and then spoke about the Gender Pay Gap and Glass Ceiling. Then mentioned race inequalities where employment opportunities and pay is concerned. For the other side of the argument I mentioned the 2006 equality act ( think this was in the marking scheme) and then used stuff my teacher gave me about BT and their policy on female workers. Hope this is useful !!


so could i just talk about gender and race or would i have to do more as im fine with just doing them
Reply 573
Original post by lala4
I have a feeling the DME will be on minimum price alcohol. How would you argue for or against it despite the failure?


against it you could say that the list of alcohols on the the list for the minimum price it is something like 24 out of the 36 are already above the minimum pricing? (you'd need to check that figure though)
Original post by lala4
I have a feeling the DME will be on minimum price alcohol. How would you argue for or against it despite the failure?


You could argue that because 35% of Scottish school pupils drink to excess in teenage years, it is clear we have a drinking problem therefore this legislation would take steps to lessen it. You could additionally argue that it has worked abroad, in countries such as Canada. Here is an article which from the Guardian about it which contains some very useful information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/30/canada-state-controlled-drinking-health
Original post by roarwalk49
Health inequalities I mentioned include the 28 year gap in life expectancy around Greater Glasgow, life expectancy in Calton (Eastside of Glasgow) is 54, lower than post war Iraq and then in Dumbarton it is 79. Also, children in poor quality housing have an 86% higher chance of developing asthma. In Shettleston 37% of pregnant women smoke. Also, in the Scotsman paper it was said that men in Glasgow on average live 6 years less than men in the capital. Sorry there is not a lot, that was of the top of my head!!


I also have an article about how the life expectancy in some parts of Glasgow is lower than that in India. Could I also mention the North/South Divide and that women in the affluent Kensington-Chelsea area of London have an average life expectancy which is 12-13 years higher than that of women in Glasgow?
Reply 576
I got 27/30 on my prelim DME if I was to give any advice it would be do the short questions as quick as possible no more than 15 minutes these are 10 easy guaranteed marks if you practise doing them and finally the rest of the DME I always support the proposal I find it easier to argue, normally.
Reply 577
Original post by ladymarshmallow
You could argue that because 35% of Scottish school pupils drink to excess in teenage years, it is clear we have a drinking problem therefore this legislation would take steps to lessen it. You could additionally argue that it has worked abroad, in countries such as Canada. Here is an article which from the Guardian about it which contains some very useful information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/30/canada-state-controlled-drinking-health


Thank you:smile:
Original post by roarwalk49
Yeah definitely, mention any govt action on the issues as their just as relevant


what else could you say in improvement in health inequalites? Sorry to bother you.
If anyone's interested I have some statistics for gender inequality (taken from an article, "Break that Glass", in the FT):

7/10 working-age women in the UK are in jobs, which is above the OECD avg, yet this figure has increased little since 2000
The proportion of females in full-time jobs is one of the lowest amongst developed economies
The cost of childcare in UK = highest in Europe, bar Switzerland + Ireland, inflexible work arrangements

Govt action to reduce burden on working mothers = fams with young children could receive a tax break of up to £2,000 to contribute to cost of childcare. Thus easier to share parental leave as mothers will be able to allocate their time off to fathers just 2 wks after child born.

2013 study revealed that women comprise only 19% of senior management roles, down from 23% 2 yrs ago
Female boardroom membership is at 13%, which is above the OECD avg yet below France and the Scandinavian countries

Possible solution = quotas
For example, the UK govt aims to have 25% of seats of FTSE 100 company boards filled by women, however its potential effectiveness is weakened because it's a voluntary scheme and many companies only tend to select women for non-exec roles.

Apart from that and unrelated to the article, could we mention how the Scottish Parliament provides a crèche and has manageable working hours for women? It's just something which I remember from my SG days.
Finally, if I were writing about collectivism vs individualism could I mention the debate over whether the NHS ought to treat illnesses that are the result of lifestyle choices?

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