Sociology

Depression is often associated with life events that are seen to be stressful, such as relationship breakdown, illness, and unemployment. Women have higher rates of diagnosed and self-reported depression than men, which may reflect the gendered nature of ’emotion work’ and emotional management. The study by Brown and Harris showed that women who reported depression were more likely to have experienced stressful life events, but also that they were made vulnerable to depression by a lack of social support. For example, they might not have a relationship partner, work colleagues or their own parents to turn to for help, and may have others, such as children, dependent on them. 304-306

Feminist theories of eating disorders focus on the cultural pressures upon women in contemporary Western society. The internalized desire to achieve, be independent, and above all slim and attractive, creates ‘epidemics’ of anxiety in women. Bordo argued that some women resolve these dilemmas of self-identity through anorexia, which reflects both an acceptance of cultural images of beauty and a bodily protest against them. The anorexic woman achieves thinness and self-control, but presents a grotesque parody of what these goals mean. 310-311

A society is said to be stratified if social inequalities involve the arrangement of individuals into different groups or levels, which are called strata. These are arranged hierarchically, reflecting greater or lesser levels of social advantage or life chances. The singular form of strata is ‘stratum’. 771