Lesson video

Hello there, my young theologians, philosophers, and social scientists.

My name is Ms. Marx, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today we're going to be covering the idea of identity and what does it mean to have a label.

We'll think about different labels people might have, they might choose for themselves and different ways that that might then change how they perceive the world and how the world perceives them.

And link that of course to ideas within religion and belonging.

And this is all part of our unit of work on Identity: how does religion and belief look now and what might the future bring?

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson today, you'll be able to describe characteristics and causes with which people may identify and how this may contribute to their worldview.

So let's start with our keywords.

Immutable characteristic: fixed parts of someone's identity, e.

g.

age, place of birth.

Perception and perceive: this is the way someone understands or interprets something based on what they see, hear, or experience.

And vegan: a person who does not eat or use any animal products, such as meat, dairy, or eggs.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today will have three sections: characteristics we're born with, causes we may identify with, and a case study: veganism and livestock farming.

So let's start with our first section, characteristics we are born with.

So let's start with a question.

When a new person is born, we got a brand new baby, what can we already know about their identity?

What things are set from that point on about their identity?

Can you think of anything?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, things I have here are their genetic makeup.

People are born with a certain set of genes that they have, and that's it, they're going to have those forever, aren't they?

Hmm, their date of birth won't change because that's the day that they were born.

So therefore their age will always be set.

Their ethnicity, their place of birth.

So there are certain things that do not change over time when a new person is born.

Does a baby have any immutable characteristics then, those characteristics which are fixed and are always going to be part of their identity that will last an entire lifetime?

Could we argue that some of these things would last for their entire lifetime?

Have a think, and you can pause the video and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's explore that a little bit further.

Sam and Jacob are discussing this now.

They're discussing immutable characteristics together.

Let's see what they say.

Jacob says, "There are definitely some things about yourself that you're born with that never change over time, but there are so many things that can change.

" And Sam says, "Well, I think these can impact one another.

Maybe something about me means I go on to have certain experiences that influence who I am.

" Whilst people can be born with certain characteristics that are part of who they are, there's also many things that can happen as someone grows up, different experiences they may have, different decisions they make, which could also have impact on different things to do with our identity as well.

And it's kind of a bit of both.

And social scientists are very interested in this idea of the things we're born with and the things that we might learn or gather as we go through life.

So time for a quick check.

Which three of these could we argue are immutable characteristics?

So we've got to choose three.

We've got age, place of birth, religion, and genetic makeup.

Which of these could we argue would never change over time?

Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

We've got age, place of birth, and genetic makeup, because people could change their religion during their lifetime, couldn't they?

Well done.

So these immutable characteristics could influence how we perceive and understand the world.

So these things about us which are set and don't change could then actually influence how we understand the world around us.

Let's have a think about an example.

So here we got James.

Now James was born with a vision impairment, so something he had from birth.

And he says, "One of my immutable characteristics is that I was born with a vision impairment.

I experience and perceive the world through other senses in a greater way than someone who does not have a vision impairment.

" So literally, the way that James sees the world is different to others because of that impairment he has.

So that then is going to influence how he understands the world around him.

Are there other ways our immutable characteristics could influence how we perceive and understand the world?

Can you think of any others?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's have a think about another one now.

We could also argue the place where we are born, because the place where you're born isn't going to change over time, so you could argue perhaps that where you're born will influence your perception of the world if we are raised there.

And now obviously again here we have this idea that you might not stay there for your whole life and you might have different experiences, but could that still have an influence?

Let's have a think.

Well, here we've got Njeri and Faith, and they're going to help us understand this a bit more.

Njeri says, "I was born in Nairobi, in Kenya, in East Africa.

This means I see the seasons of the year in terms of two wet and two dry seasons.

" So as the year passes through, Njeri views the world in that way because that's what she has been born with and raised with living in that part of the world.

Faith, on the other hand, says, "I was born in London, in the UK, in Northern Europe.

I see the seasons of the year as spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

" Very distinct four separate seasons there because of the placement on the Earth where Faith was born and she was brought up.

Are there any other perceptions about the world that could be influenced by where we are born and raised?

Can you think of any others?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, also our immutable characteristics contribute to people's perception of us.

Now I'm not necessarily saying this is right and it can lead to stereotypes and prejudice, but it can be a thing that when someone sees somebody they make assumptions about who they are because of an immutable characteristic.

So let's think about age.

I've said that age, whilst it changes over time because obviously a person gets older, the time and the date that you were born doesn't change.

So that's an immutable characteristic, your age.

So how might someone's age contribute to other people's perceptions of them?

So here I've got Alexia and Beth, and Alexia is a child and Beth is a full grown adult woman.

What might people perceive about them with that kind of age difference?

Are there different things they would think about them and perceive about them because of their different ages?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Yes, and remember it's important that these perceptions aren't necessarily correct.

Somebody might perceive and assume that Beth has got certain life experiences and certain knowledge and understanding that Alexia doesn't, doesn't mean it's necessarily right, does it?

Perceptions can lead to unfair prejudice and stereotyping.

Let's do a quick check before we move on.

Is this true or false?

People's perceptions of us based on our immutable characteristics are always correct.

Is that true or false?

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

That is false, isn't it?

But why?

Well, it's false because people may have perceptions of us based on these, but that doesn't make them correct and can lead to stereotyping or prejudice.

Well done.

So time for a practice task to see what we've learned.

You're going to choose one immutable characteristic that people have and explain how could this characteristic influence how someone perceives the world?

And then how could this characteristic influence how others perceive the person?

So how they perceive the world, but then how others perceive them.

And choose one characteristic and explain it.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some great work there.

So you might have said, a person's age can influence how they perceive the world as the brain of a newborn baby is not as developed as a child or an adult.

This means the way they perceive and understand the world may be different.

And a person's age can influence how other people perceive them as they may assume an older person has more experience or understanding of something than someone younger.

Well done.

So on to our second section then, causes we may identify with.

So as well as there are immutable characteristics which people may choose to identify with, there are causes that people identify with too.

So this isn't an immutable thing, it's something that someone might choose to be part of or take part in.

And that can still kind of generate those labels as what we're thinking about today, isn't it?

So how could these actions show that someone identifies with a cause?

I've got here protesting, raising money for charity, volunteering.

How could they show that someone is identifying with a cause?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, protesting is quite an obvious way that someone can show they identify with a cause because they are literally putting their body as part of a march or a demonstration and maybe holding a placard that shows the thing that they are identifying with, that they are happy to be kind of publicly there in a public space saying that they care about this cause.

And here we've got some young people protesting here about climate change.

But then also, people can show their support for a certain cause by doing something like raising money for charity.

Again, that often has like a public part of it.

So it might be like a Race for Life or something or running a marathon.

So you're showing that you're part of a particular cause.

You might be doing it for a particular reason.

So you are showing again there that this cause is something you're identifying with.

And volunteering is another way that people might show that they identify with a cause because they care about it so much they want to get involved and do something about it.

Can you think of any other ways that people could show that they identify with certain causes?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's have a case study then.

We've got Mark, who takes part in Movemeber each year.

Perhaps you've heard about this.

Now this raises money and awareness for men's health issues, and he does this through growing out his mustache and raising money.

And here he's going to explain why.

Mark says, "My brother had testicular cancer when he was younger.

It was caught early and now he's completely fine.

But ever since then I've been really passionate about spreading awareness about men's health.

I think there's something powerful about men raising awareness in this way together each year.

" And here we got Mark with his mustache grown out.

So he's chosen to identify with the cause of men's health and raising money for this and raising awareness.

Now would you say that's because he's a man or perhaps it's the experience that he had from his brother being ill when he was younger?

Well, both our characteristics and our experiences can lead to us wanting to identify with causes, and we can see very physically that he's identified with because he's growing a mustache, and he might use that as a way to spark conversations with people about why he's doing it.

So Jacob and Sam now are discussing causes we may identify with.

Jacob says, "I think our immutable characteristics might mean we get involved with certain causes rather than others, like Mark and Movember because he's a man.

" And Sam says, "I see your point, but I think it's our life experiences more than our characteristics that influence us.

Mark's brother got ill, which had a huge impact on him.

" So remember, we said at the start of this lesson, you know, social scientists are very interested in the reasons why people might do things.

And is it because of who they are when they're born or is it because of different experiences they might have as they grow up?

Can you think of other examples of characteristics and experiences influencing people to join causes?

Can you think of any more?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Time for a quick check.

Let's together give an example of a way that someone could show they identify with a cause.

They might do protesting.

So now over to you then.

Give another example of a way that someone could show they identify with a cause.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

I've got here donating money.

You could have also said volunteering time, giving speeches, and raising money.

Well done.

Now sometimes, through identifying the certain causes, people feel a sense of identity and belonging.

How could these actions that we spoke about earlier help someone feel a sense of identity and belonging then?

We've got protesting, raising money for charity, and volunteering.

How could they help someone feel a sense of identity and belonging?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So each of these actions can help someone feel a sense of identity and belonging as they're kind of putting their money where their mouth is and they're really getting involved with something that they care about.

So they could do that with others as well and feel that sense of belonging to be with other people who care about the same cause as them.

And then sometimes the causes that people identify with can also have social, political, and religious ideas connected to them.

Let's have a think about some of those now.

Sam joined a local protest to stop the library being closed in her local area.

As she says, "When I heard the public library in my town was going to be closed because of funding cuts, I joined a group of other schoolchildren and we protested.

I think having a free public library is so important.

Together we put pressure on the council and they did a U-turn to keep it open.

" So Sam has chosen to get involved with this cause and done it together with other school children.

Could we argue this cause is related to social and political ideas?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Let's have a look at another example.

Meryem volunteers at her local food bank, and she says, "I volunteer at a local food bank because there are many people who live in difficult situations in my town.

I do this because I care about them, but also because it's an important part of my religion, Islam, to be fair and help others in need.

There's a group of us who do this together each week after Jummah prayers.

" Could we argue this cause is related to religious ideas for Meryem?

Pause the video and how a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So time for a quick check.

You're going to complete this sentence with a missing word.

Sometimes when people identify with causes, they could feel a greater sense of identity and what?

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It was belonging.

So time for another practice task to see what we've learned.

We're going to imagine that Jacob here is identifying with a cause.

I would like you to choose what cause has he identified with?

Why has he chosen to identify with it?

How does he show he's identified with it?

And how could this give him a sense of belonging?

So choose a cause that Jacob's identifying with and then think of these four things.

You can do this written down or you can be doing it talking together in your groups and be ready to report back.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some great ideas.

So your answers may look something like this.

I decided that Jacob had chosen to identify with clearing up the local canals where he lives.

He had chosen to identify with this because he enjoys spending time in the canals but doesn't like how much litter there is in them.

Jacob shows he's identified with this by spending time on Saturday mornings picking litter with a team.

And this gives him a sense of belonging because he's doing it with a team and it's in his local area.

Well done.

So, on to our third and final section then, a case study: veganism and livestock farming.

Sometimes as we saw earlier, identifying with a cause can be an indicator of someone's political, social, or religious ideas.

So here's another example.

In February 2003, there was a very large, coordinated protest across the world against the invasion of Iraq by the US, UK, and other forces.

So many millions of people across the whole world had a protest to sort of say they didn't think this invasion should happen.

And this image is of one of those protests that was held in London.

So what political, social, or religious ideas might protesting against this have been an indicator of then?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, there's lots of ideas that might have fit into this where people didn't agree with the politics of who is invading which country and why.

People might have said that they don't agree with war for different social reasons and the understanding of society in the place that was going to be invaded or the kind of society that might do those invasions.

There might have been religious ideas that people were drawing on the idea of sanctity of life and not harming life as to why they identified with that cause and chose to go and protest there.

Let's do a quick check.

What were people protesting against in this image in February 2003?

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It was the invasion of Iraq.

So let's meet Chloe and Tim now, who are going to talk to us about some of the causes they identify with.

Here's Chloe, and her family are organic livestock farmers.

So they farm sheep to sell for meat.

Here's Tim with his family.

Tim's family run a vegan cafe.

They do not use any animal products in the cafe.

So what causes do you think Chloe and Tim might identify with then?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So let's hear from Chloe.

"I'm passionate about caring for the environment through using organic methods for farming.

It increases biodiversity in the local area through maintaining grasslands where the sheep grows.

I'm also happy the livestock we farm have healthy lives out in the open grass.

Our farm employs many people in the local area, and I want to continue my parents' work in helping traditional farming communities survive.

" So can you think about the causes that Chloe is identifying with there?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

We'll return to Chloe later.

On the other hand, Tim says, "I love working at the vegan cafe with my parents because I know none of the food or drink we serve has come from an animal.

I don't think we have the right to kill or harm animals for their meat or milk.

And so providing people in our area with plant-based, meat-free alternatives is really important to me.

If everyone switched to a plant-based diet, there'd be less greenhouse gases too, as well as less water consumption.

" So can you think of the causes that Tim is there identifying with?

Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Let's have a quick check before we move on.

Which of these images shows an example of livestock farming?

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's B.

So we heard from Chloe about what she's passionate about and what she really cares about.

So are there social, political, or religious ideas that Chloe's cause could be an indicator of?

Her family are livestock farmers.

She's passionate about organic farming for meat with the sheep that are out on the open grasslands.

Well, first of all, there's obviously an idea that humans can consume animals, that it's okay for humans to eat sheep if that's what they're farming.

Also, Chloe mentioned about humans having a responsibility towards the Earth.

So this is an idea that kind of underpins the causes that she's identifying with, that we do have a responsibility to care for the Earth.

It's why she likes the organic farming that they use.

But also Chloe said that those traditional ways of life should be protected and the rights of the people who are working the farm, who are employed by them as well should be protected too.

So what about Tim then?

What social, political, or religious ideas could Tim's cause be an indicator of?

If you remember, Tim is working at the vegan cafe and loves the fact that they have plant-based alternatives to any meat products there as part of their cafe.

So a little bit different to Chloe here, Tim believes that humans should not consume animals or any animal products.

Also, he believes a plant-based diet would be beneficial for the environment.

And also he believed that people can connect together and that's part of having the cafe there as a place where people can come together and connect through causes like this.

So let's imagine Chloe and Tim meet one day in the town where they live.

And we're going to use this for our third and final practice task.

You're going to script or act out the conversation they might have and you're going to include and speak about where they work and what causes they identify with.

So they both identify with these causes and they're living fairly different lives, one in a vegan cafe, one on an organic sheep farm, a livestock farm.

What might they say to each other as they meet?

You can write this down or you can find someone in the room to actually act out this conversation with Tim and Chloe.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

So your conversation script may be something like this.

When I stand to this side, I'm going to be Chloe, and when I stand to this side, I'm going to be Tim.

Hi, I'm Chloe.

Hi, I'm Tim.

I've seen you around town.

Do you work here?

Yeah, over there in that vegan cafe.

Oh, you might not like what I do for a living then.

Why's that?

My family have a livestock farm, and we farm sheep organically.

I don't eat any animal products as I think that's best for the cause of protecting the environment.

Hmm.

I don't know if I agree.

The way we farm is really respectful of the environment as well as the livelihoods of the people we employ.

Even so, as a vegan, I don't think we have the right to take an animal's life and use it for ourselves, especially if it hasn't known freedom by living on a farm.

Our sheep have great lives on the farm and graze outside all year round.

I have great respect for and I love our animals.

I don't take for granted what they provide for us.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree then.

Okay, but why don't I still come and try an oat latte one day anyway.

Thank you, Chloe and Tim.

So let's summarize everything we've learned today then.

Identity: what's in a label?

There are some characteristics that people are born with which don't change over time.

An example is the date of someone's birth.

These characteristics can influence how we perceive the world as well as how others perceive us.

Some people choose to identify with causes which may be related to their characteristics as well as to their life experiences.

Identifying with certain causes could be an indication of particular social, political, or religious ideas.

So well done for your hard work today, and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.