Essay On Sociology And Life

Essay on Sociology and Life
Socio–Autobiography
(What my life is –what I make of it with the help of Biological and a Sociological Mix – A slice of my of life)
Author: Nancy Gutierrez
Written for my Sociology Class Culture and Society
Instructor: Joan McGowan
My family traditions and values have influenced my biological and cultural views and values. My life and career goals bear resemblance with my
parents ' life and expectations influenced by class and culture. Yet have been structured by Sociological concepts.
The older I become the more I clearly feel life is beginning to make sense. Looking back at my childhood I feel as I was living life all while being
contained. I was born in Texas and raised in Indiana, in a town where speaking Spanish...show more content...
Hispanic cultural) or the names. All I knew was that they were making me wish I had been born into another culture just to fit in. I soon realized
they were ignorant out of lack of Education on Diversity and Race. They were prejudice and they showed signs of being ethnocentric, they assumed
that their own culture and way of life was superior to all others. (Schaefer, 2009) I took it upon myself to educate myself, realizing that change starts
with me. (TCO 5, 6, 7 & 8)
As I sit here and work my way backwards through life's challenging faces, I have to also include if it had not been for those indifferences I would
not have persuade change within my own life. My life at home became more and more challenging and I struggled to gain perspective of whom I had
allowed others to mold me into. I became very defiant in the marriage and my husband at the time was very intolerant towards differences in change of
what he was taught were gender roles that were set in stone. He became abusive and harsh towards my learning and educating me. Making it
impossible to create a role model whom would teach my son that mind sets are breakable and it is better to challenge them if one feels they are unjust
and used to hold one down. I learned I had to go around rather than through for the time being and found Educational programs that would aid me in
making this possible. I played along with his gender
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Essay about Sociology
Sociology is a field which developed over a millennia ago, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it came into the fore as a bona fide social
science, in need of its own classification apart from other social sciences. Sociology, 'the study of the process of companionship';(pg.396,
Ambercrombie,Hill,Turner), is a discipline, which is not exclusively independent in and of its self, yet borrows from many other disciplines such as:
history, geography, and anthropology.
'American sociology is fundamentally analytical and empirical; it proposes to examine the way of life of individuals in the societies &#8230;
prefers to explain institutions and structures in terms of the behavior of individuals and the goals, mental states,...show more content...
A powerful group is usually able to coerce or manipulate subordinate classes (through force, threat of force, withholding of jobs, or other means)
because of the dominate group's influence over basic institutions in the society ( such as the economy, government, courts, and police)(pg.88, Kerbo).';
The critical–conflict theorist, I feel is the most plausible is Karl Marx and his Marxian view of social stratification and inequality. Marx viewed
capitalism as a mode of production that results in the exploitation and virtual enslavement of the wage laborer by the owner of capital. 'Marx
recognized various modes of production and considered each to be associated with a particular social structure (pg. 348, Marx).'; Capitalism as a mode
of production consisted of two factors, the means and modes of production. The means of production incorporate ' the material, instrument, and product
of labour,'; and these determine the relations of production which are the 'relative position[s] of these individual groups'; to one another (pg.161, Marx).
Capitalism, Marx believed, was fueled by greed for increased wealth at the expense of laborers and to the ultimate destruction of the entire system.
Marx said that capitalism would, 'create bourgeois society (pg.363, Marx).'; The combination of the influence on the social structure and structural
changes produced the social structure that fundamentally characterizes

Essay on Why Should We Study Sociology?
We should study Sociology because it can affect all aspects of our lives, each and every day and learn valuable lessons from the studies and improve
our living. We can use Sociology change our lives today, so that tomorrow will be better for ourselves, children, and so on. Not only is Sociology good
for our lives as a person, but it is useful to our neighbors, co–workers, government, state, country and in fact, the entire world benefits from the study of
human behavior.
Once a person has studied Sociology, they can consider and appreciate other human's perspectives instead of believing that your own perspective is the
only answer. This will assist them in their job to be more understanding of their customers, co–workers and bosses...show more content...
Choosing a topic sounds relatively easy, but since humans are very complex in their day to day living, this could be somewhat difficult.
The second step in the plan should be to review the past research on the topic they plan to study. The reason it is important to review the literature
in the second step is so that a study will not be duplicated or so that you can define your own study against one, or altered in a different way. For
example, if we wanted to study the IQ of people of the United States versus the people of Japan, we would need to know if the people in Alaska
and Hawaii were also included in this study. If not, it could quite possibly skew the data one way or the other. If we were to not take this into
consideration, all of the efforts of this study would be useless and void. Another reason for researchers to read existing data on the topic they plan to
research is so that some of the idea's they plan to test may have been looked over. This review may give them ideas they may have not taken into
consideration.
The third research method step is to identify and define the core concepts which are powerful communication and thinking tools that will allow
researchers efficient, complex information. This step, like all others will provide accurate details to allow for a more thorough investigation.
The fourth step is to choose a research design and data–gathering techniques. The researcher must identify what or

What is Sociology? Essays
What is Sociology? After reviewing the article titles given for this first assignment, I believe they indicate that Sociology, generally speaking, is not
only a study of diversity or commonality in traits among people; it is also a science about factors in a person's life and how these factors culminate
responses. Interestingly enough, its topics of concern seem to be directly determined by current and common events of the world. Through the
invention and expansion of new ideas, popular trends and fashions through time, Sociology adapts to responsibly to service the very subjects of interest
it studies; for, even the slightest change of a person's daily experience can have an insurmountable impact on attitude, personal growth, family...show
more content...
How has Sociology changed? According to the Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary (2010), Sociology is referred to as ".the systematic study of the
development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings" (para. 1); however, the transformable qualities of
this science are not represented by this definition, as they should be. To best understand these changes, we must first consider changes within people as
study objects; for as previously stated, Sociology changes in ways which are commensurate to changes in the world around it.
For example, during the 1970's, single parent households did exist, but these arrangements were considered to be the exception, not the rule. In
contrast, today's family structures are as diverse as the people within them. Given that it has become routine for some parents to live separately, and
couples of same sex marriages are now common place, unique areas of consideration have opened up and are in need of further scrutiny. Through
updated theories and advanced equipment, inventive techniques have been applied to study people adjoined to the modernized world they live in.
Also, social sciences have fundamentally altered their beliefs of acceptability and acknowledged

Essay on Sociology- Culture and Identity
CULTURE AND IDENTITY This essay will aim to critically analyse and evaluate the contribution of modern and post modern perspectives to a
sociological understanding of culture and identity. This will be achieved by analysing similarities and differences between three contrasting
sociological theories and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Studies will be included as the debate is developed further and their
contributions will also be explained. Culture is defined simply as the way of life of a group of people. This relates to how they live their lives, the
patterns of social organisation and the 'norms' they are expected to follow. Culture varies between societies and across time. It is an extremely
important part of everyday...show more content...
He believed that the social structure of society shaped humans identity, primarily through socialisation. For Marx, culture was an ideology of the
ruling class, who use their unequal, economic power to achieve and maintain order. He proposed that individual identity should be exchanged for
group identity to overthrow the oppressive structure of capitalism. However, this could only happen when the working class became fully aware
of the nature of their oppression and developed what he termed as a class consciousness. This would allow the movement from a class 'in itself', to
a class 'for itself'. Marx saw this realisation as crucial in the development of a class identity which would ensure solidarity of the masses. The true
reality and problems of society would then be revealed as the false consciousness of the past was exposed (Haralambos & Holborn 2008, p.669).
According to Marx, this ruling class ideology of culture is socialised among the members of society in various ways such as through religion and
education to ensure social cohesion and maintain order. Marx famously referred to religion as 'the opium of the masses' and argued that it justified
the oppression of capitalism (Haralambos & Holborn 2008, p.399). He viewed education as a way for the ruling class to legitimise their wealth and
maintain their power. For the working class, education only serves to produce labour for the future. This is achieved by conditioning the

Reflective Sociology Essay
The last six weeks have challenged my preconceived ideas about sociology and the role that it plays in society in the popular and social media, my
values, behaviours and belief system. What I hope to highlight throughout this reflective essay is what I have learnt and how that has shaped my new
thought process and reinforced old thought patterns. Week one I learnt about the Sociological imagination where to quote C Wright "The sociological
imagination enables us to grasp the connection between history and biography." (Henslin et al., 2011). Upon further reflection of the reading material in
Sociology a down to earth approach there was one particular story that really resonated with me. It was the illustration about expecting...show more
content...
Week three see's the introduction of the fathers of sociology Auguste Comte, Herbert Spenser, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg
Simmel. Karl Marx and Durkheim are the two that really resonate with me, Durkheim due to his theories around the subject of suicide and how that
subject is particularly personal with me and also Karl Marx theory around class inequality.
Karl Marx believed that man's basic needs were food and shelter and the evolution of these basic needs led to capitalism, after the industrial revolution
we see there being two distinct classes of people the workers and the capitalist and the effect that this ultimately has on social aspect of society. Marx
looked at the unequal power struggle in this theory and how that conflict would lead to socialism and eventually communism and it was then that he
co–wrote with Englels in 1948 "The Communist Manifesto". I can really see the same picture that Marx was looking at, even in today's society in
Australia we see the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, but more evident in third world countries where there are polar opposites in wealth
and power.
This subject has actually spilled out into my conversation at different locations, talking at a bar with a guy about the possibility that Jesus was a

Sociology as a Science Essay
Sociology emerged in the eighteenth century after a period of intense cultural, social and economic changes. As people began to try to understand
these changes, there came a period called the Enlightenment. This is also considered by Hamilton (1992) to be a "time characterised by the
development of distinctively modern forms of thought about society and the realm of the social." The Enlightenment encouraged a new way of
thinking marked by application of reason, experience and experiment to the natural and social world. Sociologists approached the study of society and
change by using scientific means as they were inspired by the recognition of the value of scientific principles and procedures....show more content...
They believe that sociology is a science as it is based on the principles advocated by the early scientists and shares common assumptions. Positivist
strongly believe that only science can provide an objective truth or facts, and a good example of this is Durkheim's study of suicide, in which he
proved that sociology can relate to scientific topics. The metanarrative of science which existed in the past, to a certain extent shows how it was
used by early sociologists as a conceptual framework for their work, therefore adopting science as it was considered to offer more scope than
religion. Auguste Comte is considered the founding figure of positivism, and was inspired by the need to make sense of the rapid social change
brought about by the industrial, agricultural and political revolutions taking place across Europe. As they believe that human behaviour is determined
by social constructions beyond their control such as laws and social facts, positivists claim these are a product of the way in which societies are
organised. Therefore, they believe that sociology should be a scientific discipline based on logic and methods of the natural sciences. When positivist
sociologists collect information and data from the social world, they usually do so with a hypothetico–deductive approach, which is considered a

Sociological Theories Essay
Sociological theory creates ways to understand the social world by having different theories to explain understand social life. It aids to make sense of
this social world. It draws together a wide range of perspectives to help provide the fullest picture. (Macionis & Plummer p.36) It shows that one theory
can explain something that another cannot. My aim is to answer this question with reference to both functionalism and conflict theory. This will be
done by comparing and contrasting both theories in relation to their perspectives on both suicide and gender discrimination as social issues relevant to
this day and age. Functionalism and conflict perspectives are both macro theories. This means that they focus on the big picture, for...show more
content...
(Turner, p.112) Functional analysis established itself as a way of 'bringing to light the significance of the institutional order and connecting it with the
unintentional consequences of social action. (Turner, p.121) On page 35 of Back et al. it states that Durkheim's argument is that classification is a
process of 'marking–off', of showing things that are related, but have distinct points of difference to another. Functionalism assumes that society's
social institutions perform important functions to help ensure social stability. Rapid social change threatens social order, but slow social change is
desirable. Durkheim believed that the individual has no way of limiting passions, so the moral authority of society must do this. Individual
aspirations are limited two ways, by socialisation and social integration. Socialisation helps us learn the rules of society and the need to cooperate.
Social integration allows us to integrate into society and reinforce our respect for its rules. These both, as stated by Durkheim create a strong
collective conscience. Suicide, as an example of a social issue, is explained with the functionalism perspective by not focusing on the individual
unhappiness, but instead on the group rates of suicide resulting form external forces. This may be caused by normlessness, which may result from
periods of rapid social change, and people find it hard and unclear about how to deal with problems in their life. This frustration

Sociology In Sociology
Sociology is the study of groups of people and how society interacts with them. There are many people out there that have done research or
contributed in some way to sociology. Not just on people, but things like religions, countries, genders, race, and many more. Many things play in
the role to form us and our society. Here in America, we have Trump as our president and we eat burgers and french fries, but over in japan they
grow lots of their own food and eat it like potatoes with vegetables and chicken. Different things happen around the world and we just can't seem to
think there is other things out there than what we just do or what we call ourselves and so forth. We don't think about how our society affects us
and how we affect society. Society can affect us in a positive way or even a negative way. A positive way society can influence us is if the president
said all schools in the United States have to have extra curricular activities and the government will fund it. This could be great for a poor boy in
San Joaquin, California who really wanted to be on the track and field team, but his school did not have it because they couldn't afford it. This would
have kept him out of trouble in the past, but when it finally was available by the government, he joined and it kept him out of trouble and he worked
much harder in school. A negative way society can impact us is Obama's health care act. Now that they are trying to get rid of it, many people will
have to go without

Sociological Concepts Essay
SOCI 111 – Introduction to Sociology
American Public University System
Assignment 3: A Day in the Life
25 points
Due: by 11:55 p.m. EST on the Sunday of Week 7– submit in Sakai AND www.TurnItIn.com– submit using the assignment link under Assignments
The purpose of this assignment is to record your life for one day and critically discuss how you are an actor in society; how you affect your social
surroundings; and, how your daily life is shaped and constrained by society. This will allow you engage with many of the sociological concepts
reviewed to–date including newer concepts such as impression management, stage theory and emotional labor.
Explain why you needed to perform in such a way (i.e., your...show more content...
your motives, instincts, feelings, and/or structural constraints) – a macro sociological analysis of 'who you are' and 'where you are' in society – your
conclusion for this one–day life review journey
The paper should be typed, double–spaced, 11–point font, 1" margins. Both the write–up and your typed journal should be saved as ONE document
with page numbers. Remember to include a citation for any resources referenced, in proper APA format, and make sure your name is on your paper.
Grading Rubric
|CATEGORY |Outstanding |Above Average |Average |Below Average |Unacceptable |
|Description of day |Description of day included |Description of day needed |Description of day lacked |Description of day not |No description of day |
|(interlaced |good detail (3 pts) |some elaboration (2.4 pts) |clarity in some areas and |clear, needs much |included (0–1.5 pts) |
|w/analysis) | | |needed elaboration. (2.1 |elaboration. (1.8 pt) | |
| | | |pts) | | |

Essay On Race And Sociology
The History of Sociology and Race
Race is the division between different ethnicities or people with different backgrounds that live in one society. So why is race important? Well, people
have the feeling of categorizing, making people feel uncomfortable towards other races, which can lead to discrimination. The way sociologist uses the
concept of race and ethnicity, is by connecting the idea of majority and minority groups with social structures of inequality, stratification and power.
Race refers to physical differences that cultures and groups consider socially significant. While sociology is the study of social life and social change,
how social causes and consequences of human behavior affect society. Sociologists spend time investigating the structure of different groups,
organizations and societies, on how people within these contexts interact. Race has adopted to the idea of white's social change in power during the
Great Depression Era. To begin in which there has been a great impact on the field of Sociology, is the Great Depression in 1930. This had a dramatic
effect in the world, as on the rest of...show more content...
Roosevelt as one of its candidates. However, voting patterns began to change, bringing racial violence and discrimination in employment projects. The
cause of this make President Roosevelt not favored the legislation of the (NAACP) more known as the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People. "The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was the dominant black protest organization that
preceded the modern Civil Rights Movement. Founded in 1909 by black and white intellectuals , the NAACP did battle with racial domination
primarily in the courts. Soon after its founding, the NAACP won several Supreme Court's cases the dismantle legal barriers preventing blacks from
voting." ( Desmond & Emirbayer

Sociology and Socialization Essay
The term socialization can be defined as the process in which individuals learn the behavioral patterns that are most likely accepted and tolerated in
society. This process includes the learning values in which children are taught and they develop the social values of their parents or guardians just by
observing them. Socialization occurs from the birth of the individual and continues throughout their life. Socialization is classified as one of the most
important process in the family. Of all the major sociological perspectives, symbolic interactionism has probably developed the most detailed theory of
socialization, Haralambos, Holborn. Sociology –...show more content...
He emphasizes that they are strongly influenced by the peer group through social interaction. He also outlined that children of a peer group participates
in rule – making rather than just having to follow those that were taught to them. Handel (2006) observes that, at birth, an infant is not able to take part
in society by cooperating with others. The two reasons he states, that contributes to this are the fact that the infant is physically immature and also,
unsocialized. Handel also believes that socialization involves conflict whereas functionalist, T. Parsons does not agree. T. Parsons is probably the most
important functionalist theorist of socialization. Parsons believe that through the socialization process, the individual is able to internalize society's
values and these values then becomes a part of their personality. Through socialization, individuals are able to take on aspects of society's culture, their
behavior becomes largely predictable and they contribute to the maintenance of social order. The family is seen as the most important agent in the
socialization process, so it is classified as a primary group. However, Professor Alvin Gouldner believes that T. Parsons underestimated the

Sociology in Everyday Life Essay
Sociology in Every Life
One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two distinct terms and
situations, but they hold a close relationship. While sociology studies human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction.
Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, institutions, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of
these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things like ideas and institutions.
Everyday that you wake up and come into contact with what you do and the people you speak to is sociological. You wake up and interact with
objects. Some of these objects you...show more content...
The Structural–Functional theory argues that in order for race and ethnic relations to be functional and contribute to the conduct and stability of society,
racial and ethnic minorities must assimilate into that society. Assimilation is a process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of a dominant
culture.
It is believed that deviance encourages social change. A good example of this would be how race and ethnicity are strongly linked to crime rates. The
amount of African Americans that were involved in crimes was a higher proportion than any other race. African Americans makes up 13 percent of the
population but were accounted for 28.9 percent of the arrest. There are several reasons why arrest for African American could be this high but the
main cause would probably be because of social standing.
Some disadvantages to the African American population are that white people have an overall higher occupational standing and they also receive
schooling beyond high school. Many people of this race are brought into single parent homes which lead to a huge gap in wealth and these children
receive less supervision which puts them in a greater risk of living in poverty. Over 40 percent of African American children grow up in poor
families leaving the high crime rates to not be a surprise. Prejudice is also another factor to the high crime rates because white police tend to arrest
black people

Essay On Sociology And Life

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Essay On Sociology And Life