Essay On Sociology

Reflection In Sociology
After taking a Sociology class this semester, I learned a lot of about the different topics and
concepts in this course and how they are related to our society, which has changed my perspective
as well as how I view and see the meaning of my surroundings. I would also think about what would
be going on inside a specific person's mind and how he or she was feeling. After learning about
different concepts in Sociology and watching the videos presented in class, it became easier to just
stop and think about a person, wonder who that person was, and be curious about that person's life
story. We pass by people all the time every day, but we never really know what is going on with
them and don't really think about it or care since it is so...show more content...
It is crazy to hear that the top richest people in this world have the same wealth as the poorest 3
billion people in this world. Even though rich countries are giving aid to poor countries, the huge
gap difference between their wealth is due to large corporations form rich countries taking more
money from poor countries, and this really explains a lot why poor country never have the chance to
actually thrive. The thought that poor people should be able to come up from where they came
from, which is a thought in many people's minds, especially those who have money, isn't all that
simple.
The activity we had to do for homework with the Sorting People stood out to me as well and
made me realize that classifying and judging people based on how they look and guess what their
races and ethnicities are solely by appearance, is not the right way to categorize people. I learned
that the majority of my guesses were wrong, and after reading about the people's mini bios, I then
realized that people's races and ethnicities are not determined by their physical looks. Appearance
doesn't always tell you about someone's ancestry or self–identities of themselves. "Race" cannot tell
where someone came from, what they are good at, or even how their personalities and behaviors are
like.
It was also very interesting to learn about different cultures, especially during the movies we watched
in class about adoption. It shows how culture along with the beliefs,
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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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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 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

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 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 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

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