Sample Sociology Essay

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
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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

Sociology and Social Norms Essay examples
The first decade of this millennium witnessed a dramatic awakening concerning the role of gender
which had its marked impact on gender roles. As Wharton states, "the study of gender emerged as
one of the most important trends in the discipline of sociology in the twentieth century" (1). This
emergence prompted many theories regarding gender issues, which in turn, "propelled the
sociological study of gender from the margins to become one of the central features of the
discipline" (Wharton 2). Though every group is uniquely structured in a societal set up based on
categories, the colossal development of research on gender issues clearly shows that all social
interactions, and the institutions of human progress, are biased in the case of...show more content...
Though the roles are flexible and sometimes interchangeable, dramatic social changes leave the role
boundaries in uncertainty about what the appropriate role behaviour should be. This inability to
frame clear boundaries of gender role forms the basis of gender inequality.
Gender inequality is displayed in many countries around the globe. In India, the society begins
gendering as soon as a child is born. In most cases, the birth of a daughter is unwelcome but that
of a son is celebrated. The boys are brought up bold and outgoing while the girls are expected to be
at home and do chores. While the other discriminations like economic or social discriminations are
present outside the home, but gender discrimination is present outside and inside households. In a
familial setup, the father is the head of the family and decision maker. The mother generally
performs the 'home making'. Even if the woman is employed, she is expected to do the domestic
chores, in addition to her job. Even though she earns, she does not have the freedom to plan her
salary or decide anything.
Traditionally, the family property, irrespective of who is being the family head, is transferred to the
male. As a result, the male enjoys power and he becomes the authority. The oldest among

Sociology: The Study of Culture Essay
Many times I have attempted to comprehend the actions of other people. I always wanted to know
why people of different genders, descents, and colors had certain cultural, societal, and religious
beliefs. It became apparent to me that all persons are a direct reflection of their environment. In other
words, all persons unconsciously, and sometimes consciously, reflect and imitate their environment
and the things that they see. Every culture has their own individual stereotypes and belief systems.
The reason for this is that people place arbitrary meanings on life's occurrences based upon those of
the individuals which preceded them. Thought patterns of an individual are all dependent upon the
teachings of others. We perceive and...show more content...
They also study the way the members of a group respond to one another and to other groups. The
sociological perspective is based on the assumption that for a given collectively there is a
collective reality that can be studied in it's own right. Various cultures develop their own cultural
practices based on the traditions of their predecessors. In these societies, standards of behavior are
passed on from one generation to the next. Because of this, these various cultures all carry and
practice unique ideologies. The ideologies are developed by socialization. Socialization is the
complex process by which individuals come to learn and perform behavior expected of them by
society. Socialization teaches habits, ideas, attitudes, and values. This is one of the principle
ways by which society preserve themselves. Learning plays an important part in socialization. A
person must acquire a wide range of information and skills to participate in the activities of a
family, a play group, a school group, a business, or a political system. From the family, children
learn such basic functions as proper etiquette, hygiene, and association with other peer groups. They
also learn the basic values, beliefs, and goals of the family. For example, they learn what it is to be
male or female, what to believe as truth and falsehood, and what to value in human relations. This
process varies with different cultural and ethnic

Sociology Major Essay
It has been a long dream of mines to go back to school and earn a college. degree, Even though there
were many obstacles in my way I never gave up. I was determined to find my way and purpose in
this life.
A degree in sociology will be relevant for helping to achieve future personal and professional goals
because it helps us to understand our social systems and understand the institutions. It also explores
humanity's diverse ways of interacting and study our human social behavior.
A Sociology degree will further help to achieve professional goals because it develops
communication skills and critical thinking, enhance awareness of diversity and evaluate social
phenomena, It also improve the capacity to understand and analyze professional...show more
content...
The orientation is the introduction and it equipped me the resources that are valuable to me. In turn,
Academic one and two taught me about student benefits and responsibilities, Professional
development and most important academic expectations.
The introduction of Sociology was another opportunity to rely on positivism, which is to rely on the
philosophy of science by observation and examination of the effects of groups and individuals,
cultural phenomena and human interactions. Another important advantage was learning about "The
Sociological Imagination written by C. Wright Mills" because it allowed me to take the larger social
issues and personal experiences and make a connection between the both.
Upon successful completion of my major, I am working towards being promoted in retail
management. I am already in a leadership position. Some of my key roles are to also identify and
develop potential future leaders. With my sociology major, helped me to be a good mentor to
others at work and in my personal life too. I learned a lot about the paper we had to write on
Nature or nurture and that is one of my takeaway from the sociology program because it taught me
that ambition and personality are important combinations of skills that are rare and to exhibit being
a true leader that appreciate and recognize employees and others is one of the best reward ever!
These are some of the leadership styles that will enable me to acquire leadership success and future

Essay on Sociology Interview
In my interview I chose my girlfriend's neighbor. Hector is of Mexican decent and he is here
because in Meigs county the produce fields hire Mexican laborers on worker permits. Hector
started out doing this then he became the boss about five years ago and received his green card
and now is an American and can speak very good English. He explained to me that in Mexico there
is no age when you can start working so there are young boys working at six to ten years old to
help support his needy family. He also stated that women do not usually work they are only aloud
to go to the village markets and get goods for their family's and raise there many children. I asked
about minimum wage and he kinda laughed and said some teens and men who work...show more
content...
He said that female children usually do not work they go with there mothers to market and get
the bare essentials they need. I asked what do they do with the rest of there time and he said a trip
to the market could take all day because they bargain shop. The second topic that we both
actually wanted to talk about was the wages of workers. He was sure to let me know that
Americans have it great with the minimum wage law, because in Mexico they have no such law.
I asked him when he worked in Mexico how much he got paid and he said "I worked at the same
job for the same company for 10 years and my maximum pay was $6.50, but when I started I got
$.50 an hour". He also said that when he was chose to come work in the fields all over America
that he was getting paid on commission because since he was not an actual American resident he
could not get minimum wage. "I work as hard as I could and went as fast as I could to pick all I
could to send the money back home where it was needed" Hector said. The third thing that we
talked about was the usage of labor unions in Mexico in association with American labor unions.
He said there is no way that they could do that in Mexico because there are to many people and not
enough jobs and he also said that "Mexico is not

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 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 and Religion Essay example
This paper is from a catholic feminist's perceptive that the church, as an institution, is structured as a
pyramid modeled on the patriarchal family with the custom of father–right. The patriarchal
decision–maker has the power to shape, form and control the "poor of the world" (McCormick, pg.
240) mirroring the aspect of the conflict theory. The poor of the world are the people who work for
the institution of the Church controlled by the patriarchal power elite. These established masses of
people feel no control, which cause anxiety and they continue to perform their means of production
as a formed unit. The power elite's fear of being overthrown by the poor of the world is fueled with
sheer determination and consistency to stay on top....show more content...
In turn, religion started to desacralize as the patriarchal family modeled for business firms, industry,
government, educational systems and other organization because the un–represented people were
learning that the people who make decisions for others make them against nonmembers. Religion
and science affirmed the sacredness of hierarchy and theocracy but today the amount of exploitation
by elite in government and industries question these affirmations and instead of father–right it is
human right with the inferior groups claiming what is theirs. Human rights create equal opportunity
available for all races. The more inferior groups realize and recognize the presuppositions of
superiority through social conditioning then the more they can do to demand changes for their civil
rights.
The human rights cause in the rise of desacralization of religion relies also on women's roles and
significance in religious sacralization, which was developed out of fear of human extinction while
serving the elite. Women were encouraged to bear children for existence and the church reinforced
sexuality as the common ethic of Western society. Now, since there is an immense population base
with advances in science proving to propagate the race through methods such as cloning, there is no
longer the fear of human population dying out and women are no

Social Conflict Theory Essay
The social conflict paradigm is a theory based on society being a complex system characterized
by inequality and conflict that generate social change. Personal life experiences dictate me to
believe this theory is true. Discussion of the theory in question and how it pertains to myself will
be covered in the paper. Social conflict can be seen all over the world we live in: in sports, politics
and normal social engagements. The main point I have experienced with this theory would be the
fact that I don't come from a rich, powerful, and prestigious family, which in turn limits my chances
of being successful. Karl Marx studied social conflict His entire life and wanted to reduce social
inequality. Wheatley–2 The social conflict theory can be...show more content...
The same can be said of a person of color and a white person. The typical African–American family
earns about 54% of the income of the average white family. Why is this? African–Americans are
offered the same public schooling as whites, but are looked at in a different way. The majority of
blacks are not given the same Wheatley–4 opportunities as whites partially due to the fact that they
are fighting an uphill battle. Just like coming from a poor family a colored person would lose out
in a battle over a job to a white person more often than not. Thus the social conflict theory is
proven by the way society runs. Social conflict has affected myself in the way that since I do not
come from a rich family background I need to work much harder to achieve my goals than I
would if I did come from a rich background. My eyes see social conflict when I hear about people
from rich backgrounds that don't have to work while in school, which frees up more time and
makes it easier to concentrate on grades. This can lead to a more prestigious college, which then
leads to a more prestigious job. I don't have this advantage so I have to work my way thorough
school. This disadvantage leads to less time to put into work, which means lower grades. My
situation of managing to work forty hours a Wheatley–5 week and taking full time classes is tough;
whereas if I

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