Sociology examines how our behavior individually and in groups is influenced by social processes and what that means. In fact once you start seeing things with a sociological perspective – things will never be the same. It’s knowing how and why we do what we do that engages us with the world around us and makes us more effective agents for social change. However, sociologist C. Wright Mills describes sociology as “the intersection of biography and history?” A lot of you may wonder what he mean: well from my studying and perspectives; The reason why he say sociology is the interception of biography and history is because, Biography: happens to individuals and History: happens to society. For example, every
Vushaj SOC 150-05 September 6, 2013 Writing assignment #1 Sociology is the study of society and social interaction. Sociology takes a broad approach at helping one understand how people interact in different societies. On the contrary, other social sciences look deeper into specific areas of society, rather than society as a whole. Classical sociologists Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, each contributed to the scientific study of sociology. Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes.
It was developed by other sociologists in the 20th century and was a popular idea until the 1970s when it came under criticism from new ideas. Functionalism is most often associated with sociology and sociocultural anthropology. Functionalism focuses on the structure and workings of society. Functionalists see society as made up of inter-dependent sections which work together to fulfill the functions necessary for the survival of society as a whole. People are socialized into roles and behaviours which fulfill the needs of society.
Structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism are macro (large scale), and deterministic: they see society as a real thing existing over and above us, shaping our ideas and behaviour – individuals are like puppets, manipulated by society. Social action theorists use qualitative research methods to gather an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons behind such behaviour. This method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where and when, for example, covert or overt participant observations and unstructured interviews. Structural approaches use methods that are scientific, as they want quantitative data (e.g. questionnaires and surveys).
Assess the relationship between sociology and social policy (33 marks) Social policy is generally thought of as tackling ‘social problems’, especially the welfare of the population. In order to understand this relationship, sociologists distinguish between social problems and sociological problems. According to Worsley, a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery and calls for collective action to solve it. For example, poverty, educational under-achievement, juvenile delinquency and divorce may all be seen as social problems by members of society, and governments may be called upon to produce policies to tackle them. Worsley also said that a sociological problem id and pattern of relationships that calls for explanation.
Methods of micro sociology include symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodology. However there is opposing argument as macro sociologists think the opposite as although they concentrate on individuals as well they also look at families and other larger groups in society in which an individual is part of. Weber a social action theorist believes people hold meanings about the world and consciously act on the basis of meaning. He saw behaviour in terms of the meanings people action to actions and classified them into four types. Instrumentally rational action is when a goal is not desirable but an induvidual still works out the best way to reach it.
I am the type of person who wants to know everything and be the best at every task I perform, and doing the necessary work to identify the appropriate source of information will make that task just a bit easier. Conclusion I believe that the role of the knowledge worker has changed, thanks mostly to technology. Most people have become so reliant on technology that they have become lazy. But the true knowledge workers do what is needed in search of more knowledge, and those are the real assets to the organization. It has been proven that knowledge workers cannot be effective if they are micromanaged or told how they need to complete their tasks (Hammer, 2004).
Yes. As Marquis emphasizes, the IT commoditization cannot be compared with other commodities, like utilities, because the company success is highly dependent on the quality of its IT resources, in such scale that the inefficiency of IT can simply bring down an entire organization. In the current time, in fact, we are seeing the opposite direction, where IT, instead of being just a resource, is part of the business discussion table at the executive level. This allows the company to use IT to generate competitive advantage, by taking advantage of technology to enhance its people productivity and optimize process, but tailoring the IT investment decision and focus according the overall company strategy. It should be noted that is still advantageous to outsource some specific tasks on the IT department, such as infrastructure and user support.
The authors attempt to look at why people use rational choice and what causes the chain reaction of events that occurs once a choice is made. In short, Micro-sociological factors determine Macro-sociological factors in society when cost benefit/choice theory is used to make decisions. Not just under special circumstance, always. PRATT, T. C. (2008), RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY, CRIME CONTROL POLICY, AND CRIMINOLOGICAL RELEVANCE. Criminology & Public Policy, 7:
Postmodernists reject this view of Marxism, that we still live in a two-class society and the claim that education reproduces class inequality. Postmodernist sociologists such as Morrow and Torres see class divisions as no longer important and that society is now much more diverse and fragmented. Marxist approaches are useful in exposing the ‘myth of meritocracy’. They show the role that education plays as an ideological state apparatus, serving the interests of capitalism by reproducing and legitimating class inequality. However, postmodernists criticise Bowles and Gintis’ correspondence principle on the grounds that today’s post-Fordist economy requires schools to produce a very different kind of labour force from the one described by Marxists.