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
Emile Durkheim applied his scientific method to social facts in his study of suicide. Durkheim believed that suicide was the most personal act anybody could take. He believed that he could show that the most individual act could be linked to psychology, had social causes, which validated the power and worth of sociology. Durkheim believed that society had two functions: social integration, this is the beliefs attitudes values and behaviour patterns are shared amongst people in a social group. Moral regulation the way in which society regulates individuals, the norms and values which constrain people’s behaviour.
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.
Distressed by this unprecedented upsurge of mass fury, which needed federal troops at some places to establish peace, the then President, Lyndon Johnson, set up an enquiry commission formally known as the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which later on became more popular as the Kerner Commission, after its chairman, Otto J. Kerner Jr. While ruling out any conspiracy, the commission identified racial discrimination, poverty, high unemployment, poor & inadequate schools, poor health care and sanitation as major contributing factors to the United States’ racial apartheid. The early & selective leakage of this report incited ferocious criticism from the White community. Critics argued, that the report has blamed everyone except the rioters. The opposition was so strong and intense that, Johnson not only declined the request by commission members, but also took additional six months to disseminate its findings to the public at large and put the issue in right perspective, but he himself failed to act upon it.
For Dalrymple, the overdose is the easiest way to relieve the crisis in their lives. I see the nature of the suicides and attempted suicides in the U.S. as being part of a greater philosophical debate. It is the question which was so often debated by such existentialist philosophers like Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sarte, and Franz Kafka. They argued that when life breaks down to the point where it is rendered meaningless, the only question that is left, is whether or not to commit suicide. I feel that the absurd reality that surrounds the youth of our present day underclass, while not absolving them of any responsibility for their actions, can be viewed as viable source of the crisis.
Lock, the lessons taught to these characters through their experiences were caused by social suffering. “Social Suffering results from what political, economic, and institutional power does to people and, reciprocally from how these forms of power themselves influence responses to social problems “( Kleinman, 1) An example of this would be Victor Frankenstein’s situation in which the institutional power of giving the spark of life to another being had led to his disaster. Kleinman also states that “Poverty is the major risk factor for ill death and health….” (Kleinman, 1) Thus, we see that Mathilde’s issue of poverty had led her to learn from the experience that she had faced which indeed led her to her lesson being taught, even if it was after 10 consecutive years. Her obsession of clothes and jewelries to delight the social world has backfired at her, in which she caused her own social suffering. Through Kleinman’s definition of social suffering, the Ancient Mariner had not only suffered through his experience of his lesson being taught, but he had taken his whole crowd along with him to suffer.
Article Analysis Moral Panics: Culture, Politics, and Social Construction Introduction: One might heard about threats, warnings and illegal actions that are influencing the society at their peak. No matter which culture an individual is belonged to, the thing that matters is the panic he has been influenced by, through various ways. Such panic is simply termed as moral panic and it has been the cause of cultural conflicts, social disturbances and political issues. Moral panic has been a hot topic of discussion that considered through several different perspectives; emphasizing on this aspect, various scholars and researchers have illustrated the society with the instances of social, culture and political problems and more specifically the moral panics. Cohen (1972) defined moral panic as societal threat whereas Furedi (1994) described moral panics as a threat to happiness and health.
In the article titled “The Folly of Capital Punishment”, Jeffrey Reinam concludes that capital punishment is immoral to our society; and thus, should not be legalized. Reinam reasons the death penalty is unjust, inhuman, and goes against the progress of civilization. Reinam’s primary argument and rebuttal to Ernest Van Den Haags deterrence argument, is that the death penalty goes against the advancement of civilization. Reinam explains that throughout history we take steps to "lower tolerance for one's own pain and that suffered by others". Due to the states high visibility, size, and moral authority, it is capable to have an impact on citizens beyond the immediate act it authorizes.
Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx are two very well known sociologists whose opinions on religion differ a great deal. Durkheim put great importance on the solidifying nature of religion; it’s ability to create rituals, which rely on symbols and in turn form social facts. Marx, on the other hand, has one of the most famous quotes regarding religion, stating that it is the ‘opium for the masses’. This only begins to tell us where he stands on the idea of religion in sociology. Marx focuses more on the idea that religion is one of those social institutions, which are dependent upon the material and economic sources and resources in a given society.
This was of great interest to the functionalist sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) who organized their earlier work and integrated it into a theoretical framework in the late 1800s. His groundbreaking book “Suicide: A Study in Sociology” was published in 1897 and by choosing to study suicide he sought to reinforce the process of sociology becoming established as an academic discipline in 19th century France. 3 (Sociology, Themes and Perspectives, pg 874) He wanted to show how his particular approach, as a functionalist, to investigating suicides was distinct from other disciplines, such as psychology and biology. He also wanted to test the claims of scientific knowledge, in the research of suicide, made by positivists before him. Functionalism is the perspective of sociology, which originates from positivism.