Billion Essays

Tag: Society

  • Sociology and Journalism

    Journalism is the gathering of news and information about the state of society, such as current events, trends and issues. Journalists report these news stories aiming to inform large numbers of people through media outlets like newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. In some ways, good journalism and sociology have a lot in common, as both seek to collect information about society, try to avoid deliberate bias, present the information in a balanced and fair way, and the use of evidence they have collected to justify the conclusions they reach. However most journalism is biased and exaggerated, just to attract a larger audience.

  • Sociology and Common Sense

    Sociology is concerned with studying many things which most people usually already know something about. Everyone will have some knowledge and understanding of family life, the education system, work, the mass media and crime, simply by being part of and being a member of a society. This leads many people to assume that the topic studies by sociologists and the explanations that sociologists produced are really just common sense or what “everyone knows”. However this is a very mistaken assumption.

  • Sociology and Biological Explanations

    Biology or naturalistic explanations are those which assume that various kinds of human behaviour are natural or based on in-nate (inborn) biological characteristics, but if it were so then everyone on planet earth would have the same behavior regardless of where we lived, as people’s biological doesn’t change between societies.

  • Society and Psychology

    Like sociology, psychology also studies people and has a range of research techniques and theories to support itself. However psychology tends to focus on the behaviour of individuals, why they come to think and behave as they do and how their minds work.Sociology on the other hand focuses more on social groups, community, organizations and social institutions as a whole.

  • Feral Children

    Feral Children are children who, for one reason or another, miss out on some important stages of human learning as they have been removed from human contact and the normal processes of human socialization. They remain unaware of human social behaviour and language from a very early age and therefore fail to develop the behavioural aspects that we would regard as being human

  • Social Processes

    Social processes are the various influences that control and regulate human behaviour, and help to keep societies running more or less smoothly and with some day-to-day stability. Two important social processes are socialization and social control.

  • Secondary Socialization

    It refers to the socialization that takes place beyond the family and the close community. It is carried out through agencies of secondary socialization such as the education system, the peer group ( a group of people of similar age and status ), the workplace, the mass media and religious institutions.

  • Primary Socialization

    Primary socialization refers to socialization during the early years of childhood, and is carried out the family and the close community. It is during primary socialization that children first begin to learn about the basic values and norms and other features of the culture walling up the way of the life of the society they belong to. They also begin to acquire the sense of who they are an individual.

  • How is an individual identified ?

    An individual is identified by the following:

    ▪️ Their age
    ▪️ Their sexual preference
    ▪️ Their gender
    ▪️ Their education
    ▪️ Their nationality
    ▪️ Their religion
    ▪️ Their income and the social class they belong to
    ▪️ Their occupation and workplace
    ▪️ Their health
    ▪️ Their ethnicity
    ▪️ The region they live in
    ▪️ Their family
    ▪️ Their preferred leisure activities
    ▪️ The goods that they purchase
    ▪️ How they dress-up

  • Consensus Theory

    The consensus theory is the approach adopted by functional sociologists. It seems society as a whole working unit, quite similar to a human body. It suggests that just like the human body where every organ depends on the other one in some way to work harmoniously, so does the society. It believes that every individual and institution, they rely on each other to function properly.

  • Conflict Theory

    The conflict theory is an approach that sees society as having many social issues and differences, with inequalities in wealth, power and status. All creating conflict between individuals and groups.

  • The Macro and Micro Approach.

    The Macro approach is one that focuses on the large scale structure of the society as a whole, while the micro approach is one that focuses on individuals and very small groups of people.

  • Social Policy

    Social problems are tackled by the application of social policies. A social policy refers to the plans and actions of national local governments and various voluntary agencies designed to solve social problems and improve the life chances the citizens living in it.

  • Social Problems

    Social problems are matters that are in some way harmful to members of the society, and that need something to be done to sort them out or the social balance would collapse, causing a chaos in the society. They cause difficulty, resentment and instability in the society and harm its individuals.

  • Racism

    Racism is believing or acting as though an individual or a group is superior or inferior on the grounds of racial or ethnic origins, usually based on skin colour or other physical characteristics, and suggesting that groups defined as inferior have lower intelligence and abilities.

  • Stereotype

    A stereotype is a generalized, over simplified view of the features of a social group, allowing for a few individual differences among its members. The assumption that all members of the group share the same features, attitudes and behavioural similarities.

  • Hidden Curriculum

    “The Hidden Curriculum” refers to the attitude and behaviour which is taught through the school’s organisation and teacher’s attitudes but which are not part of the formal timetable.

  • Social Control

    Social control is the process of persuading or enforcing individuals to conform to the values and norms of a society.

  • Role Conflict

    Role Conflict is the conflict that arises between the successful performances of two or more roles at the same time.

  • Consumer Goods

    Consumer goods are products and services that people buy to satisfy their need and desires, such as food, clothes, furniture etc.

  • Identity

    Identity is about how individuals see and define themselves and how other people in their sociological environment see or define them.

  • Culture

    Culture refers to the language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, roles, knowledge and skills which combine to make up the way of life of any society.

  • Social Term : Objectivity

    Objectivity means approaching topics with an open mind, avoiding any king of bias, and being prepared to submit research evidence that could prove the research of sociologists of the past, wrong.

  • Social Term : Value Freedom

    “Value Freedom” is the idea that the personal beliefs and prejudices of the sociologist should not be allowed to influence the way research is carried out and evidence is interpreted.

  • Socialization

    Process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, language, social skills, and value to conform to the norms and roles required for integration into a group or community. It is a combination of both self-imposed (because the individual wants to conform) and externally-imposed rules, and the expectations of the others.

  • Roles

    Roles are the patterns of behaviour which are expected from people in a society.

  • Norms

    Norms are social rules which define correct or appropriate behaviour in a society or group.

  • Values

    Values are general beliefs about what is right and what is not.

  • Customs

    Customs are social behavioural rules that have existed for a long time.

  • Social Institutions

    Social institutions are the various social arrangements which are found in all societies. For example, the family is an institution which is concerned with arrangements for marriage, such as at what age people marry, whom they can marry and how many partners they can have, and the upbringing of children.

  • Sociology

    Sociology is the systematic study of human groups and social life in modern societies. It is concerned with the study of social institutions.

  • How far are family roles equal in the modern industrial societies?

    In the modern industrial societies, equal family roles are arguable.It can be said that family roles are equal to some extent but it cannot be denied that some people still live very traditionally. The dominance of women in the professional fields may not prove that women have equal family roles. Even though women are working, they are expected to do all the household, perfectly. The stereotypical view of a family, is still there in the society. People claim to live lives symmetrically but still there is a huge number of families who are cereal packet families. In such a scenario, family roles turn out to be similar to the ones earlier.
    Yet, their examples of families which either live symmetrical lives or women hold dominance in the family. There is a growing number of house-husbands in the western societies, in which women work and men do the household chores. There are families in which both the man and the woman work, do the household together and take decision together.
    Hence, in a society there are a few places with equal professional and family roles, and a few places who are still struggling to have equal roles.

  • Explain why are divorce rates high in the modern industrial societies?

    In the modern industrial societies divorce is not considered a taboo as earlier, which used to bound people to carry on with their unsuccessful marriages. People now get married with a lot of planning which makes them expect a lot from their partners. And if such expectations aren’t met, it results in divorce.
    Women are now independent and are a dominant part of the work-force. At first, the whole purpose of marriage was reproduction of the family, but now social attitudes of the society have changed. Women tend to give more importance to their profession than having children.
    Women who at first only used to be housewives are now working women. Women at first were bound within a relationship due financial dependency,but now consider themselves capable enough to lead their lives individually. With an increase in secular ideas and beliefs, people aren’t bound by religious ideology towards marriage. People now exercise their legal rights that religious rights in case of divorce.
    People earlier did have extra-marital affairs, but couldn’t get divorced because there weren’t any methods of contraception. Yet, now there are many methods of contraception, which allows people to have sexual activity without being bound in the relationship of marriage. Now families don’t function as they used to in the past. At first all roles were integrated yet now family members play segregated roles. At first people relied on each other in a family, but now people tend to live as privatised nuclear families, which reduces the importance of family and marriage as a whole.

  • Sex and Gender

    Sex and gender is a highly debatable topic as people believe that they are the same thing yet they are not. Sex refers to the biological difference between men and women,such as genitals, internal reproductive organs and body hair. However, gender refers to the socially constructed differences between the two sexes. It refers to the expected behaviour of the two sexes in a society. The concept of gender gives birth to gender role, which is a pattern of behaviour and activity which society expects from individuals of either sex. For example, a boy must wash the car and the girl must wash the dishes. The biological explanations evaluate that there are few body roles that only a masculine anatomy can play and a few body roles that only a feminine anatomy can play. It may also effect the social behaviours, yet they argue that a person male or female may fit into the society as independent individuals with equal roles.
    Gender roles are considered stereotypical by the feminist point of view as they elaborate that men are the dominant part of the society whereas women are the dependent ones. They say that gender stereotyping starts with the primary socialisation of a child when a girl is bought delicate and reserved to household toys, while a boy is bought tough and outdoor toys. They say that both the boy and girl have the capacity to be both delicate and tough yet such a perception for a child right from the beginning of learning may lead to the stereotypical view about social roles.

  • Social Control

    Social control is the social process of persuading or forcing individuals to conform to the values and norms. There are two types of social control; formal and informal. Formal social control is that in which the law is used to force people to follow the norms and understand the values of the society. Agencies of formal social control are; police, courts and prison. Informal social control in which people are ethically forced to fit into the norms and respect the values. Agencies of informal social control do not have social control as their main purpose of operation e.g; family. Family is the source of primary socialisation and teaches a child the difference between good and evil and teaches him/her the importance of the culture and norms. Hence, when a child obeys his/her family he/she also practices social control.

  • Role Conflict

    Role conflict is a scenario in which the same person has to play several roles at the same time. A perfect example of role conflict is a working mother in a serial packet family system, who not only manages the work but also the household. She plays the role of a mother, a wife and an employee at the same time.

  • To what extent is the nuclear family still the most dominant type of family, in the modern industrial families?

    The nuclear family system is a widely spread form of family, as it consists of two hetro-sexual partners and their biological. In many societies it is commonly experienced, yet other family types are growing in the society as well. Most sociological perspectives consider it as the best type such as Functionalism and The New Right. However, during the years 1961 and 1998, the percentage of nuclear households has fallen from 38% to 23%.
    Sociologists argue that the nuclear nuclear family is the most child- centered family type as compared to a single- parent household, a homo-sexual household or extended family household. They say that in a nuclear family household, a child finds the perfect scenario for physical and psychological growth. For example, in an extended family household, a child would be raised in different ways by people of different ages. People of more age would raise the children according to the customs of their age, which might be outdated for child development in the present age. Sociologists also argue that as compared to the extended family type, the nuclear one adapts to the economic and political realities quicker and in a better manner, as it comprises of people with like mindedness. In the extended family type, people of different ideologies and lifestyles, live together.
    A nuclear family is supposed as the best family type as it has a mother(female) and father(male) which play certain gender roles, which are integrated, which allow the children to grow up normally, and the integration of tasks sets a good example.
    However, it may not always be a perfect way to manage a household. Children in such households also miss out on individual attention, as they might be living robotic lives in order to fulfill the needs of their children. Children might also feel ignored when the couple may spend time with one another. A few sociologists also argue that, children in such a household are raised in a isolated environment, and they may fail to adapt to other households, or survive in the society on later stages. Like-mindedness, which is an advantage may also serve as a disadvantage. Like-mindedness and stability of such a family type, would not let people of this family type deal with conflict. However, people in extended families have different ideas live together, hence conflict. So, people in extended families deal with conflict in a better way.
    Even after acceptance and adaptation of other family types, the nuclear family type is still the most preferred family type. This type is not a guaranteed household of success and happiness but it is most likely to obtain such ideas.

  • Most criminals are set free once they finish their jail terms. Is the re introduction of criminals in societies is justified.

    It is said that “To err is human”, nobody is perfect in this world. We commit mistakes, sometime they are deliberately and sometime it just happened. we get penalized due to our crime and put into penitentiary.
    why we put into lockup? because in the penitentiary we correct our self and pay our time over there against our crime. When we got free we have paid what we have done, so now we have the right to re-introduce in the society as a noble being.
    we should not be consider as a convicted fellow in the society because we are free now and we want to be redeemed. If society do not support us in getting up on our feet we will be compelled to commit that mistake again. Society should welcome penalized criminals who paid their debts, after all they are humans and they should be equally treated as a not convicted human being.
    we should have treat them as a normal person and give them respect. By doing this we are showing that how we are different from the criminals. We should convince them by being better than them and by being open heart and open mind.
    If we want to be have a peace in our society we must give respect and must accept the convicted people and help them in any way we can.