Billion Essays

Tag: Sociology

  • To what extent do the media influence people’s social behaviour?

    In the modern industrial societies, media plays an important role in a person’s life. Media is a source of information for people e.g: newspapers and news channels, by which people create their point of view, effecting their social behaviour. Usually news is sensationalised and dramatised, distorting the original facts and figures. News channels and newspapers also tend to print and cover negative stories, which puts a negative impact on the reader or viewer. This is why positive is demanded.

  • To what extent is advertising creating a global culture?

    Advertising is a process of making advertisements for commercial goods and services. There are two types of advertising; informative and persuasive. In informative advertising, providing information about the good or service is the promotional scheme. However, in persuasive advertising different ideas are used to make the viewer feel the need of the good or service in their life. People all over the world view and read these advertisements, which effects them one way or another. By persuasive advertising, people feel the need of the goods and services they want, but don’t afford or need. This creates the global culture of wanting something not affordable, and cribbing over it. In this way, people don’t save money or either borrow. In worst cases, people go towards stealing the goods they desire. Everything in the society effects ones life, in a way.

  • To what extent does nurture effect human behaviour?

    In sociology nurture is the social and psychological development of a person because of the his/her experiences and the environment he/she lives in. While nature is the social and psychological development of a person by his/ her genetics and innate qualities. Both factors play a vital role in developing human behaviour. However, there have been an argument whether which factor effects the human behaviour more.
    After prolonged researches over the years, it has been claimed that both nature and nurture effect the human behaviour equally.Scientists and sociologist say that a child is born with a behaviour genetically, yet with development within different stages of socialisation the environment starts effecting the behaviour of the person. Determining whether nature effects human behaviour more or nurture, seems impossible as these factors effect every person differently. A few people’s behaviour is dominated by the effects of nature, while in some people the environment helps develop the behaviour.

  • How Can People Resist the Power of Oligarchical Leadership?

    Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which a group of people usually the elite have the control over the country. In an oligarchical leadership, the rate of people living under the poverty line increases rapidly. Social class differences also increase. This form of power structure is not only manifested in a dictatorship but is also found in democracies, where the government stays within the hands of few families, holding the complete wealth of the country.
    Societies have been struggling from this predicament over years. At first, people need awareness. They need to know what wrong is being done in the society. It is the most basic and most important step to resist oligarchical leadership. Once people are aware of the suppression, they tend to break out of it. This results in both violent and non-violent public processions. This does put pressure over the government but common and already suppressed people usually loose their lives. Yet, waves of such protests bring about a change in the society.
    These oligarchs still depend on the populace as they want political power, which is only possible by elections. People can now select their own representative to compete in the elections. This step can change the whole political scenario. As people suffering are in a majority, the selected representative would have more chances to win the elections. Even though the oligarchs may try to rig the elections, the unity of the people can change the political situation of the country.

  • To what extent are social class differences disappearing in modern industrial societies?

    In the modern industrial societies, peoples’ lifestyles have changed, so have their living standards. Along this, the levels of education have also increased by which people have known how the class differences have negatively effected the society. However, no society has been completely successful to overcome the social class differences. It can be said that there is equal legal system, developed educational system, and authority to rights , but such differences are still there in the society one way or another.
    Pakistan is an excellent example of social class differences. Pakistan being a modern industrial society still suffers from this impediment. Still about 21% of people live below the poverty line. However, over the years people have been given awareness of their rights, and now have the capacity and ability to advocate for them.
    As a whole, it can not be said that there hasn’t been any improvement in the situation of social class differences, yet societies are still struggling to overcome it.

  • Sociology and Biological Factors

    Both, sociology and biological factors have had contradictory view for several years. Biological factors are the effects of the anatomy of people on their behaviour and actions in a society. However, sociology explains that different social activities, cultures, norms and social processes effect the behaviour and actions of people in a society. Sociologists argue that according to the biological factors people with the same genes are supposed to act and behave the same way but the actions and behaviour of children of the same family differ even though they share the same genes. They say that the behaviour and actions of a person are developed once he/she steps into the secondary stage of socialisation. However, it would be false to say that the biological make up of a person doesn’t effect the way he/she might behave in a society. Genes do effect the personality of a person, which usually people refer as the family trait; an action that symbolises the family. Yet, they behaviour and actions may change with the different levels of socialisation he/she may be on and the different social activities he/she may have.

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Pre-coded Questions,

    Pre-coded questions are a type of questionnaires, in which respondent answers are given from which the answer must be chosen. This types of questions are quick and easy to analyse. However, such questionnaires aren’t 100% accurate.

  • Types Of Sampling in Sociological Research.

    In sociological research, sampling is a process of selecting units(people or organisations) from a population of interest to study it in order to come up with fairly generalised results. There are different types of sampling; random, quota and systematic sampling etc.
    Random sampling is the basic type of sampling in sociological research. In this type of sampling everyone has an equal chance of being selected. In quota sampling the researcher selects people based on a set quota. Systematic sampling is the type of sampling in which people would be selected systematically. For example, every 3rd person would be selected.

  • Advantages and Limitations Of Using Unstructured Interviews In Sociological Research

    Interviews are a form of primary research. Interviews can be structured or unstructured. In structured interviews, the interviewer prepares a set amount of structured questions. However, in an unstructured interview, the interviewer has prepared a few structured questions, but depends on the response of the interviewee, to continue the interview further. An unstructured interview may have advantages and disadvantages. By an unstructured interview, the interviewer may have detailed research material. He/she may have many perspectives to the research topic. However, such interviews are a lot time consuming and further discussion may lead to disagreement between the interviewer and interviewee.

  • Polygyny

    The state or practice of having more than one wife or female mate at a time.

  • Polyandry

    The state or practice of having more than one husband or male mate at one time.

  • Polygamy

    A marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time.

  • Symmetrical Family

    A symmetrical family is a family that share male and female roles. For example a woman will go to work just like the man will, a man will take care of this kids and so will the woman. Basically sharing household jobs out fairly whether you are a male or female.

  • Infant Mortality Rate

    The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

  • Extended Family

    A type of family in which relatives in addition to parents and children (such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in a single household.

  • Nuclear Family

    Nuclear family, also called elementary family, a group of people who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood and consisting of a pair of adults and their socially recognized children. The nuclear family was once widely held to be the most basic and universal form of social organization.

  • 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.

  • How far and in what ways are families in the modern industrial societies as important as they were in the past?

    It is believed that the importance of families have faded in the modern industrial societies due to modernisation, It is said that with modernisation individual and professional lives are considered more important. They said people who first were living traditionally now live liberally and open-mindedly. Despite all the changes in the norms, family is still one of the most important social institution. Living as a nuclear family or as an extended family, family has it’s own significance.