Humanity and Social Forces

Social stratification also ties in with social location because depending on one’s social location one is thrown into, their class system is assigned, “…any society will consist of levels that relate to each other in terms of superordination and subordination, be it in power, privilege or prestige” (78). This is a system of ranking, and one’s position is usually determined though economic criteria. One’s level may change however; “…a class society is one in which there is typically a high degree of social mobility” (79). A persons class position will determine their life experiences based on their opportunities available, Max Weber explain that “ones class position yields certain probabilities or life chances…” (79). Role theory explains how one’s actions and identity is socially bestowed and sustained. A role is defined as “a typified response to a typified

Sociology is the study of social life and the change and consequences of human behavior. Human behavior is social in nature, the topic of sociology ranges from divisions of race, gender and sociology of work and sports. In my opinion, sociology is one of the few fields which have such a broad scope and relevance for breadth, depth and application.

Sociology is all about society and how we as humans interact with one another in our environment. Every person is different, and every person comes from different backgrounds, and the different environments and the different ways people are raised pretty much determines how their life will turn out. Social forces that have shaped my life are family, education, gender, and the media,

Sociology is the study of how social forces influence individuals living within a society. Any society is made of norms, values and beliefs that have the effect of constraining individuals’ thoughts and behaviors. Through understanding and sociological imagination, individuals can remove or at least lessen the social forces’ impacts that are causing the constraints.

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

Sociology is the scientific study of human society. It examines the development of social structures, and the interaction between these structures and human behaviour. Sociologists aim to provide tools of understanding the process of socialisation, and investigate the causes and consequences of things such as labels, belief systems, bureaucracy, gender roles, relationships, and inequality. Becker and Horowitz (1972) claimed that "good sociology is sociological work that

P. L said: “there is a debunking motif inherent in sociological consciousness” (1963), sociology has an inborn intention to unmask the social reality and discover the very truth of society, which is logically and methodically decided. Mastering such a methodology, we are capable of figuring out that society is not as superficial and simple as we directly perceive. A social incident may seemingly be explain by a simple common sense, but actually, there are certain value, norm or meaning systems that support or justify the incident’s happening. Furthermore, behind the value or meaning system, there are likely to be group interest that generate them and the group interest are also decided by social positions or roles. Ultimately, it is the social structure that distributes the social positions or roles and constrain our interaction and correlation. Therefore, with different layers hidden behind the incident unmasked, we can probably reveal the essence of

Social Stratification can be explained as members of a society being placed into a hierarchy where they are

The next term to be discussed is Status. Henslin defines status as “Socially defined position in a group or in a society. Each status has attached to it one or more roles”.

An individual’s set of social determinants strongly contributes to defining their class, and vice versa, class aids in determining what types of social determinants an individual will enjoy. Social determinants are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age in. A person in a low social class would be expected to be born into a family with a low socio-economic status, live in a geographically disadvantaged

Human sociology is greater than just individual-to-individual relationships; it is as vast as social movements and government takeovers and as intimate as an individual woman reading a popular book. The study of sociology gives a person the ability to perceive relationships and lives in ways

selves. In doing this they live their lives to the fullest and not wishing they

In any given social group that an individual may belong to, there will be a status that they need to fulfill. Once given this status and the individual occupies it, they have a role, an expected behavior acquired through a status, to play. Assigned at birth, accomplished throughout one’s life, or one that dominates all the others in certain situations are different kinds of statuses. Thus, one individual can occupy a multitude of statuses.

I thought the concept of sociology referred to how people socialize in communities. Little did I know that sociology study all aspects of life, including how society and people affect each other positively or negatively. I also did not know that sociology looks at what makes people exhibit behaviours that may deviate from the set norms and values of society.

What does Sociology have to do with me? Why do people think or act differently than you? Why are some people rich while others are poor? Why do some commit crimes, break laws and others do not? These are all some of the questions students need an answer to, which led them to enrol to this course. “Sociology is the scientific study of individuals in groups, organizations, cultures and societies; and of the interrelationships of individuals, group, organizations, cultures and societies.” (Kennedy, 2011, p. 1). What makes someone a sociologist? It isn’t what they study that makes them a sociologist, but how they think about it and how they study it. In this essay, I will be discussing theoretical frameworks of sociology; what is sociological perspective, how sociology differs from other disciplines such as history, anthropology or psychology, and how are sociological paradigms are used as ‘tools of the sociologist’ in their analyses of human societies.