Introduction My name is Sarah Braunlich. I grew up in a small town named Poland, NY and attended a small high school in the same area. Growing up, I had always dreamed big and hoped to see the world that I knew existed outside of my small rural town. That was how I knew I had made the right choice when I decided to attend SUNY New Paltz. In my short time here, I have seen new places, met so many unique individuals, and I am excited to spend the next four years here. In high school, I always made an effort to get involved through clubs such as Government, Peer Leaders, Drama Club, Tri-M Music Club, Concert/Jazz Band etc. and I plan to do the same here at New Paltz. Currently, I am a biology major because my passion lies in medicine and helping …show more content…
Every situation and every person you come into contact with and meet has been socialized in a certain way, and the root of this behavior lies in sociology. How we react to certain social situations, how we interpret or “read” another person’s actions, how we respond to other individuals, are all dependent on sociology. From this course, I hope to better be able to understand why people act and behave the way they do. I hope to learn more about significant social issues that are widespread throughout the world today and about social forces to help bring about change. On a deeper level, I want to understand why sociology is that window to being able to think on a different level, and the key to understanding those underlying human connections/behavior. For example, why is there a mental health stigma? Why do stereotypes exist? Where do social “norms” and social constructs stem from? Why does society breed the type of mentality where photoshop and runway models are the standards of beauty? All of the answers to these questions lie in sociological theories and concepts. I also hope that this course can help me to understand other social problems, such as racism, crime, poverty, violence, sexism, and how to contribute to their solutions. I am eager to learn more about sociology throughout the semester, and build upon/expand on my previous
It has been said that a human being needs social interaction to survive. From that they created sociology, the study of how humans interact within ones environment and with others. Sociology allows us to understand why people interact he way they do, and how their outside environment can effect that. Sociologist have created four major theoretical perspectives to categorize different forms of social interaction. The death penalty is a huge controversial issue in the United States.
Everyone in the world has a theory about why something happens or how it happens, but in sociology there are many different types of theories that often contradict each other. Theory is defined as “a statement of how and why specific facts are related” (Macionis, 2013). Most theories explain why people act in certain ways and explains why a person in a group may act different than someone that is alone. When building sociological theories most sociologist ask their selves two different questions: “What issues should we study?” and “How should we connect the facts?” (Macionis, 2013). By answering these questions the sociologist is led to a road map, or a theoretical approach. Theoretical approach is described as “a basic image of society that
Introduction: In sociology we can learn about the society. Sociology is a social science which also study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies. It helps us to create a behavior which is accepted by the society. For reviewing on sociological concepts The Boy in The Striped Pajamas is a good movie. There are four sociological concepts we can relate with this movie which are Cultural Shock, Ethnocentrism, Culture and Gender Inquality.
For this final reflection for Intro to Sociology, I will cover several topics that I learned throughout the course of this class. I will cover topics that I can relate to as well as those that I can’t. Part of the reason this class is so important for students to take is so that we can take the outlook of others and allow it to possibly change the views that we have on certain topics. Topics such as culture, race and ethnicity, gender stratification, and education are a part of our daily life, but we get in such a rut of living day to day life without taking in the opinion and outlook of others that we don’t know what we truly feel because we are only one sided. By learning these different ideas and beliefs, we may not feel the way
Kendall, Diana Elizabeth. Sociology in our times: the essentials. 10th ed., Boston, MA, USA, Cengage Learning, 2016.
A key part of engaging in sociology is to adopt a sociological viewpoint or 'think sociologically'. Etymologically, sociology is the 'study of society' but this doesn't differentiate sociology from other forms of social study. Hence, many begin to describe thinking sociologically by what it is not - it is not thinking politically, thinking anthropologically, thinking historically or thinking psychologically, for example (Berger 1966: 11-36; Reiss 1968: 2-3). Others try to determine the nature of sociological thinking by detailing practical phenomena which can be thought about such as social systems and their subsystems, social institutions and social structure, and social aggregates, relationships, groups and organisations (Reiss 1968: 1),
Sociology is a study of society social life, social change, and social causes and consequences of human behaviour and allows us to gain an understanding of the structure and dynamics of today’s society, looking at the interlinking links patterns of human behaviour. Sociology looks at the in which social structure and institutions affect our everyday life. Sociological imagination was founded by C. Wright mills in the 1950`s it is an overall understanding of that some of the things that happen in society may lead to a particular outcome. Mills said
Sociology to me after taking this class means many things. Sociology is the study of human behavior and how humans development from the moment they are born. It is the study of how our upbringing, family, race, religion, and status effect us from the moment we step onto this earth. It is how other people see us and treat us in different ways. It’s about how people from different backgrounds all have different behaviors and different ways they effect society.
My experience in Intro to Sociology has given me insight on many concepts in society that I was unaware had already existed and some I had already experienced. I leave knowing the terminology that is associated with these phenomenons and the evidence from studies to prove that systematic problems such as sexism, and corruption in the criminal justice system, do exist. I know why society functions the way it does today and the history behind it. This information has helped me to form solid opinions about concepts such as politics and philosophy, using the case studies that we evaluated to support my claims and beliefs.
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
As I reflect on sociology 100, I realized that this is truly a course that opens up one 's mind. I admire the fact that this course really going to teach me a lot. I was really scared to take this class because honestly I had no idea what Sociology is? I never took this class but my professor made it easy and he made very clear that how we can keep an A in the class and what he expects from us. The first week of the class was just about the syllabus and what chapter we gonna cover throughout the semester. In total we studied nine chapter. They all helped me a lot to understand the true meaning of sociology and why it is useful. The first chapter was The Social Imagination, The second chapter was Studying the Social World, The third chapter was Social Interaction, The fourth chapter was Social Structure, The Fifth chapter was Culture, Media and Communication, The sixth chapter was Power and Politics, The seventh chapter was Social Stratification, Inequality and Poverty, The eight chapter was Race and Ethnicity and last but not least was Gender and Sexuality. I will just discuss the what I found most interesting, why they are important. First of all What is sociology? Really? I never asked this question to myself until the first day of class. Sociology is the study of "social behavior or society, including its origins, development, organization, networks and institutions." It allows you to go to different paths, it affects how we talk, it helps us to understand what 's going
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.
Sociology and sociological thinking are a vital part of society, and through examining both society and individuals, sociology is able to make changes to areas such as policies, and attitudes that may have usually negatively affected them, and instead gained a positive result through the careful research, and applied knowledge.
Sociology is a social science that enables people to understand the structure and dynamics of society. By using a scientific approach, and by critically analysing society using qualitative and quantitative methods, sociologists can find patterns and connections within human behaviour to provide explanations of how society affects people. Sociological views are based on theories that have been tested through unbiased research and attempt to take all values into account. Common sense theories are generally individualistic and naturalistic assumptions that are based on opinions than can vary depending on an individuals
Another thing that stuck out to me relating to this topic was the small green piece of paper that Linda held up in class. We were able to give it any meaning we wanted (plant, everyone gets 100). It’s interesting to look at something and give it meaning and follow that for many years. It’s important to see the world through a sociological lens for a many reasons. Keeping in mind that not everyone was raised the way you are, not everyone has the same beliefs as you and keeping an open mind will help you understand why the world is the way it is. In other words, it is always good to keep an open mind that society shapes us as humans. Looking at society from a sociological perspective makes you think more about why things are they way they are. Another thing that I often think about is the strange in the familiar that we learned at the beginning of the semester, which means taking something that seems “normal” to us and asking ourselves why we do this? For example, we can take something familiar like a birthday party and analyze it. We put a birthday cake in front of a child on their birthday and have them blow it