The Framework Of Cultural Sociology In South Africa

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.

Before commencing a discussion on analyzing the article “What makes sociology a different discipline” from the other sciences we should have the know-how about sociology. In the words of modern thinkers of sociology namely Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim “Social fact should be the subject matter for the study of social life and can provide explanations for human thinking and behavior (p19)”. What we infer from the above definition is that man is born as a social animal. Man cannot live alone. He prefers to live in groups and his behavior that is actions and deeds are well governed and regulated by certain rules and laws of conduct that comprises of moral ethics and civic standards. His standard of living is said to be within the

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

| Relevant Biographical Information About the Author: * White * Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in 1903 * Father was Scottish and mother was South African of English heritage * Worked at a reformatory with black youths

A second understanding that is fundamental to thinking sociologically is a sensitivity to culture. Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around

In sociological theory there are many concepts discussed that are utilized in the analyses of society and culture. Some of the main concepts are Postmodernism, Historical Materialism, Structuralism, Interpretive Sociology and Poststructuralism to name a few. These theories are relevant to the research of understanding certain or specific cultural texts. These concepts provide problems and solutions associated with some of the research approaches fore-mentioned. Analysing the main dimensions will be covered by discussing the appropriate concepts separately and by individually contrasting the classical and modern theories with Quentin

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.

It would be in order to first examine the connotation and exact meaning of culture. Sociologists differ wide in their perceptions in explanting culture and its inter-related concepts. The best definition from the military view point is given by Leslie A. White, who quotes famous sociologists Frank Boas and Melville J. Herskovits. He writes “culture may be defined (as per Boas), as the totality of the mental and physical reactions and activities that characterise the behaviour of individuals composing a social group….”. He further quotes Herskovits and says, “When culture is closely analysed, we find but a series of patterned reactions that characterise the behaviour of the individuals who constitute a given group. Another writer Sapir quoted by Leslie white classified culture as the mass of typical reactions.’ Culture is best summarised as a way of life of the people. It is manmade part of environment. Cultures includes beliefs, ideas, religion, art, customs and other habits which the people acquire while living in a society. Another very important aspect of culture is that it is ever changing by learning and transmitting from one generation to other through a

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.

The movie invictus portrays a very controversial issue that has been presented throughout history in many ethnic groups and is seen in societies up to these days. The apartheid is clearly pictured in the movie through many of the attitudes and actions that people take towards the other race they live in their day by day. What is more, Mandela constitutes one of the most important figures in South Africa, especially for the black race as he liberated them from the apartheid. From those days Mandela has been recognized worldwide as a major symbol of the rainbow nation; a reality of distinction between the black and the white people and its establishing differe nces.

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

South African heritage and culture is immensely diverse, and consists of many different groups of people who each have their own traditions and beliefs. Having such a diversity of people and cultures is what makes South Africa so unique. In the true sense of the phrase, we are a rainbow nation.

I have always thought that Nelson Mandela has been one of the most important people in history. I find it very fascinating that one man could end the Apartheid and that is why I want to find out more about this. South Africa is a country with a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The White Europeans invaded South Africa and started a political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-White inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the White Europeans. I have chosen to investigate how the Apartheid affected people’s lives, and also how and why the Apartheid system rose and fell in South Africa.

In South Africa race took a shift from biology to culture. Because is of its many diverse indigenous groups, race was no longer a difference between Afrikaners and the English but with Zulus, Xhosa and Tswanas. Language was used as a determinant of race. Dubow argues that not much scientifically constructed race has been done in South Africa despite the fact that race has deep-seated roots. This is because many dismissed race as being scientific as it began to appear to be a sociological issue. Science was then pushed aside and race was now seen as a “social and intellectual construct” (Dubow, 1995: 2-5) from natural science to solely social science resulting from everyday experiences. When we say race is a social construct we disregard any possibility of it being that of a scientific one. It is not something that we are “born with because of our culture” (Erasmus, 2005: 9), instead, simply out, race is a bunch of meanings that we attach to people. We do not dispute the fact that there are differences among people. Those differences just run much deeper. By saying race is a social construct this is not to say that it doesn’t exist seeing that it affects our lives; it determines our real life experiences. Saying it is socially constructed means that race is a learnt behaviour and what can be learnt can easily be unlearnt. We say it is constructed because it was used as a basis of division by powerful people who felt superior. Its implications as a construct are still very

“South African sociology” (Webster, 2004, p. 28) can be considered as the result of the combination of different types of sociology due to the various changes that taken place in South African society throughout its history (Webster, 2004, p. 28). “Marxism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117), which is one of the main contributors to this sociology, was coined by Karl Marx, a German sociologist who by observing the various relations within a society came up with his own beliefs on how society has changed and how it can be improved which have been widely used across the world (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117). He believed that in the past, people lived in collective groups and were not divided by economic status but shared what they had and focused more on working together than working for each other and this was referred to as ”communism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 119). However, Marx suggested that as time progressed people began to fight for land and possessions and this led to weaker groups being kept as “slaves” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 18) and were used for the benefit of their capturers and this ultimately created a distinction between those who had power and those who did not (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 119). Marx also suggested that from this came what is known as “capitalism” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117), which was the result of technological advancements such as the use of machines to produce goods in “factories” (Macionis & Plummer, 2012, p. 117)