Using A Sociological Perspective

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.

The issue I have chosen is the use of social networking websites and how the three sociological perspectives apply to them. The use of social networking website has become a social norm in the way our society communicates with each one another. I believe that there are benefits with using social networking websites in your private and public life. On the other hand, I do believe that with social networking websites, the boundary between our private and public life merge and become difficult to separate.

Within society, there are many external forces in our lives that require us to adapt in a way that changes us internally. Society plays a huge role in how the world is constructed, as well as how we as humans are constructed to live. We often make the decisions that we make in our lives because of outward forces that may or may not be within our control, and it takes a toll on our lives. As a person experiences something that is out of their control, it is related back to social forces; this is what the sociological imagination is.

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

Growing up, almost every parent will tell you, “you can be anything you set your mind to!” or “the possibilities are endless”. But from an early childhood my parents were creating an opportunity structure for my life. Through my 20 years, how I was taught, the places I went to, the people I interacted with and the implications of society and societal norms followed me. As with many other families, my parents focused on setting me up for the best possible future. But little did they know, they were contributing to a society where some people are allotted more privileges and opportunities than others. I will attempt to deconstruct this complex social construction by looking at gender, social class, family influences, race, and socialization; which will be discussed in greater detail further along. When analyzing sociological concepts like gender, social class, and race sociologists use a “sociological lens”. Using a sociological lens will allow me to take the experiences I had and look at them on a broader cultural level. Ultimately sociologists use sociological lenses to better understand how personal experiences not only impact 1 person but how they can be applied in a broader context, allowing individuals to relate to others in society who may have had similar experiences.

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),

Another concept of sociology that I felt that I could relate to is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism " a tendency to use our own groups way of doing things as a yard stick for judging others( Henslin, 37.)"Being Puerto Rican and growing up in a Caucasian society, I felt because of my culture that I should try to associate with my same race or people of my same ethnicity. Because of this I found myself feeling as if my race was better in some way, but then I learned that was normal for every race. Because of this I feel I can relate to the term ethnocentrism.

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.

The sociological Taboo (or imagination) is defined as a way of thinking that help us use external information and experience to form theories about the social pattern around us. We collect data and from that information, we make judgments and predictions. These require going beyond one’s point of view. People 's life and experiences are different. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration their reasoning and thoughts to be able to understand why they act the way they do. Hearing others stories and theories help us distant our self and creating a broader perspective. The saying “never criticizes someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes" is the best way to interpret sociological imagination. Its components include jobs, income, education, gender, race-ethnicity, and age.

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

Sociological imagination is merely the connection between a person and the society. Every person is connected to and influenced by society to a different extent. Some people are completely absorbed in society and feel obligated to keep up with the trends, or else they feel like an outlier. On the other hand, some people do not keep up with the trends of society because they could care less about others opinions. Sociological imagination can be used to show the relationship between both those types of people and the society, and it can be used to explain how people view society from their point of view. When people look at societies from an outsider’s point of view, “rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases” (Schaefer 4), they are able to notice the things that shape and mold their character. The outsider perspective also provides them with a better understanding of themselves by understanding the relationship between them and society.

The overall concept that is being addressed in the article The Sociological Imagination is the need for one to grasp an in-depth understanding of how to engage in social issues through a critical perspective. In the text American sociologist and author, C Wright Mills points out that ones must have the ability to change their overall perspective from one view to another. This can be known as the sociological imagination, which allows us to analyze our behavior, beliefs, and actions towards our everyday challenges and surroundings in a completely different way. As humans, our imagination is a key element when trying to enhance our approach to the study of humankind and our daily interactions.

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.

An employer is an individual or organization who employs one or more person (employee) for wages or salary, while an employee works for an individual or organization (employer) for wage or salary. The wage that is earn is used to cover expenses by the employee, in the form of bills, to cover health, housing, food, utilities, all seen as a necessity.

At the beginning of the semester, I knew very little about sociology or even what it was about. I just knew I needed to take the class for my degree plan to transfer to a four-year university and that I would be doing a lot of reading about different terms and theories of society. However, this first month of class has helped me improve my understanding of what sociology is about and shown me how my personal society has impacted the way I view society. Not only did I learn about the relationships between society and myself, but I have also learned different concepts that have helped me gain a better understanding of how society works. There are three specific sociological concepts that has helped me improve my understanding of the relation