...Applying Sociological Perspectives Stephanie Ann Tombline SOC/100 May 30, 2016 Jennifer Hudgins Applying Sociological Perspectives Social networking sites - such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and, Pinterest, just to name a few - provide individuals with an online web of global networking that allows maintaining social ties with one another. Sociologists often ponder, "How do these social websites impact society?" Above all, this is the question that is the central focus shared by all three of the primary sociological perspectives (Structural Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and, Symbolic Interactionism) when studying and performing research on the topic. Otherwise, the three paradigms of sociological theories are differentiating interpretations of how they perceive social networking sites. Namely, I find this subject intriguing because humans are perpetually seeking innovations intended to ameliorate the quality of life, and diverse opinions pertinent to the effect on the gamut of society and individuals within a community, is inevitable. Albeit, each perspective's view generated as a result of these social milestones, equally hold valid points. Therefore, while social networking sites provide a multitude of beneficial improvements to the world, there are just as many issues that arise, and all three sociological perspectives serve to complement one another in the comprehension of social media networks and the sway they bring to societies. As Viewed Through...
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...Homework#1: What is Sociology? For your first homework assignment, I want you to think about the discipline of sociology, and how acquiring a sociological perspective can be useful, even if you do not major in sociology. Your response should be uploaded to Blackboard using the "view/complete" link at the bottom of this prompt no later than 11:59pm on WEDNESDAY, October 29th. Respond to each of the 'prompts' in bold (there are six--Path 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and "Why Sociology?"). Watch this brief video featuring NKU sociology students describing how the discipline of sociology has pushed them to think sociologically about the world around them, and how the sociological perspective is benefitting them in their careers. Watch the (11 minute) video, and write a brief response (described below). The video can be accessed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj9POR7YTww&feature=youtu.bev NOTE: If clicking the link does not work, try to copy and paste the link into a web browser. THE ASSIGNMENT The video describes five ‘paths’ towards the creation of knowledge in sociology, and concludes with a description of why students might study sociology. As you watch the video, pay attention to the questions related to each path/topic (listed below). For each item, write a short (~1 paragraph) response that addresses the question(s). NOTE: There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. The purpose of this assignment is to get you started in thinking about the discipline of sociology and what sociologists...
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...Quotations When the sociologist concerns himself with power, he will “look behind” the official mechanisms that are supposed to regulate the power in the community. This does not necessarily mean that he will regard the official mechanisms as totally ineffective or their legal definition as totally illusionary. But at the very least he will insist that there is another level of reality to be investigated in the particular system of power. (Berger 1963) My suggestion is that when we experience fully the contradiction, conflict, and pain of engaging with our own teaching and research, we can’t help but be transformed into nepantleras. Not only do we routinely disrupt the status quo, we become uniquely practiced, through our critical engagement with the complex processes underlying the appearance of a stable social reality, in mapping complexity and journeying through difference to new frontiers. (O’Brien 2009) Arguments Berger’s (1963) approach was more like an invitation to assess one’s conceptions and realize if they are really valid and applicable in understanding or identifying the real subject or ‘problem’ at hand. He’s not asking you to disregard the ideas that the said society had accustomed to you but to consider seeing things in a wider scope. One must search for the backbone of everything and not be fixated on the obvious. When something is not in order, do not focus on the exterior but try to examine the roots and branches that hold it together. For O’Brien (2009)...
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...an approach in sociology that believes society can be studied using similar scientific techniques to those used in the natural sciences, such as physics, biology and chemistry. Durkheim, a positivist, called the external social forces that make up a societies social structure that cause or mould people's ideas and actions social facts.Durkheim said the aim of sociology should be the study of social facts, which in most cases could be measured and observed quantitatively, in number or statistical form. Such as the number of people applying for visas to work in a particular country. Interpretivism is an approach emphasizing that people have consciousness involving personal beliefs, values and interpretations that influence the way they act and that they do not simply respond to forces outside them. These two theoretical approaches often use different research methods because they have different assumptions about the nature of society, this influences the type of data they are interested in collecting. Practicality, ethics, theory and subject of study also contribute to the methods used for research. Durkheim, a positivist, called the external social forces that make up a societies social structure that cause or mould people's ideas and actions social facts.Durkheim said the aim of sociology should be the study of social facts, which in most cases could be measured and observed quantitatively, in number or statistical form. Such as the number of people applying for visas to work...
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...Admittedly when I was younger I hadn’t planned on studying media and sociology at university, my dreams went along the lines of stardom with world domination ensue. However in the summer of 2012 I participated on the Challenge which allowed me to work on a project where I created a documentary to keep the community center of Rostwarg from being shut down and running as the heart of its community. The project opened a whole new world to me; I'd always been somewhat aware of the the power of the media but the project allowed me to experience it first hand. It gave me a chance to make a contribution in a way I wouldn’t initially have thought of. The challenge also brought a new sense of leadership and intuitiveness within me. Ultimately the experience helped me make the decision to study media for my A levels, along with sociology and film. I follow the doctrine that learning something in the classroom is good and all but what matters is applying it to everyday life and that’s what I did last summer. Throughout July I became somewhat of an activist as I joined protests, demonstrations and marches in opposition of the injustices involving Palestine- the experience renewed my passion for media and sociology. With media and sociology behind my belt for a levels I began questioning why there was hardly any media coverage of what we were doing? Who were the media protecting by not highlighting the dissatisfaction people felt? Who was befitting from the lack of attention? Certainly...
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...P2- Describe the main employability, personal and communication skills required when applying for a specific job role. Social worker Employability skills To be able to become a social worker in the UK, you need take a 3 year undergraduate degree in social work, or a two year post graduate degree in social work, this needs to be approved by the health and care professions council. You will need to following qualifications, in order to study for an undergraduate degree in social work: Five GCSE’s (A-C) including maths and English and at least two A levels, or an equivalent qualification such as a BTEC National Diploma or NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care. However this does depend on the university/college that you are applying for. This is a good thing because I already have 5 GCSEs’ between A-C which is a start towards being able to become a social worker. It also says that i need at least two A-levels or equivalent (BTEC diplomas) or level 3 in health and social care. This is a good thing because i am currently taking level 3 health and social care as well as BTEC business studies and sociology so if (which i am) work hard enough i will be able to apply for a social worker undergraduate degree which is needed to become a social worker. You need to have some relevant experience in a social work/social care setting before being accepted on most courses. So it is important gain as much work experience as possible, either through paid positions in community care settings...
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...consider occupation, income, education, gender, age, and race as dimensions of social location.(4) 3. d All three statements reflect ways in which the social sciences are like the natural sciences. Both attempt to study and understand their subjects objectively; both attempt to undercover the relationships that create order in their respective worlds through controlled observation; and both are divided into many specialized fields. (5-7) 4. c Generalization is one of the goals of scientific inquiry. It involves going beyond individual cases by making statements that apply to broader groups or situations. (7) 5. b The Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and the development of the scientific method all contributed to the development of sociology. The fourth influence was the political revolutions in America and France — there was no political revolution in Britain at that time. (8-9) 6. d Positivism is the application of the scientific approach to the social world. (9) 7. d Of the four statements, the one that best reflects Herbert Spencer’s views on charity is “The poor are the weakest members of society and if society intervenes to help them, it is interrupting the natural process of social evolution.” While many contemporaries of Spencer’s were appalled by his views, the wealthy industrialists found them attractive. (10) 8. b The proletariat is the large group of workers who are exploited by the small group of capitalists who own the means of production, according...
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...AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY DIPLOMA IN SOCIAL WORK AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES COURSE CODE: SWD112 COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY QUESTION PICK ANY SOCIOLOGY FOUNDING FATHER, WRITE HIS OR HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY BY HEZEKIAH KELLY .M.O. D12SG0016 DATE: JUNE 2013 EMILE DAVID DURKHEIM (1858 – 1917) BRIEF HISTORY AND EARLY LIFE STAGES OF DURKHEIM Durkheim was born in the eastern Pascoag providence of Lorraine, which at that time was part of Germany, on April 15th 1858. He came from a long line of conservative French Jews but, he decided early in his life he would not follow in his family’s footsteps. He led a completely secular lifestyle. he never completely detached himself from his family or the Jewish community. Many of his colleagues and students were either from the Jewish community or of blood relation. In 1879 Durkheim entered École Normale Supérieure, as a very promising student. That year’s class was one of the most brilliant in the nineteenth century. Many of his classmates, such as Jean Jaurès and Henri Bergson, went on to become very influential to France’s history. Very early in his career, Durkheim became interested in the scientific approach to society by reading works by social scientists, Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte, and studying with Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. Thus, he found many problems with the French...
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...Introduction to Sociology Concerts, sports games, and political rallies can have very large crowds. When you attend one of these events, you may know only the people you came with. Yet you may experience a feeling of connection to the group. You are one of the crowd. You cheer and applaud when everyone else does. You boo and yell alongside them. You move out of the way when someone needs to get by, and you say "excuse me" when you need to leave. You know how to behave in this kind of crowd. It can be a very different experience if you are traveling in a foreign country and find yourself in a crowd moving down the street. You may have trouble figuring out what is happening. Is the crowd just the usual morning rush, or is it a political protest of some kind? Perhaps there was some sort of accident or disaster. Is it safe in this crowd, or should you try to extract yourself? How can you find out what is going on? Although you are in it, you may not feel like you are part of this crowd. You may not know what to do or how to behave. Even within one type of crowd, different groups exist and different behaviors are on display. At a rock concert, for example, some may enjoy singing along, others prefer to sit and observe, while still others may join in a mosh pit or try crowd surfing. Why do we feel and act differently in different types of social situations? Why might people of a single group exhibit different behaviors in the same situation? Why might people acting similarly...
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...Sociology: Nature and Scope Sociology Defined. — Definitions of sociology are many. While it would be hardly correct to say that there are as many as there are sociologists, it is safe to say that they are as numerous as the various points of view of the respective groups of sociologists. The term 'Sociology' was coined by Auguste Comte, a French philosopher in 1839. It is the youngest of all social sciences. Sociology is the outcome of man's search for a more valid, and precise knowledge about the nature of man and the society. The word 'Sociology' is derived from the Latin word 'Societus' meaning 'society and the Greek word 'logos' meaning 'study or science'. Thus, the etymological meaning of 'Sociology' is the 'science of society'. In other words, we can say Sociology is the study of man's behaviour in groups or of interaction among human beings of social relationships and the processes by which human group activity takes place. Definitions: To make the study more clear, it is wise on our part to discuss some of the definitions given by famous sociologists. Unfortunately, there is no short-cut definition of Sociology so far. It has been defined in a number of ways by different sociologists, but no single definition of Sociology has yet been accepted as completely satisfactory. Auguste Comte, the founding father of Sociology, defines Sociology "as the science of social phenomena subject to natural and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object of investigation...
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...Science relating to sociology is based upon the debate of how society should be studied. There two perspectives, Positivism and Interpretivism. Positivists such as Emile Durkheim believed that society can be studied with the same methods as all other natural sciences as Sociology is known as a social science. Interpretivists such as Weber argue that knowledge is based upon people's interpretations of things. Positivist sociologists argue that the methods used to study and research natural sciences can be used to study people within society, and that by doing this research problems within society can be resolved and social progress can be attained. Positivists believe that reality does exist and not is a figment of individuals minds which means it can objectively be studied and give factual results. Positivists prefer to use methods of research which will give them easily quantifiable results which they can then use to observe patterns and new laws within society. Positivists aim to find these patterns within society as they can then make general statements about society works. Comte believed that sociology was a science as it shared the same basics with sociology of trying to find cause and effects, and that by applying these scientific methods true objectivity would be able to attained. The view a positivist would take is that reality is not random but is made up of patterns allowing us to research it quantifiably. And that this quantifiable data would allow for sociologists...
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...What is sociology? ------------------------------------------------- Sociology is a thing, which if it didn’t exist, would have to be invented… ------------------------------------------------- Leonard Broom (2005, p. 210) If you’re new to sociology, and trying to get your head around exactly what it entails, you probably haven’t realised that you’ve encountered it many times already. Sociological analysis features regularly in media commentary and public debate. One sociologist noted “ours has become an age pervaded by sociology’ and sociological concepts have ‘drifted into our everyday language.’ Robert Merton 1981, p. 42. This familiarity with the subject matter of sociology – we are all members of society and thus by definition, should be automatic experts on the topic – can too often lead to the dismissal of the sociological enterprise as mere common sense. Yet, it is much more than that. Sociology involves a methodical study of human behaviours and societies. It is the study of the relationship between the individual and society, investigating how human thought, action and interaction shapes and is shaped by society, or how ‘we create society at the same time as we are created by it’. As sociologists, we need to view our own society as an outsider would. As sociologists, we need to view our own society as an outsider would. Questions: 1. Imagine you are looking through the telescope at our society. In your own words, how would...
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...noticed. As an example: they should organize who reports to whom, who has to deal with costumers, what takes are to be done and so on. As the leading function, managers should motivate employees, direct their activities and find out the most effective communication ways. As the controlling function, managers must control organizations performance and compare it with previously set goal. If the things are not going as they planed the manager should find the way how to make it better or how should work harder. 3. What is organizational behavior (OB)? Answer: Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. To make it a general...
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...Formanyof us is a question the why people behave how does it. For many years humanity has sought to understand the behavior of man. In our daily life we face situations that make us think that we are different people, with different characters and attitudes. Companies are mostly composed of human beings, all with different ways of thinking and perhaps an interpretation of things very differently from ours. This makes me wonder, if a company's vision is that all work in harmony to achieve the same goal?, then how important is understanding the behavior of people in an organization? I am convinced that the study of organizational behavior is a tool that will give us a way of understanding human behavior within an organization in a systematic and scientific way. There is no doubt that organizational behavior (which is abbreviated CO) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within organizations, in order to apply this knowledge to the improvement of the effectiveness of such organizations. Furthermore, it is a field of study, this statement means that it is a specialty delimited and with a body of knowledge. What are you studying? Studying three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups and structures. If studying the individual and behave within an organization will be able to analyze the behavior of groups, with greater clarity because groups are composed by individuals who use structures...
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...What is sociology? ------------------------------------------------- Sociology is a thing, which if it didn’t exist, would have to be invented… ------------------------------------------------- Leonard Broom (2005, p. 210) If you’re new to sociology, and trying to get your head around exactly what it entails, you probably haven’t realised that you’ve encountered it many times already. Sociological analysis features regularly in media commentary and public debate. One sociologist noted “ours has become an age pervaded by sociology’ and sociological concepts have ‘drifted into our everyday language.’ Robert Merton 1981, p. 42. This familiarity with the subject matter of sociology – we are all members of society and thus by definition, should be automatic experts on the topic – can too often lead to the dismissal of the sociological enterprise as mere common sense. Yet, it is much more than that. Sociology involves a methodical study of human behaviours and societies. It is the study of the relationship between the individual and society, investigating how human thought, action and interaction shapes and is shaped by society, or how ‘we create society at the same time as we are created by it’. As sociologists, we need to view our own society as an outsider would. As sociologists, we need to view our own society as an outsider would. Questions: 1. Imagine you are looking through the telescope at our society. In your own words, how would you describe the society...
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