...What is Sociology? Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. Sociology is also the scientific study of human group. It provides tools for understanding how and why our society functions, impact of social intuitions on individual lives, and the challenges of social interaction between individuals and society. Sociology is the study of how things that lots of people do affect the daily life. Sociology is the way people are in the world in our society. 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 dynamics and basic group behavior. It talks about how nowadays people feel like that their private lives are a series of traps. This being because they attribute internally the events which surround them without looking at the external factors which greatly their daily. The sociological imagination helps people in the...
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...Sociology was born not when good and evil were defined by what is useful or harmful to society, but rather when this correlation, exalted by the utilitarians, was placed in doubt because individualism seemed to have become a menace to society. This disjunction of the actor and the system led the most radical thinkers to conceive of a system without actors, dominated by determinisms and impersonal powers, and others to describe actors without a system, constructing in a normative void the forms of their interaction with actors who were strangers. Homo sociological, exalted by political philosophy, has disappeared. The globalization of the economy, which has entailed a weakening of the social and political controls that existed at the national level, has led in return to the development of identity politics which no longer defend a function but a being, not a project but a memory, which contradicts the evolution that has long defined modernity. We cannot establish a link between the system and the actor unless the latter is defined by the construction of his or her own liberty and not by the playing of specific social roles, and the former as a civil society in which the collective conditions of individual freedom are created. Social solidarity is the condition of cultural diversity, that is to say, the possibility for each person to combine in his or her own way their identity with participation in the techno-economic world. Sociology is the scientific study of human social behaviour...
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...Version 1.0 General Certificate of Education January 2012 Sociology SCLY1 1191 Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Wealth, Poverty and Welfare Unit 1 Mark Scheme Mark schemes are prepared by the Principal Examiner and considered, together with the relevant questions, by a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation meeting attended by all examiners and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation meeting ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every examiner understands and applies it in the same correct way. As preparation for the standardisation meeting each examiner analyses a number of students’ scripts: alternative answers not already covered by the mark scheme are discussed at the meeting and legislated for. If, after this meeting, examiners encounter unusual answers which have not been discussed at the meeting they are required to refer these to the Principal Examiner. It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change, depending on the content of a particular examination paper. Further copies of this Mark Scheme are available to download from the...
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...Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 12e (Robbins/Judge) Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior? 1) Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the ________ aspects of management. A) ethical B) people C) technical D) human E) global Answer: C Explanation: C) Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management, focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative techniques. Course work in human behavior and people skills received relatively less attention. Over the past three decades, however, business faculty have come to realize the role that understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager's effectiveness, and required courses on people skills have been added to many curricula. Diff: 1 Objective: Management and Leadership Quest. Category: Concept/Definitional LO: 1 2) Which of the following is not a reason why business schools have begun to include classes on organizational behavior? A) to increase manager effectiveness in organizations B) to help organizations attract top quality employees C) to expand organizations' consulting needs D) to improve retention of quality workers E) to help increase organizations' profits Answer: C Explanation: C) Understanding human behavior plays an important role in determining a manager's effectiveness. Developing managers' interpersonal skills helps organizations attract and keep high-performing employees. Positive social relationships...
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...Assess the Contribution of Feminist Sociologists to an Understanding of Family Roles and Relationships Essay Jak There are many different types of feminist theories but they all share a few common interests. They all believe there is a fundamental division in society between men and women, that women are to some extent exploited by men and that society is male-dominated or patriarchal. Oakley argues that the role of the housewife is a social construction and isn’t linked to the female role. The housewife role makes sure that women stay inferior to men making it difficult for them have careers. Women carry out the triple burden in the household; the domestic labour, emotional labour, and paid labour. As shown in the item most of this work is ‘unpaid and hardly recognised work at all’. Oakley argues the only way women will gain independence and freedom in society is for the role of the housewife to be removed as well as the present structure of the family. Wilmott and Young believed the family is symmetrical and that both husband and wife have joint conjugal roles making the family a functional institution and their research showed that men do help women with housework. Radical feminists such as Dobash and Dobash disagree with Willmott and Young’s theory that the family is symmetrical. They believe there are inequalities in the power relations between men and women so they see family as an institution that allows abuse and considering the risk of male violence women would...
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...admission after an evaluation that considered an applicant’s race, she decided to sue the university. Considering an applicant’s race in the application process is an example of affirmative action; policies taken on by many companies and institutes of higher education that emphasize hiring, or accepting, minority applicants in an attempt to promote diversity as well as to prevent discrimination. Espenshade shows a liberal slant in his writing and opinions on affirmative action but also realizes affirmative action is not an effective remedy to the problem. A man of Princeton, Espenshade received his PhD from Princeton in 1972 and joined the Princeton faculty in 1988. (princeton.edu) Princeton is widely known as a liberal school and as a Professor of Sociology, Espenshade has the opportunity to not only influence young minds but to conduct research of his own. His current research relates to the issue of the achievement gap and the roles of family circumstances and parenting behaviors as they relate to school readiness. (source) He received the Bourdieu Award in 2011 from the American Sociological Association for the best book in the sociology of education for his book, No Longer...
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...Organizational Behavior MGT/307 November 15, 2011 Introduction Organizational Behavior (OB) is the research and function of understanding how people, individuals, and groups perform in an organization. The point is to apply knowledge toward enhancing efficiency in an organization. OB can create a healthier working relationship by including organizational culture, organizational behavior, diversity, and communication into the organization. Organizational Culture “Organizational culture is a shared set of beliefs and values within an organization” (Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2008, Organizational Cultures, p. 11). Culture consists of the beliefs, standards, rules, and physical signs of organization associates and their behaviors. An organization culture can be determined by the display of equipment and what employees wear. Corporate cultures are coming to grasp that the greatest plans need organizational change to include structures and processes. According to McNamara (2000), organizational change efforts are rumored to fail the majority of the time. Usually this failure is credited to a lack of understanding about the strong role of culture and the role it plays in organizations. This is one reason that tactical planners stress on the important of recognizing values, mission, and vision. Strong culture exists because of the configuration to the organizational values. Weak culture occurs when there is little configuration with organizational...
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...Investigation. A. Sociological investigation begins with two key requirements: 1. Apply the sociological perspective. 2. Be curious and ask questions. B. Sociology is a type of science, a logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation. Science is one form of truth. Scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, or information we can verify with our senses. C. Scientific evidence sometimes contradicts common sense explanations of social behavior. 1. SOCIOLOGY IN FOCUS BOX (p. 28)—Is What We Read in the Popular Press True? The Case of Extramarital Sex. Every day, we see stories in newspapers and magazines that tell us what people think and how they behave. But a lot of what we read turns out to be misleading or even untrue. Take the issue of extramarital sex, which refers to a married person having sex with someone other than his or her spouse. A look at the cover of many of the so-called women’s magazines you find in the checkout aisle at the supermarket or a quick reading of the advice column in your local newspaper might lead you to think that extramarital sex is a major issue facing married couples. II. Three Ways to Do Sociology. There are three ways to do research in sociology: positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical sociology. A. Positivist Sociology. 1. Scientific sociology is the study of society based on systematic observation of social behavior. The scientific orientation to knowing, called positivism, assumes that an objective...
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...Running head: POVERTY AND IT’S EVERYDAY LIFE CHANGES 1 Poverty and its Everyday Life Changes Professor Deanna R. Lindsey Sociology 100, Strayer University November 4, 2011 POVERTY AND IT’S EVERYDAY LIFE CHANGES 2 Abstract This report tells of the ratings of poverty in the United States and America. It tells how poverty is constantly changing the lives of men, women, and children on an everyday basis. It speaks of things we can do as a society to help support and change the lives of those living in poverty. Poverty And It’s Everyday Life Changes 3 Poverty is a very emotional and important issue in America. It is a fact that all social inequality creates poverty. There are generally two types of poverty that are discussed, which are relative poverty and absolute poverty .Relative poverty is the lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more. Absolute poverty is the lack of resources that is life threatening. It has been reported by “Global Stratification “, that about one billion human beings, which is one person in six are at risk of absolute poverty (Sociology, Thirteenth Edition). In this wealthy country of the Unite States families still go hungry, and live in in adequate housing, and suffer poor health because of serious lack of resources. In 2002, it was reported by the Census Bureau that poverty in the United States was had reached a high of 35 million people (Rector and Johnson, 2004). It is fact that we as human...
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...pronounce in some binding way what family, marriage, parenthood, sexuality or love mean, what they should or could be; rather these vary in substance, norms and morality from individual to individual and from relationship to relationship.” (Beck, U and Beck-Gernsheim, E. 1995:p5). Through history there has been a varied view on the family, with changes in the functions, roles and relationships within the family being widely debated. There has been a major development with the types of family that exist in Britain today, with influences from the widening ethnicity of Britain it has adapted to many different cultures. Functionalism is considered the consensus view of the family. They see the family as a vital organ and the cornerstone of society. George Peter Murdock conducted a study entitled “social structure” (1949), in which he studied 250 societies both small and large. He claimed the findings of this was that some sort of family existed in every society which means the family is universal. (Haralambos, Holborn. 2008). According to Murdock the family is an institution which fulfils the functions essential for a harmonious society. He believed the family provided a stable environment hence strengthening the emotional bond between parents and children. Murdock believed that the family performed four essential functions sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. (Taylor. 1995). However Talcott Parson suggested that the family lost most of its main functions through...
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...Rochelle Peeler 26 April 2011 Living with Homosexuals The Research Edition Homosexuality and parenting are not mutually exclusive. There are thousands of same-sex couples raising children together throughout the world. These families are essentially caught in a social tug of war between accepted social norms and personal well-being. Not all people know that homosexual parents are just like any other heterosexual parents. Those who oppose this kind of life style have a tendency to create negative images of homosexual families and calling the parenting skills of same sex couples into question. Opposition to the gay community and non-traditional families often arises from stereotypes about homosexuals related to the labeling of an individual based upon masculine or feminine characteristics. Extreme masculinity or femininity tends to make others uneasy and apprehensive about the motivation for the behavior. There are some who are afraid that gay men and lesbian women are contagious and essentially the “carriers of the scourge” (Johnson and O’Connor, “For Lesbian Parents,”). A person who is homosexual does not intentionally impose their sexuality on others. Homosexuals do not hide from the society that sometimes shuns them, in fact, same sex couples try to give back to the community more then they deserve. Margot Lee Rawsthrone from the University of Sydney, Australia explains to the reader in great detail that some of the people in the gay and lesbian community are doing their...
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...CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR CHAPTER OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter students should be able to: 1. Define organizational behavior (OB). 2. Identify the primary behavioral disciplines contributing to OB. 3. Describe the three goals of OB. 4. List the major challenges and opportunities for managers to use OB concepts. 5. Describe how OB concepts can help make organizations more productive. 6. Discuss why work force diversity has become an important issue in management. 7. Explain how managers and organizations are responding to the problem of employee ethical dilemmas. 8. Discuss how knowledge of OB can help managers stimulate organizational innovation and change. LECTURE OUTLINE I. THE FIELD OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR A. Definition 1. Organizational behavior is the systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people exhibit within organizations. (ppt 4) 2. Key parts of the definition a) Systematic study (ppt 5) 1) The use of scientific evidence gathered under controlled conditions and measured and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner to attribute cause and effect. (ppt 6) 2) OB—its theories and conclusions—is based on a large number of systematically designed research studies. b) Systematic study of actions (or behaviors) and attitudes include three areas: productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. (ppt 7) 1) Managers clearly are concerned...
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...For this assignment I am going to write about my understanding and acknowledgement of the sociological perspectives and the approaches of sociology in the health and social sector. I will also include the concepts of sociology within health and social care while exploring the elements of health and illness. Sociology is the study of how society is organised and how people experience life, it is based on global issues that can affect the living beings. Sociology helps us to understand the structure and the dynamics of society and the connections between how people behave and individual life changes. It helps examine ways in which the forms of social structure, groups, communities, organisations and other social interactions with how they affect attitude, opportunities and actions. In sociology there are six principal perspectives they are Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, Interactionism, Postmodernism, Collectivism and New Right. Functionalism In 1951, Talcott Parsons introduced the Functionalist view which studies the social structure fully of how it functions and how each social structure is crucial in the interests of society. Functionalism believes that humans and society have basic needs, institutions. Governments may be responsible to meet the required needs also Functionalist may consider that the different kinds of sources may limit the individual’s behaviour within the chosen society, which may mean that society will behave appropriately based on their behaviour...
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...Journal of Social Psychology. Vol. 132 Issue 2, p223-231. Brossard, Michel; Maurice, Marc. Spring 1976. Is there a Universal Model of Organizational Structure? International Journal of Sociology. Vol. 6, Issue 1 p41-75. Chegini, Mehrdad Goudarzvand. (2010). The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Staff Productivity Public Organizations. Journal of Social Sciences. Vol 6 Issue 1, p127-129. Clegg, Stewart; Kornberger, Martin; Rhodes, Carl. May 2007. Organizational ethics, decision making, undecidabilty. Sociological Review. Vol 55, Issue 2, pg393-409. Causon, J. (2008). The diversity advantage. Engineering and Technology. Vol 3 Issue 18, p78- 81. Dani, S; Burns, N; Backhouse, C; Kochhar, A. June 2006. The Implications of Organizational Culture and Trust in the working of Virtual Teams. . Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers -- Part B – EngineeringManufacture. Vol. 220 Issue 6, p951-960. Doyle, Robyn; George, Usha. Feb 2008. Achieving and Measuring Diversity: An Organizational Change Approach. Social Work Education. Vol 27 Issue 1, p97-110. Felmlee, Diane H. (1986). A Model of Classical Organizational Structure: A Look at Administrative Intensity. Journal of Mathematical Sociology. Vol 12 Issue 1, pg 1. Giberson, Tomas; Resick, Christian; Dickson, Marcus; Mitchelson, Jacqueline; Randall, Kenneth; Clark, Malissa. June 2009. Journal of Business & Psychology. Vol....
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...Feminists also reject the theory that there is 'one best' family type, they embrace freedom and diversity. They also see the traditional nuclear family as the main reason for women's oppression, suggesting that family ideology makes problems such as domestic violence worse, as women believe they should 'stand by their man' no matter what the outcome is. These women may blame themselves for being bad wives and see themselves as deserving to be punished. Feminists reject Parsons' view that women were biologically determined and believe they are socially constructed. They blame the media for this construction of women, often portraying them as housewives, cleaners, domestic servants offering comfort and support for men and presenting them as a man's sex object to tend to his sexual needs, suggesting that these roles are natural and normal. This is therefore seen as an example of patriarchal ideology. Marxist feminists believe that female workers are taken advantage of at a higher level than males as they are seen as a source of unpaid domestic labour, benefiting capitalism. Interactionism criticise both functionalists and feminists because both assume that social structure determines gender roles. Functionalists believe that family meets the needs of the individual and the family and Feminists believe that family maintains patriarchy. Interactionism has a more micro theory focusing on relationships between individuals and outcomes rather than roles, including things like social...
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