During the colloquium class, we read an article about culture values where it gave us a description of Indian values and non-Indian values. A culture’s values are the beliefs of a person or social group, in what is good or right, fair and just. However, sociologists disagree in the conceptualize values. That it’s more than a conflict theory, that it is based on how culture values change between groups within a culture. In contrast, functionalism is more based on the share values within a…
Introduction Mental illnesses have been around since the dawn of time and will continue to plague humanity until the species ceases to exist. Unfortunately, mental illnesses have always been stigmatized by holy figures, doctors, and in recent times, the media. Dr. Paul Appelbaum best states, “For centuries the misconception that persons with mental illness are ticking time bombs, ready to explode into violence when jostled in the slightest, has wreaked enormous damage on their lives” (Law, 2004)…
Introduction to Sociology Change in Perception At the beginning I didn’t believe that this course would make much of a difference to my professional and practical life. It seemed more of a mistake to take sociology as a subject with no real application that I could imagine to be present in practical life. However, this course has been a major transformation, it thought me to look at every individual differently as they differentiated not on the basis of their sex, color, race or background but…
Disciplinary Research on Economic Sociology One of the mysterious and critical division of sociological discipline is economic sociology. For the definition of economic sociology, can be simply define as the sociological aspect in applying to economic society, or can be elaborate as the application of reference, models and variables of sociology that primarily focus on the growth, consumption and production of goods and services, according to the Handbook of Economic Sociology (3). The…
I chose the Sociology degree programme because it is a subject I have found to completely and utterly grab my attention as well as interest me. Sociology naturally draws me to learning more and sharing my knowledge with others. Studying Sociology will give me a number of transferable skills I plan to gain, examples being environmental awareness, communication, and critical evaluation which will help me later in my career. Recognizing how environmental awareness influences other people either at…
According to Collins English Dictionary (2012), work is defined as “physical or mental effort directed to making or doing something”. One could therefore argue that any activity that requires effort can be defined as work. However, some sociologists argue that work has several definitions and that it is not as straight forward as it seems due to culture and attitude differences. Similarly, Grint (2005) claims that work definition is debatable and therefore, he examines a few assumptions:…
Using a sociological imagination, “ a quality of the mind that allows us to understand the relationship between our individual circumstances and larger social forces” (Ferris and Stein, p. 12), diversity would be defined as how social forces such as race, class, gender, religion, economics, or politics makes each individual different. Certain sociological perspectives argue that diversity is essential for a society to function, while others argue that diversity causes conflict within a society.…
America’s infamous crime rate, internationally recognized as among the worst in the world, particularly in regard to crime per population of a westernized, industrial economy disgraces the United States at home and abroad. As of 2014, America has top ten status in terms of “rape, gun crime, violent crime, violent rape [legally considered as a part of assault], robberies, utilization of opiates, assault, etc.” (Nationmaster 1). Exact figures depend on the country, as most categories achieve a…
Is Deviance Okay Understanding the meaning of the word “deviance” allows me an opportunity to put the word into a different light. Like most people when I hear the word deviance I immediately associate this with something of negative value and or negative behavior. We never once take into account that we ourselves can be view and labeled as deviant. We seem to believe because we follow the social norms that society has implemented, we are not “deviant”. Needless to say it, but we all engage…
Drugs have been an economic, social, and health concern for many years. Whether they are legal or illegal; drugs affect an individual differently in the immediate and over time. There are positive and negative effects of using drugs. Some positive effects include controlling pain, relieving stress, and assisting in the healing process. The negative aspects of illegal drugs may be the effect on one’s future, social aspects, and may lead to deviant actions. Crime rates have been shown to increase…