Three Sociological Perspectives Of Social Media

Improved Essays
Social Media It’s not a far jump to say that social media has created life as we know it. Social media has changed and molded the world and will continue to do so. The majority of social media originates in the United States, it affects our thoughts, actions, creativity and our values. Social media includes everything from video chatting with someone across the country to snap chatting a person in the same room as you. The things that are available now compared to even just 10 years ago are astounding. Just the push of button can connect you to a new world. Now days most people couldn't imagine being without their phones for more then an hour or two. Apps you can download from the application store on a smart phone like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are the reason for this. These apps allow you to post messages and pictures while also allowing you to instant or direct message anyone you want or even shop. Not everything about social media is bad but not everything is good either. This essay will provide the views from the three major sociological perspectives, Symbolic Interactionism, Conflict Theory, and Functional Analysis. Symbolic Interactionism is a theory that can be described as communication that is facilitated by words, gestures and other symbols that have acquired conventionalized meanings. Social media has to be the best way to help define this theory. …show more content…
They give a new perspective on the ups and downs of social media and how to recognize it in this changing world. Although it might be scary for the older generations to begin learning about this new technology and how to use it, they have already began to do so. As far as the new generations, they are taking it head on at full speed. Social media is expanding all horizons and changing the world in all different

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Many individuals participate on a social media site such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter. Without participating on social media sites a person feels as if they are being isolated from the world. Social media user’s refuse to realize how such sites effect their daily lives and will affect their lives negatively in the future. Some individuals realize how social media is effecting our society, but continues to follow the trend. Terms of Service by Jacob Silverman is a book that explores how social media has a “price” by constantly being connected.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As mentioned in the present chapter, symbolic interactionism is an important theory in sociology that examines “how we [as humans] construct meanings, how we use symbols to communicate with one another and how symbols are the foundation of our world” (Henslin, 2012). In the field of sociology this theory consists of three fundamental themes –“humans have a self,” “people construct meanings, and act on the basis of those meanings” and “people take into account the possible reactions of others” (Henslin, 2012). Such themes aid in piecing together how we as a shared society and group of individuals find meaning in our lives as well as in the world around us through the incorporation of symbols. Thus, the overarching aim for the theory of “symbolic…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Symbolic Interactionism is the theory of understanding how people interact using symbolic meaning. The theory studies society by understanding the subjective meanings that individuals give things such as objects, people and behaviors. These subjective meanings are crucial as people behave based on how they feel about things and not always on what’s true. The theory centers around symbols and language and how they assist humans with giving meaning to their life experiences. It basically is the theory of how individuals make sense of the world around them.…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Those who study symbolic interactionism also known as interactionists, “focus on the subjective aspects of social life, rather than on objective, macro-structural aspects of social systems.” (Ferguson, 1959: 36). Interactionists focus on a smaller group of people rather than society. Their main focus is how people interact with each other and they pay attention to daily lives of individuals. Symbols are meanings and people use these meanings to decide what to do in their daily lives.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Duvall’s Classic Eight Stages of Family Development, Warren’s family is currently on the launching center stage (Smith & Hamon 2012). Duval describes the launching center stage, stage 6, as when the oldest child leaves home and ends when the last child has left (Smith & Hamon 2012). Warren’s family includes him and his sister, who are currently in college, and his younger brother, who is still in high school and lives with his parents. Warren’s family will be in the launching center stage until his younger brother goes to college next year. Warren said that his family is working on maintaining a supportive home base, one of the developmental tasks associated with stage 6 (Smith & Hamon 2012).…

    • 1863 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since its inception about a decade ago, social media has become one of the most successful, and the most popular new media on our society. From a conflict theorist’s perspective, social media isn’t a way to make equality, but to perpetuate and build up inequality within these virtual worlds. In my essay, I’m going in depth and explaining the article, “Social Media Got You Down? Be More Like Beyoncé”.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The strong human connections that individuals are able to create within life are ultimately inexplicable and have become necessary to be able to truly survive. Human interaction and communication are the basis of these connections and are constantly overlooked within society. The intricate patterns and details that determine the behavior of an individual and how they interact can be identified by looking at the symbols that influence their lives, such as words or gestures. Symbolic Interactionism, a micro sociological perspective that was heavily influenced by Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley, and George Herbert Mead, is a concept that analyzes society through the personal meanings that people place upon actions, objects, and daily occasions (Appelrouth & Edles 2008).…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    “The Lonely American” Do you ever find yourself with absolutely no one to talk to about just the “normal” or the most important issues in your life? Well, I do, and I’m not the only one according to an article called “The Lonely American” from my Sociology textbook. For as long as humans have gathered in groups, it seems, some people have been left on the outside looking in. America in particular the idea that loneliness intrudes a portion of society has been a near constant (Giddens). According to the sociology textbook, a great number of people were surprised to read news reports in June 2006 that “Social Isolation is Growing in the U.S.” (Vendatam 2006) and “The Lonely American Just Got a Bit Lonelier” (Fountain 2006).…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Reddit Research Paper

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The creation and use of social media has, for better or worse, become one of the defining characteristics of Generation-Z, or the Millennials. According to Pew Research, roughly 90% of young adults between the ages of 18-29 use social media. According to Link Humans, the average number of accounts run by an individual user is five (Link Humans). Those are significant numbers, and those numbers correlate to a larger shift in the way we communicate with each other and in the way we participate and create our culture and our entertainment. Users are now far more capable to participate in the creation and production of things than they used to be.…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everything is just a click away from you. Smartphones are now even considered as a substitute for your laptop. They have got everything, literally everything. Smartphones have brought a tremendous change and have contributed in making the world a global hub.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cell phones are referenced with social media outlets which allows users to connect at any time. Within these past years Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and many more apps have risen to the top showing the charts that networking is growing rapidly.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Violence In Sociology

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Section 1: The identity of a social world is a social group and view of the subject matter. The importance of violence in a society is to identify problems in where this problem comes from. Specifically, looking at a group of children where their habits involve a long amount of time on the television where they are influenced by violence. I think that views on violence in this kind of society are almost ignored. Violent behavior can influence and even corrupt those in society.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main advantage of social media is that it is an incredibly fast and effective means of communication. 92% of social media users use it to keep in touch with family and friends1. Teenagers especially…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Socialization is the problem of learning the behaviors of a given society. During socialization one will be assigned a role, and be continuously expected to fulfill that role. Individuals will also form an identity based on their role, social norms, and other aspects about their life, and this identity will eventually lead to a personality. This personality will be a pattern of behaviors that someone constructs due to their identity. Functionalists view the point of socialization as the creation of cohesion through conformity.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Social media has impacted our society and social interaction in a huge way. I hope that we can get more advanced in the future. I hope that we can keep up with our social interaction, even if and when our technology gets more advanced. Again, we talked about how children are more prone to bullying over a computer screen rather than in person, we aren’t afraid to speak out on social media but in person is a different story, we can meet new people with a click of a button and news is easy to get here unlike in other countries. All of these have impacted my life living in the United States.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics