Max von Stephanitz

Sociological imagination is the awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society. Similar to that in psychology of having a metacognitive thinking skill, sociological imagination is where an individual must think outside of their societies restraints and into a much wider view of a larger society. C. Wright Mills explains that the term means the ability to view one’s own society as an outsider would, rather than only from the perspective of personal experiences and…

In this modern age, a person can feel lost based on the labor they are producing for the owners of different companies. Both Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim discuss how alienation and anomie are problems that are affecting an individual within their workplace. Karl Marx talks about the perspective of how the worker feels alone in an overregulated society. On the other hand, Durkheim argues the opposite, how a person can experience issues of feeling under regulated in society. Marx and Durkheim…

The Roman Empire was an empire that expanded by wars and conquers places. Therefore, the State had many slaves in addition to a steady flow of new people acquired by the conquests to put them to work, and their economy was on exchange of goods and agriculture. The Roman Empire used to collect some sort of taxes from its people to boost its economy in many ways. Those collected taxes were spent for the military expenses at first, and the rest of them were spent at Rome. The Roman economy had…

Sociologists use theories to understand society and the observations they have made about it. There are three types of sociological theories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. Each theory provides a unique point of view in which to interpret society (15). According to symbolic interactionists, society relies on symbols. Symbols are the things with which we attribute value or significance, and understanding these symbols is important to understanding our…

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, discusses a distinct class structure, which dictates the roles of the powerful and the powerless. The society appears to be egalitarian; however, it becomes abundantly clear that it is a capitalist society where oppression of the masses is evident. Those that accumulate the most wealth in the village, are those that become the most powerful; ultimately demonstrating the division of power and labour. The black box is crucial in the process of the lottery and is…

Question 1: In The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as mass deception, Adorno and Horkheimer are observing the culture industry. The culture industry is the entire system of production and circulation that establishes mass, mainstream, and popular culture. In this essay, the authors illustrate more precisely the relationship between culture industry and reality by explaining that “[r]eal life is becoming indistinguishable from the movies. The sound film, […], leaves no room for imagination or…

Short Answer Question #1 How is the conflict perspective used to analyze social issues? Who in society is most likely to adopt the conflict perspective? Provide an example from the course to illustrate your answer. The conflict theory suggests that an individual’s worth in society and within class groupings is determined by the relation that individual has to power. This theory focuses on the conflicts and differences between the classes, and the tension and conflict between the classes can…

Functionalism The functionalism, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It has been rooted in the works of Emile Durkheim, and further developed by Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton. Emile Durkheim argued in his work The division of Labor in Society (1893), that the broad structures (values, norms, and belief systems) and institutions (economy, politics, education, religion, and family) of society work together to maintain the stability of society and keep it functioning…

Comparing and Contrasting Giddens and Bourdieu Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu both focused their social theories on proving the same phenomenon. The central focus of their studies was related to the relationship between structure and agency. Previous classical theorists stated that both structure and agency were two different concepts that existed in opposition to each other. However, Giddens and Bourdieu set out their theories to prove that both structure and agency are separate concepts…

There is prima facie surrounding Marx and Durkheim’s concepts of alienation and anomie regarding their similarities. Marx and Durkheim both look at comparable topics such as the effects of a sense of exclusion and cohesion often both arriving at similar conclusions such as the agreeing that the rise of modernity can have negative effects on society. However, their methods, expertise and interests are completely different as they collective evidence from different areas of society. The two…