SOC101C00 Introduction Sociology
- Khalil Alareer
- Professor: Laura Howe
- December 10, 2016
- SOC101C00 Introduction to Sociology I: Final Paper
- CCC Online
Teamwork Team Together Collaboration Diversity People Group Concept
- For the purpose of final project, it is required to choose ten concepts which we have studied in this course. Sociology has enlightened us with various concepts and it had shown its practical aspects in day to day life. Out of so many concepts it was tough to decide which one to leave and which one to choose. Yet, I have managed to choose ten concepts on which I am supposed to explain them and how they are influencing and having an impact in my life. Those ten concepts are: culture, culture of poverty, deviance, education in global perspective, social class, ideology, achievement and success, standards of gender, race and aggregate.
- Starting from the discussion of culture, it means “the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that are passed from one generation to the next” (Henslin, 2011, p. 36). For example, the United Sates is a multicultural country. Every human is following some kind of culture inspired from a particular set of beliefs, traditions, older generations etc.
- As per my life, culture plays an important role. It is an essential part which substantiates my existence. It defines me and is one of many aspects which help in proving my identity. All humans believes in some or the other kind of culture. Similarly, I have faith in certain sets of my traditions and beliefs and I live according to those cultures and traditions. I have learnt about my culture from my parents and ancestors. Since my childhood, just by way of noticing them, I started adopting those cultural aspects in my life.
- The second concept is Culture of poverty. It is based on the assumption that the values of poor make them primarily different from other people. There thought process and other factors are largely responsible behind the reason of poverty. And, poverty-stricken parents spread poverty across generations by passing these characteristics to their children. The concept argues that poverty exist in our society in spite of the fact that various anti-poverty programs are held on a large scale (Society Pages, 2016).
- From the practical aspect of life, I know a family who is quite poor and it takes great pain to manage two meals for a day. Due to their condition, their standard of living is also low as compared to other people. Once, a businessman who stays nearby offered one of a member of that family a job for which he was required to get reallocated. That member rejected the offer on the grounds that he won’t be able to stay far away from his family. He avoided a fact that this job will lessen their economic problems and would help in uplifting their standard of living. But it was due to his culture, he denied this job opportunity. This explains the culture of poverty.
- The third concept is deviance. It means violation of norms, rules or expectations. It is the learning of violation of cultural norms in proper or improper manner. It generally exists in all form of societies. The problem revolves around social situation and societal compressions. There can be any range of deviance as far as sociology is concerned. Right from minor to something major like theft or murder. There are always two possible chances where an individual can act on the basis of social rules or can violate them.
- Few weeks back, robbery took place in my locality. Robbery is an example of deviance as it does disrupt the societal norms. Such act is heinously punishable by law. Physical attack is also an example of deviance. Control of police is quite high for such cases and people involved in such activities, when caught are severely punished for their involvement in the concept of deviance.
SOC101C00 Introduction Sociology
- The next concept is education in global perspective. Education is an important aspect in our society and plays a major role in an individual’s life. In this developing environment, education is very important as per global perspective. It covers the basis of why education is important in today’s society in most countries. People with higher education are more preferred in the job market as compared to people who are school pass out (“Education and the Global Perspective”, 2016).
- As far as education is concerned in practical life, I have friends where some are highly qualified and some are school pass out. Those who are highly qualified are working for big corporations while those are school pass outs, there salary drawings are not as high as compared to those working in big corporations. The difference is due to level of education. This shows the role play of education in global perspective.
- Social class means cluster of people who are having similar levels of prosperity, effect and position. These are generally divided into three levels, upper, lower and middle. People, from different walks of life fall into these sections as per their level of wealth and position. Social class is decided on the basis of education, talent and work and is not decided by birth (“What comes after those ellipses?”, 2016).
- In practical life, social class is well seen during election seasons. During this time, people are segregated on the basis of their level of social class and are targeted as per their needs and wants due to various reasons. Discrimination on the basis of wealth is quite famous example from reality aspects and can be seen around our society.
- Ideology refers to bunch of ideas and beliefs that is tied to a certain goal, expectations and actions. It is driven by the fact of philosophical tendencies or thoughts which are proposed by the upper class of society to other members of society. Ideology is adopted in order to have a prospective change in the society. It is one the instrument in the field of sociology to have a constructive change in society (“Ideology”, 2016).
- From the practical aspects, it is an ideology of people that they respect and follow their religion judiciously. Some follow Christianity; some are the followers of other religions. These are basically concept of ideology that exists and people adopt for their sustenance in society.
- Achievement and success is another concept in sociology which talks about the values of getting ahead at work or school and achieving prosperity, power and status. Achievement is the ideology which believes that more you work hard in your field of education or work; more you will be successful in the long run. It is the society which apprehends or believes in such notions that by hard work and education one can achieve success. Both, achievement and success are connected through structural domain in sociology (“Achievement and Success in American Culture”, 2016).
- Practically, achievement and success is perceived in our society in different ways by different types of people. The one who is quite fat and had lost his fat by daily exercise and aerobics is an achievement for him and one excelling in his class with good grades is termed as success.
- Standards of gender believe that each human group determines its ideas of “maleness” and “femaleness.” Our society has very clear images of what a “male” should look like, and what a “female” should look like, with that comes associated gender roles and norms. As we are becoming more and more accepting of all gender identifications, it is good for our society and for individuals too (Crossman, 2016).
- Currently, as we can see in our society that women are equally taking a stand to work in office and to manage household activities along with official activities. Previously, it was not the case. Women used to confine themselves to household works but now the scenario has changed.
- Race is another concept in sociology which is used to signify different varieties of human. Based on skin color, physical look people are organized in groups. The absence of any kind of foundation makes it more difficult to define or classify them. Though, there is no hard and fast rule for it, still it is governed by people’s thought process and beliefs. Race is defined as “a group of people with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from another group (Cole, 2016).
- We, the people, belong to this race and our ancestors were known for a different kind of period of those times. Minorities, discrimination on the basis of culture and tradition are an example of race from the practical point of view of life. Ethnic characteristics are also governed by the race. Africans, Americans, Afghans are people who belongs to different race of this mankind.
- Lastly, the concept of aggregate prevails which believes that these are those people who are together for a temporary or short period of time. The concept of aggregate falls in between social category and social group. It does not necessarily mean those people should have anything in common or they should interact on a regular basis (Crossman, 2016)
- As far as the practical life is concerned, people gathering in park for some fun activities, or a social gathering in parties which we generally attend in our daily lives are some examples of aggregate. In this, we meet to fulfill the purpose of gathering. As soon as the purpose is achieved, the concept of aggregate ceases to be in force.
- Thus, these were my ten concepts from the course which I have discussed above along with practical aspects. My final paper was all about some concepts of sociology which I have picked up from our curriculum. The paper also highlights that how it impacts our life.
References
- Achievement and Success in American Culture. (2016). prezi.com. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from https://prezi.com/uczphbhc_7nv/achievement-and-success-in-american-culture/
- Cole, N. (2016). How Do Sociologists Define Race?. About.com Education. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from http://sociology.about.com/od/R_Index/fl/Race.htm
- Crossman, A. (2016). All About the Sociology of Gender. About.com Education. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Gender.htm
- Crossman, A. (2016). What’s the Difference Between an Aggregate and a Social Aggregate?. About.com Education. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from http://sociology.about.com/od/A_Index/g/Aggregate.htm
- Education and the Global Perspective. (2016). Boundless. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/education-13/education-and-the-global-perspective-97/education-and-the-global-perspective-549-10219/
- Ideology. (2016). Boundless. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/socialization-4/agents-of-socialization-46/ideology-291-8668/
- Society Pages, T. (2016). Re-evaluating the “Culture of Poverty” – The Society Pages. Thesocietypages.org. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from https://thesocietypages.org/roundtables/culture-of-poverty/
- What comes after those ellipses?. (2016). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-class.html
