My Sociological Perspective Essay

Essay about My Sociological Perspective
Sociology is a part of everyday life. People experience sociological changes when they get
married, get a new job, or get discriminated against. All of these things can alter a person's
perspective on a group of people or even the world. Since the beginning of this class, I have
personally endured several sociological changes in my life. I recently started a new job. I'm
meeting new and wonderful people and I no longer dread having to go to work. I have also begun
setting plans for my wedding to the one girl who I know will make everyday better than the one
before. But, perhaps the one instance that has affected me the most and the deepest was when my
parents got a divorce.
This is something that occurred over ten years ago but it...show more content...
If there was anything that I valued as a child, it was the togetherness of my mother and father. Due
to the fact that my father was now on his own and trying to raise three children (my older brother
from my father's first marriage), he had to take a different position at his work. Although he was
getting a raise it wasn't necessarily a good thing. He had to start working the night shift so he
could get the raise. He didn't really have a choice in the matter and because of this new change, I
began to lose valuable time with him as well. It was now up to my brother to watch over us at
night and make sure we got to bed on time. If there was any trouble or and problems in general,
my brother would call my grandmother. For three years my dad worked that job and every night
he would stay up after he got home to see us. He would make my sister and I breakfast and make
we were off to school on time. This meant the world to me because no matter what he always
made time for us. Now, it will soon be my turn to make the same vows my parents once did.
However, I will not make the same mistakes that they did. After seeing what divorce did to myfamily
, I will never even utter that word when I have my own. My children will never experience the pain
and agony and shear despair that I had to go through. Although it has been ten years, I still hurt.
When
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

Sociological Perspectives
Explain the principle sociological perspectives. In this essay, I am going to explain 7 different
psychological perspectives; functionalism, Marxism, feminism, interactionism, collectivism,
postmodernism and The New Right. Functionalism is a consensus theory which means it assumes
that for society to work effectively all individuals within it must function and behave properly.
Functionalist's believe that society is based upon harmony, integration and social solidarity. George
Peter Murdock was a functionalist that studied 250 societies and noted that a family existed in all of
them, he believed that the family was a universal institution that performed four functions, sexual,
reproductive, economic and educational. Functionalist's believe that as a child you gain primary
socialisation from your parents e.g. you are taught as an individual regarding your own skills,
abilities and habits that your parents have observed and then when you go into education you gain
secondary socialisation from what is taught (universalistic values) that are given to everyone else.
Functionalist's emphasise the positive aspects of schooling. Emile Durkheim (functionalist) noted
the importance in preventing anomie – a state of chaos caused by society lacking a shared set or
norms and values and argued that whilst the family is based on affective relationships (people help
each other out of love and affection) society is based on instrumental relationships (based on mutual
self

Sociological Perspective
Sociology is a systematic and scientific discipline that explores and studies the social aspects of
human behavior and groups within society; it focuses its attention on the interactions and
interrelations between people and social organizations (Basirico, Cashion, & Eshleman, 2014).
Likewise, sociology relies on and employs the scientific method to analyze society and human
interaction (Basirico, Cashion, & Eshleman, 2014). Thus, the sociological perspective is one of the
many significant elements to conducting an empirical investigation of social interactions.
Essentially, the sociological perspective is an approach that exceeds what is considered to be the
obvious and questions the truth of generalization; it regards individuals as part of a larger society,
and therefore it investigates behavioral patterns within its broader social context (Basirico, Cashion,
& Eshleman, 2014). Furthermore, the sociological perspective critically and objectively examines
and analyzes common sense assumptions regarding society and human behavior (Basirico, Cashion,
& Eshleman, 2014). The sociological perspective is divided into two levels of analysis that varies by
the size: macro sociology and micro sociology....show more content...
A discipline of social science is just as much scientific as a discipline of natural science; regardless
where a sociologist conducts their research. Sociology is not a study that confines their research
inside labs. Instead, sociologists can be found in the natural environment managing their research.
This is called field research. Field research plays a pivotal part in collecting and interpreting data
gained through observations and analysis. Nonetheless, field research has its advantages and
disadvantages, it comes with the territory, and sociology is no exception to the

The Sociological Perspective, By Peter Berger
The sociological perspective was defined by Peter Berger as seeing the general in particular.
What this means is that by using the sociological perspective, sociologists can observe trends by
looking at how individuals within groups act. Sociologists use the sociological perspective to
observe how society impacts individuals, whereas psychologists observe individuals and how
their own experiences influence their lives and choices. Someone using a political perspective
would think about how the political world can influence individuals, and someone with a religious
perspective would think about how the presence or lack of religion would affect an individual.
When adopting the sociological perspective, there are many benefits that come along with it that
change our way of thinking. The sociological perspective helps us look past our predetermined
ideas of right and wrong. Without the sociological perspective, it is easy to succumb to the idea
that we are entirely in control of our lives, and therefore easy to view successful people as
hard–working, and less successful people as lazy. It also helps us have a broader perspective on our
own lives. The text says that by using the sociological perspective, we can see our lives like a game
of cards. We have no say in what cards we're given, we only have a say in how we play them. This
can be used to show the difference between people who are given great cards, like people who are
born into upper–class families, and people who are

Sociological perspectives are applied to different aspects of everyday life which include
unemployment, violence, same–sex marriages, genetics, poverty, education, etc. Education is a social
aspect of life where people go to educational institutions to receive instructions, and essentially learn
where both functionalism and symbolic interactionism may be applied. Functionalism, also known
as structural functionalism was founded by Emile Durkheim in the mid twentieth century. The
question that this social perspective seeks to answer does social order exist, and if so how is it
possible. The basis of this sociological perspective is that society is bound together by the collective
efforts of its separate structures that allows it to function...show more content...
This third perspective in sociology basis comes from the teachings of American born, George
Herbert Mead and others who had early contributions in 20th century America. This perspective's
roots come from pragmatism developed by William James, and John Dewey. Symbolic
interactionism encompasses two key concepts: interactions, and meanings. This perspective views
society as being a production, and reproduction of the interactions between people, language, and
how we understand those communications. Blumer has three basic criteria for symbolic
interactionism which are "we act towards things on the basis of their meanings; meanings are not
inherent but are negotiated through interactions with others; and meanings can be changed or
modified through interaction." This sociological perspective is focused on answering the question
of the meanings we are able to derive from certain interactions in different aspects of everyday life.
Some critiques towards this type of sociology stems from the debate of micro vs. macro in terms of
this perspective being limited in its scope of face–to–face interactions, but over the years it has been
shown that this type of analysis is vital to understanding sociology as a

There are three specific ways to view the world from a sociological perspective. The first is
symbolic interactionism, which emphasizes the social aspect of society. People develop symbolic
meanings through social interactions. This theory analyzes the way society functions by looking at
the meanings people place on objects, whether they are physical, social, or abstract. Another
perspective is structural functionalism, which states that society is made up of interrelated parts
that work together, and is structured to do the greatest good for the benefit of the most people. This
theory views society as a complex system that works together to form solidarity and stability. Lastly,
there is the conflict theory, which says that society is composed of groups that are involved in a
constant power struggle, and even if outwardly it seems there is cooperation, there is always
underlying conflict. There is an emphasis in using...show more content...
Out of the three perspectives, the one that most closely represents my view of the world is the
conflict theory. I feel that this theory provides a very accurate description of society and people
in general. Every person wants power of some sort and struggles with how to balance this want
while still complying with social standards. There are those who want more power than others
want, and will work harder to get it, and there are those who simply want power over their own
life. This power struggle is clear in the way our society is structured, with upper, middle and lower
classes. Each class wants to move up and gain more power over the others, even those who are at the
top still struggle with maintaining their position of power. The other two perspectives

After reading these sections, I had to re–read how to transition into my source, because I sometimes
through them in there without context. I should've read this before I turned in my midterm paper
for my other class, because I got docked for throwing in a quote. But, as I am writing my final
research paper, I am prepared. Also, a nice refresher was the common logic section, because as I
invest deeper into my discipline, I am having trouble by assuming certain sociological theory is
common sense, but it's not the case. Now I know common knowledge only pertains facts, historical
events and geographical locations.
Also, I liked how this section included the information on commercial websites and how they can be
used to promote certain economic

The Sociological Perspective Essay
Using Cooley's Looking Glass, the theory that we develop our self by interacting with others, I am
able to determine my social location and analyze why. I will discuss several different sociological
factors that have influenced me and created this person.
Culturally, I am an American. I was born in Idaho, a northern state. Like many Americans, I work
hard but enjoy entertainment as well. Since I grew up in a rural mining town in Nevada, I prefer
outside activities.
I am a 22 years old, white female. I know that women have had a great deal of persecution in their
struggle for equality and happily, I can say that they did great. I was raised that I was equal to men
in every way and thus have always been treated that way. I am...show more content...
How I turned from not caring about my education to holding my mind in highest regards, is a
mystery. Now, I get A's and realize that if you try you can learn anything which also means you can
do anything. I feel that education is the most important variable in determining success and even
health. For example, Smoking is my biggest fault, vice and the one quality about myself I am
utterly embarrassed and disgusted about. My father smokes. My point is that people who smoke
usually fall into a lower social class and thus make little money. This is not because of money
rather the level of Education they received. People who are educated know the ill effects of
smoking and the tremendous loss of life because of cigarettes. While people with a high school
education or less often could care less. How many Doctors do you know that smoke cigarettes or
use chewing tobacco? I know the ratio or percentage is less than the number of waiters or waitress'.
Thus education affects more than our income, it also affects our health.
I am part of the working class, making around 34,000 my gross income per year. Although I am
classed by the book as working class, I feel like high middle class. I know the reason is because I
more than doubled my income when starting my first nursing job thus for the first time not having
to scramble to pay bills. I still carry debt from a truck and old student

Sociological Perspective Essay
The purpose of this paper is to construct an essay and define the sociological perspective. To be
able to explain how my knowledge of the Sociological Perspective has helped me to understand the
social world on both a macro and micro level. This essay will include the definition, discussion and
application of specific sociological terms, concepts and theories.
The study of sociology brings people to view topics in a unique way than others. The way we see
the world, human behavior, as well as its connection to society from an outside point of view is
called social imagination or perception. The sociological imagination "searches for the link between
micro and macro levels of analysis," a concept that basically says that a person lives...show more
content...
Second each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability or equilibrium of the
unified whole. Therefore, everything is perceived in a "big picture" from a macro point of view on
life in our society. Manifest functions are the obvious, intended functions of a social structure, while
latent functions are the less obvious, perhaps unintended functions.
Conflict theory is the second major school of thought in sociology. It is a macro–level type of
approach to understand social interactions in social life, just like functionalism. A difference in
conflict theory is that our society is viewed as always being in a constant struggle, unlike
functionalism which theorizes that our society is stable. Conflict theory is a paradigm that sees
social conflict as the basis of society and social change, and emphasizes a materialist view of
society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change. Some
sociologists may believe that if these tensions, stresses, and struggles never existed in our society
people may be more driven to achieve greatness in education, or simply more motivated to set
higher goals. Just like functionalism, the conflict theory viewed society on a macro sociological
level, but the individual person in our society are having their lives shaped by the economy, control
and power. The conflict perspective's main idea is that there are opposing interests

Sociological Aging Social aging is referring to the changes in individual's roles and relationship in
the society as they age. There are many different theories concerning sociological aging. Social
theories on aging examine the relationship between individual experiences and social institutions e.g.,
aging and retirement; aging and institutional care; aging and government policy etc (Barkan 2012).
All have limitations, and some can be considered more than others when attempting to understand
social changes in aging. Also individuals move through life surrounded by social support system.
Some theories of aging such as, role theory, activity theory, modernization, etc. consist of different
ways older adults transition through life such as, networks of relatives, friends, and organization that
help provide emotional support and help in managing activities in daily living.
Most social gerontologist chose activity theory. Activity theory is widely supported opposing theory
to disengagement in old age. This theory argues that actively engaged older persons have greater
life satisfaction (Activity Theory 2014). Activity theory is also known as normal theory of aging,
implicit theory of aging, and lay theory of aging. There is a positive relationship among an
individual satisfaction and level of activity, which can raise positive views they may have of
themselves (Activity Theory 2014). Active theory is usually contrasted with disengagement theory.
Disengagement theory is a social

Understand The Sociological Perspective
To understand what sociological perspective is we must first understand what sociology is.
Sociology started in the eighteenth and nineteenth century due to changes that came from the
political, social, economic, and technological revolutions of that time. New ways to examine and
perceive the social world was needed thus sociology was born. "Sociology is the systematic study of
human society" (Macionis, 2016). Sociology helps us understand the development, structure, and
all the aspects of how society functions. Sociological perspective is "sociology's special point of
view that sees general patterns of society in the lives of particular people" (Macionis, 2016). Human
life and social interactions shape groups in society. It is an approach

In this essay I will be discussing sociological perspectives and how it helps us understand society.
I will be furthering on how we understand society through functionalism and how conflict is within
everyday life. I will be giving an overview on how things such as, symbolic interactionism and
feminism affect today's society as a whole whilst evaluating legislations and frameworks along
with how social democracy has an impact on society. Sociological imagination is an idea used by C.
Wright Mills which focuses on looking at a bigger picture. The sociological imagination looks at
why we do as society says and how a private trouble compared to a public issue is usually
self–constructed. It is found when someone shares a private issue people usually feel the same
therefore by sharing a private trouble and making it a public issue, it will lead to a lot of people
feeling the same and having the same trouble. So, public issues such as, poverty, food banks, etc.
should be the real concern and be made the real issue. Sociological imagination looks at how
society, education, governments, etc. contribute to people's private issues. People often find their
struggles (unemployment) is a personal weakness caused by their own errors. However, it is
unlikely these problems, thoughts and feelings that one encounters in their life is unique and are the
only ones experiencing this. Therefore when people in society lack the ability to gain success, the
priority should be finding the roots of

Rough Draft
Sociology is a very rewarding and interesting subject to delve into and I thoroughly enjoy all that it
has to offer. Sociology helps us to look objectively at our society and other society's, as well as to
better understand individual interactions between other people. When first deciding to immerse
yourself into sociology, I think that there are three sociological perspectives one must be familiar
with to better his or her understanding of general sociology and to allow the learning process to
progress naturally and in a more fluid manner. Symbolic interactionalism, which simply put, is the
use of symbols and face to face interactions specifically involving linguistic or subjective
communication. Another sociological perspective that I think is incredibly vital to learn is
functionalism. Functionalism; briefly put, is the relationship between different parts of society and
how those aspects function. Lastly, we have conflict theory. Conflict theory is simply the
competition for scarce resources and how the elite controls the weaker groups. These are the three
theoretical perspectives that I believe will immensely help your understanding of sociology, as they
can be related to almost every concept in this field.
Let's start with symbolic interactionalism. Symbolic interactionalism is defined by (Henslin 2015)
as "a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to
establish meaning, develop

Sociological Perspective Essay
Sociology is the objective study of society and human behavior and is one of the five major social
studies, such as Anthropology, Psychology, and Economics. Sociology was first theorized by French
philosopher, Auguste Comte, who believed "Sociology was the final social study that integrated all
findings and information into a cohesive whole"***. Today,Sociology consists of demographic
variables such as, race and ethnicity, social class, and gender. As Sociology began to gather a
following and materialize into our understanding of it today, it must contain a neutral and unique
outlook on society. This is known as the Sociological Perspective, which consist of three different
perspectives, levels, and focuses. According to functionalism, all things must contribute to society to
promote solidarity and stability**. This perspective looks at society on a macro–level. Unlike
symbolic interactionism, functionalism focuses on the analysis of social systems and attempts to
explain large–scale relationships. On the other side of the scale, micro–level theories cover specific
engagements within small groups. Functionalism was first explored through the works of English
philosopher and biologist Herbert Spencer. He often compared the human body to that of a human
society. Each organ must work together in order to regulate each system of the body. Spencer
referred to many systems such as government, the economy, media, education, and religious
institutions (Maryanski and Turner 1992).

I have grown up in church. I have been to church pretty much every Sunday of my life. My family
never really missed church, except if we sick. Even when we were on vacation, we would go to
church. I also spent a lot of time at youth group. During my time at youth group, there were
positive and negative experiences that I had. Even though I do not want to go into youth
ministries, I still think my background shapes my opinion on it. Let's start with junior high youth
group. I was forced to go to youth group my whole life. I did not always want to go and I hated
going because I did not want to be social. We had a small youth group of about 15 students. There
were two couples who taught it. One couple did the teaching while the other couple was in charge
of games. My parents were in charge of the games. Although I was forced to go, I think I learned a
lot from it. One of the biggest things that I remember about that youth group was learning about
manners. This is something we spent a lot of time on. Every other week, we would split the youth
group into boys and girls, and each had our own teaching time. For us young men, we...show more
content...
This was a Christian movie about a young man who learns to love others and how we can be an
example to non–Christians. We watched the movie and then we had a discussion. The discussion
wasn't anything to powerful, but it was the weeks to come that really impacted me. Our youth
pastor continued to talk about this for several weeks after. He shared his only personal story
about this topic which was really powerful. It helped me to deal with the issue that I was
wrestling with. I felt that there were many fakers in our youth group. It really challenged me to
try to love other people. It took a while for this to set in but once it did, it gave give me a new
perspective on people. I am glad that our youth pastor decided to show

Sociology : A Sociological Perspective
Sociology is the study of society and social lives and forces that influence people and shape the
construction of society their lives. It also gives us an awareness of cultural difference that allows
us to see the social world from many perspectives. (Sutton 2013). Sociology perspectives are
overview of human behaviour and its connection to society as a whole. A sociological theory is a
set of ideas explain how society or aspects of society work and there are many variations of the
basic theories. There will be introduced when they become applicable to certain cases (Haralambos
& Holborn 2008).There are many sociological perspectives, the three major theoretical perspectives
in sociology is the structured –functionalist ,the conflict perspective ,and symbolic interactionism.
The functionalist perspectives focus on cooperation between the parts of society. The conflict
perspectives mainly focus on how the wealthy explore the poor and weak, while the symbolic
interactions it focus on the sociological view on the micro level, and on face– to– face interaction
between people (Crompton 1998).
Functionalism is a theoretical perspective, introduced first by an American sociologist Talcott
Parson in early the 20th century and it became popular during the 1940;s and 1950's. Functionalism
is based on a cooperative relationship between social system and organic system, the character of a
society is seen to be interrelated forming a complete system such as the family or religion,

Growing up, my life was somewhat sheltered compared to the lives of other people my age. I was
raised by both my mom and dad in a Christian household, in which I was taught morals based upon
our faith. As a result of this upbringing, my parents and I made the decision to enroll me in a
private Christian school in sixth grade. In this setting I was protected from the influences of the
outside world. All of the language, violence, and temptations were around me, which I began to
recognize as I entered my freshman year of high school. Even the walls of the highly respected
establishment could not keep the real world out.
By junior year of high school, I was faced with the most challenging atmosphere that I have ever
experienced. In November of...show more content...
I walked in the doors with wide eyes and walked out with my head spinning. Never in my life had I
ever heard such an abundance of curse words and foul language. My co–workers and even my
managers portrayed lifestyles that I had not encountered before. At this point I began to question
whether this was the right job for me. I became afraid that the behavior of those around me would
have a negative influence on me and would cause me to stray from the direction that God wanted
me to travel. For a short while I contemplated the idea of giving my two weeks notice. I was not
sure that I would have the ability to stay away from and resist all of the behaviors that I had been
taught were wrong. Almost every conversation between my co–workers consisted of drugs, drinking,
or sex and some would even come to work hung over the next day. These were teenagers my own
age who were living lives that were the complete opposite of what I desired. Despite all of this, I
made the decision to continue working. At first I chose to refrain from as much interaction with my
fellow employees,

Sex, is the infrequently spoken about paradigm in our society. With every paradigm shift comes
consequences from where society once was to what it is becoming. There is no beginning to
pre–modern and modernity but rather they merge into one another. A pre–modern society can be
characterized by a combination of economic, political and culturally. In a pre–modern society, it was
a time without class distinctions and society shared the same values. A pre–modern society did not
see themselves as having a secular identity rather a group identity. The start of the industrialization
and the rapid technological and scientific development, globalization is what started the shift in to
the modernity of our society. Modernity gave life to humans valuing...show more content...
The larger economy issues on women has created that if women want to work to contribute to the
themselves or a family. As the globalization is happening around our society the competition is
increasing. So, women of today larger economy are achieving higher education. The status of role
of and status of women are increasing year by year and their importance in the economy. The role
of women in the economy is increasing every year families tend to suffer. Social changes of the
1970's allowed women the use of contraceptives and allowing the woman a chance to hold off on
having a family. Marriage in the larger economy means that a house hold tends to have more
capital. As the couple are more likely to be higher educated they will have more purchasing power.
But marriage has taken a dip in this new larger economy and the sexes are becoming more
important to the economy people are not meeting each other. The larger economy creates a new
dichotomy in our society regarding the role of women and family and marriage plays it role in

In this paper, I am a sociologist researching my life. This paper is a reflection of my understanding
of sociological perspective that I have learned from the class. I am demonstrating competency in
this subject by applying each of the sociological topics to my life I will provide an in–depth and
critical examination of the force that have shaped me so far in my life
Socialization is a work of temperament's a human somebody's} personality throughout a life viewed
by experiences. The event of the newcomer is changing into members of existing teams of society.
By thinking, feeling, and acting in ways that the cluster points of read, that's applicable. This can be
a productive method in social life united learns their temperament and, therefore,...show more
content...
Most of the mass media (CNN.MSNBC, and Fox News) contribute to the continued battle of the
liberal, and its TV and plenty of styles of the net and social media. Media has formed my race of
black folks as social lepers that our lives don't matter, and that we leech on the government an
excessive amount of. It's happened to different minorities, women, and therefore the gay and lesbian.
This has a sway on America has some have taken these views too seriously as they're hate crimes
against them.
Isolation: Effects of being socially isolated to the point of mental disability. In the cases of Anna,
Isabelle, and Genie. "Wild child or first girls" the term of unaccompanied children. Who are
current so badly that they are given any life skills? It is like being born, and nothing happens
mentally. If lucky they are rescued early and given a shot at life. (Page128)
In my lifetime, I was not paid attention to a lot as a child and the care that was put on me I did
not want. I had become a victim of all types of abuse, but I have been lucky in a way not to be
isolated. In those cases listed above, there was a chance of all of those girls and many children in
those situations to have a proper

My Sociological Perspective
Born onto a Canvas with Already Dried Paint
We like to think that we are all unique and that we have full control of the forces that affect our
lives. Many aspects of one's personality and life can be explained by larger social forces such as
socioeconomic status, race and gender roles. It was not until I started this sociology class that I began
thinking of my life in a larger sociological sense. I realize now that my life has been influenced by a
variety of social forces that I did not have control of.
In general I have lived a privileged life. I would describe my upbringing as upper middle class
economically with a more standard middle class social class. Thinking about it now, that type of
upbringing has had a profound impact on my life. I have become accustomed to a life of
semi–luxury where I get what I want and I am not limited in the opportunities that I want to
pursue. I have the opportunity and support structure to pursue whatever I want and I believe that
gives me a general optimistic outlook on life. I admit to being somewhat isolated and that I will
most likely never understand the struggles of poverty. I have generally been friends with those that
are fairly close to me in socioeconomic status. This will limit the way I view the world and the
ideas I have about welfare and about what success is. My parents...show more content...
However, thinking about my life from a sociological perspective has given me a new way of
looking at my life. I am an upper middle class white male who is in large part influenced my
societal values in the same way as everyone else. I now have a better understanding of where my
place in society is and how I got to be in that position. I look forward to further sociological
examination in the future and the greater understanding of the world around me that comes with

My Sociological Perspective Essay

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from Paper Writing Services Reviews

More from Paper Writing Services Reviews (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

My Sociological Perspective Essay