Comparison Of Manifest Destiny And The Monroe Doctrine

Sociology in short, is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies. Thinking sociologically can teach us about simple human reactions and even major social events. It helps people expand on why certain things happen in the world, or at home, rather than just reacting emotionally. Sociology dissects the tiny fabric of society that people either overlook, or do not care to notice.
One of the biggest global issues today, is the formation of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS. We see on the news the horrors of beheading, sex slavery, and warfare, all in the name of what they consider to be religion. Now a typical person hearing about this would immediately react in shock because they cannot imagine people living that way, but, and this is mostly from western societies, not surprised. The

word terrorism is typically synonymous with the world Muslim. When people hear a group like ISIS committing these atrocities in the name of religion, to most people that seems believable, because most people fail to think sociologically.
People skipping the step of seeing what makes up a society allows radical groups like ISIS to somehow become the voice of truth everyone believes.

Now in Kyle Wards’ and Dana Lindaman’s article titled How textbooks around the World Portray U.S. History, it portrays different countries examining American history, specifically the ideas of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. In one instance in the article the great American expansion was said to be obtained by “bribery, conspiracy, and war” (Lindaman and Ward How Textbooks… p.54). Now if I were a foreigner reading this I would think all Americans were greedy capitalist trying to take over the world. However sociology requires me to delve deeper. First off, this book is looking at these concepts from a solely political standpoint. It fails to mention the overcrowding U.S. cities that practically forced people to look out west, and the reason people needed to believe in a sort of divine power, was because realistically the chances of surviving the trip was bleak, and making a living once they got there, was even bleaker. People needed something to believe in and manifest destiny was

it.
Now how other countries judge us, is no different how we judge ISIS and the Muslim community. In Salam Al-Marayati’s article, No, ISIS doesn’t represent Islam, he states many people fail to see the difference between the two. “The real essence of Islam, which is based on the principles of justice, liberation and compassion” (Al-Marayati No,ISIS p.1). The Islam community has a very rich culture that over the last two decades, has all but diminished in the world’s eyes due to crimes committed by a few. Sociology wants us to look at the whole picture, rather than make conclusions based on the small bits of conclusion we are typically given.
Sociology is not the answer to life, in fact it is far from it. It will not tell us what is right or what is wrong and how we should feel about it. It simply makes people look at the whole picture. We look to sociology to figure out why some things are common in some parts of the world, and why some things are not. It makes us look beyond our own lives and what is happening elsewhere, and if it at all is affecting our own way of life. I leave you with this, Why is it easy for people to make generalizations about a group of people without considering sociology?