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Social theories on sociological imagination
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Modern society is typically split into a strict gender dichotomy of males and females. Each gender has a set of socially constructed roles and stereotypes that determine how each individual is viewed and treated in society. As I have progressed through school, I have noticed that expectations for females differed from their male counterparts. In school and at home, girls are typically expected to be more well-behaved and studious than boys. Since girls are beginning to attend college more than boys, society expects more girls than boys to pursue a college education. I have probably internalized these expectations and inadvertently used them as motivation for success. In some ways, my gender has also put me at a disadvantage in school. From a young age, many girls are coddled and encouraged to act nicely (Conley 130). They are expected to be caring, loving, and quiet. Being raised as a female has ingrained these tendencies into my personality and behavior patterns. Therefore, in …show more content…
Specific factors cannot be attributed to a single societal cause. I am a successful student and have had a positive school experience only because aspects of my life have prepared me to succeed. Throughout the process of writing this paper, I have discovered an abundance of information about the circumstances that shape my education. The sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that it is important for people to look at the world through the lens of their sociological imaginations (Conley 4). Through the utilization of my sociological imagination in examining my own life, I have realized that aspects of life that seem normal are actually heavily impacted by social factors. To be able to understand larger patterns of society, we must first understand ourselves, our biases, and the agents that influence our lives and perspectives on a daily
Too often, students are taught that their lives are defined by who they are and what they do, not by circumstances. But circumstances can be very crucial to determining how a person’s life is shaped. It’s no secret that not all schools and neighborhoods are created equal. Some schools offer advanced classes, and college prep, and opportunities, while some schools don’t even have textbooks. Even within the circumstances, there are circumstances. The students in the latter school that lacks textbooks may have parents who go the extra mile to ensure that they have more opportunities, or could have parents who don’t have the resources to do that. Environment and circumstance can make a huge difference, and Wes Moore’s The Other Wes Moore is a fantastic
Because young boys are more active they often are disciplined, while girls are often quieter and naturally become a teacher’s favorite. This causes problems because classrooms naturally become more attuned to a girl’s style of learning, leaving young boys behind in the classroom from an early age. “Boy Problems” by Ann Hulbert goes into detail over the increasing “gender educational disparity.” Hulbert gives the reader useful information about how and why men are falling behind and the increasing gender differences in education. When fixing a problem one must first realize the problem exists. Now that the problem has come to light, action must be
After watching this video, it became clear to be that my views on traditional masculine and feminine traits will be influenced. I understand the pressure that is put on both males and females to conform to society and the gender roles that accompany their culture. I will make a conscious effort to encourage males to act outside of the image they believe to be masculine. I will let them share their feelings and provide them with emotional support when they need it. I will also look at feminism differently. Before watching this video I believed that feminism was a good thing— now I believe that the idea of it is good but that is should change its objectives. I think that women should focus more on equality and less on the superiority of women. My thoughts regarding gender roles will be influenced after watching this movie.
What is stereotype? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stereotype as “believing unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same.” Stereotypes are everywhere. Stereotypes cover racial groups, gender, political groups and even demographic. Stereotypes affect our everyday lives. Sometimes people are judged based on what they wear, how they look, how they act or people they hang out with. Gender and racial stereotypes are very controversial in today’s society and many fall victims. Nevertheless, racial and gender stereotypes have serious consequences in everyday life. It makes individuals have little to no motivation and it also puts a label about how a person should act or live. When one is stereotype they
Girls are supposed to play with dolls, wear pink, and grow up to become princesses. Boys are suppose to play with cars, wear blue, and become firefighters and policemen. These are just some of the common gender stereotypes that children grow up to hear. Interactions with toys are one of the entryway to different aspects of cognitive development and socialism in early childhood. As children move through development they begin to develop different gender roles and gender stereotypes that are influenced by their peers and caregivers. (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002; Freeman, 2007; Leaper, 2000)
Changes in society have brought issues regarding gender stereotype. Gender roles are shifting in the US. Influences of women’s movement (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006) and gender equality movement (e.g., Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)) have contributed to expanding social roles for both genders. Nevertheless, gender stereotypes, thus gender stereotype roles continue to exist in the society (Skelly & Johnson, 2011; Wood & Eagly, 2010). With changes in gender roles, pervasiveness of gender stereotype results in a sense of guilt, resentment, and anger when people are not living up to traditional social expectations (Firestone, Firestone, & Catlett, 2006). Furthermore, people can hold gender stereotype in pre-reflective level that they may
You are at an interview, the interviewer says that you are not qualified for the job because of your gender. What would you say? Sexism has caused stereotypes, and harassment in the workforce, and professional sports, therefore people should know more about sexism. Media is a powerful tool of communication, it produces both negative and positive impacts on society.
The work's topicality is characterized by the existence of the gender stereotypes in society, having generalization, and does not reflect individual differences in the human categories. Meanwhile, there is still discrimination on the labour market, human trafficking, sexual harassment, violence, women and men roles and their places in the family. Mass media offers us the reality, reduces the distance, but we still can see the negative aspects too. TV cultivates gender stereotypes, offering ideas about gender, relationships and ways for living. Such media ideas attach importance to many people in the society. Consequently, it is quite important identify gender stereotypes in the media, in order to prevent false views relating to gender stereotypes.
Sociological Imagination vs. Common Sense This essay will aim to explain the differences between the sociological imagination and common sense. What the sociological imagination and common sense are and how they are at work in our society today. Using the area of educational achievement I will bring into this essay examples through research and findings from sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu, Culture Capital (1977), Bernstein (1961)speech patterns’ and Paul Willis (1977)learning to labour, and use these examples as evidence to show how these would explain educational achievement in relation to the sociological imagination and common sense assumptions. I shall begin this essay by discussing where the sociological imagination arose from and what this is in comparison to common sense.
It isn’t hard for me to think back to my gendered socialization, strictly because me being a man was drilled into my head since the day that I was born. I was born on January 6th 1985 in a suburb of Olathe Kansas, and In Olathe high school sports are everything. I have pictures of me when I was five months old with cowboy outfits, and football uniforms. As I became old enough to walk I was thrown into every sport possible. I played football, baseball, soccer, and basketball. I had practice year round sometimes everyday, and no matter how much complaining I did I was at every practice everyday. My father wanted me to be the best at everything I did; therefore I spent many nights after practice practicing with him. When I was that young I enjoyed every second of practice with my father. Being the best was so deeply instilled in me that anytime I failed it was a catastrophe to me. For example in baseball I would probably only strike out three to four times a season, which is great looking back now, but when I did strike out I became irate. I would be kicked out of those three or fo...
This problem occurs in schools everywhere and is starting to become more evident in today's society. The problem is that boys and girls learning potential are not being reached when put into the same teaching atmosphere. Girls seem to be out smarting boys in many classes. While boys excel in math and sciences and girls seem to be better in English. The styles in which boys and girls feel comfortable with are extremely different. The learning styles of girls usually contain socializing and context. For instance, most girls like to talk in small groups about the current discussion. They also like hands on activities or real life situations to compare things to. Boys are confrontational and formal. They need to be challenged by their teachers to help motivate them to become better students and be prepared. In contrast girls do not like to be confronted by teachers who are asking for an immediate answers. In most cases, girls seem to be more reserved and modest than boys about their intelligence ("What are someÉ) are. Their differences may not seem evident but make a difference to reaching their highest learning potential.
Finally, it is a general opinion among many that academic performance is a manner of will and determination of an individual rather than their socioeconomic status. For instance, in schools of higher learning, there are a lot of students from richer backgrounds who do not perform well as compared to those perceived to be from poor backgrounds (Sacerdote, 2002). Research has shown that while socioeconomic status may influence the availability or access to learning materials, it is the student’s personal determination to excel that determines the kind of lifestyle they
Today, every one of us is spending more of his leisure time watching TV, listening to the radio or reading newspapers and magazines. The shows on the TV and the articles in the newspapers influence our decision process, shaping our perceptions for the world.
Social institutions are an important element in the structure of human societies. They provide a structure for behavior in a particular part of social life. The five major social institutions in large societies are family, education, religion, politics, and economics. While each institution does deal with a different aspect of life, they are interrelated and intersect often in the course of daily life. For example, for schools to be able to exist they rely on funding from the government. This is an intersection between politics and education. Social institutions affect individual lives through other aspects of society such as culture, socialization, social stratification, and deviance. This paper will focus on the social institution of education, and how it affects individual lives through socialization, deviance, and social stratification.
Women, Girls, Boys and Men today face a variety of different issues in contemporary american society. Many of the problems that they face are regarding gender and cultural issues. Today we say that both genders are equal but in reality they are really not. We have both girls and both falling behind in school because of these cultural issues. According to David Brooks article titled “Honor Code,” the reason why boys especially, are falling behind in education is because of the way the education system is set-up. He states that schools today proclaim that they are diverse, but in fact they have become “homogeneous,” they only cater to students who are “nurturing, collaborative, disciplined, neat, studious, industrious and ambitious.” He says that those who do not fit in with those categories are left behind, they become disconnected and eventually withdraw completely from their education. It has become a huge problem in the U.S, where colleges are lowering their admission standards just so they can admit more men. Mr. Brooks says the problems with boys is that they are naturally aggres...