Sociological Analysis

People are constantly saying that science is all around us, while this may be a cliché, it is true. Sociology is one of the many sciences that can be found in everyday life. A person who is older may often say “back in my day” referring to their childhood and making a point that almost everything in society has changed since they were a child. Well, a multitude of things have changed in society; however, that is something that is going to happen with time no matter what. Some of the innumerable aspects of life that have changed are mass transit, capitalism, religion, marriage, and technology.

To begin, mass transit used to rule the city life, nobody could get around without using some form of public transportation. Now, there are many

different ways to get around the city and other urban areas. Public transit started to die out when certain major corporations started to buy the means of transit (Massey, 2015). These companies did not have the intention of making the system thrive; as a matter of fact, General Motors ended up creating a monopoly out of the public transit system. First, they started with the use of diesel buses and then ended up producing cars. While, some forms of public transportation are still prevalent in today’s society there are also many other ways to get around the cities nowadays. Of the times that I have been to Chicago, my mode of transportation has changed in numerous occasions. When I went to the Pride Parade with my friends, we took a train from Joliet to Chicago and then proceeded to take the CTA train to get to the necessary location. However, our transportation route changed as soon as we were on our way back home; on the way home, we walked a portion of the way and then ended up riding in an Uber to get to the train that would take us back to the Joliet station. On the other hand, when I went to the city with my brother months later, it was cheaper for us to drive. This just goes to show how quickly public transportation can change and how it truly affects getting around in highly populated areas. Mass transit worked in the city but, was unfortunately monopolized and made into a negative aspect of the city life. Therefore, people had to look to other forms of transportation.
Moving on, religion was once a vastly important feature of society, yet today it has been put to the side by a portion of society.

Religion is “a system of beliefs, traditions, and practices around sacred things” (Conley, 2017). Compared to the past, there are now different types of involvement within the church. With the coming of different involvement levels there is also a decline in church attendance, this is according to Conley. This proves that the value of religion is being compromised. It seems as though, religions are being commercialized, an example of this would be megachurches. Some of the megachurches are even broadcasted on television; consequently, promoting the different types of church attendance. My family experienced a change in church attendance as well as many other people that I know. As a child, my family went to church every single week, and as I started to got older my family started to go to church less and less. This decline in attendance affected my beliefs and has caused my beliefs to completely change. My thoughts on religion as a whole changed and I, with a large portion of society, no longer find religion to be an important part of my life. Religion is no longer a profane part of life for a major portion of

society.
In addition, marriage has been a particularly controversial thing lately. The fact that marriage is changing can no longer be hidden. In the early ages, people were not getting married for love. To put it another way, “it was inconceivable that people would choose their mates on the basis of something as fragile and irrational as love,” (Massey, 2015). It was thought that love and marriage could not be intertwined. At one point, love in an intimate relationship was seen as a bonus. However, there could not be too much of the intense feeling. If this abomination did occur then people of the society thought that the feelings of love would ruin their relationship with God, as well as the significant people in their lives. Therefore, in this respect, love was seen as a negative aspect of life. Clearly, in these times, marriage was a matter of business and not pleasure. Recently, there have been significant changes to marriage in today’s society. Some of those changes include the unrealistic expectations of marriage. This is permitted to happen because the media portrays marriage as a smooth and blissful journey. Media makes marriage and love seem as if it is the highest privilege that one could encounter. My view of marriage and love is nowhere near as positive as it is depicted nowadays. I have seen people fall out of love as easily as they fall in love. I do not think I have seen a couple as happy as the movies show. To point out, I have seen more and more couples getting divorces throughout my life. Getting divorces was not a very common thing in the past. Meaning, this is another feature of marriage that has changed. Marriage is a tricky part of life that is not for everyone. We need to break the stereotypes that the media has put around marriage.
Furthermore, people that are given a higher status, specifically technology inventors think that they are changing the world with their innovations.

These people also rely heavily on capitalism. An example of this behavior would be the fact that a specific company wanted visas so that immigrants could work for their company at a cheaper wage (Massey, 2015). In this situation the company became involved in something; however, the only reason that the company was getting involved was because they would deeply benefit from the results. People of the Silicon Valley had an agenda, to make money the simplest way possible. Unfortunately, the simplest way possible meant leaving everybody else stranded and in need of help. Certain large technological corporations were able to create monopolies on specific products. These companies have also been able to promote their products among a mass amount of associations and individuals. Some associations include: schools, companies, and other large corporations. My high school, for example, became invaded by Apple products. The teachers and faculty had them, as well as the classrooms that required computers. This change to Apple makes us students accustomed to apple technology. Therefore, when the time comes for us to buy laptops or computers we naturally go for the Apple products. Technology is invading our schools at the lower levels too. When I was in grade school we did not have any technology in our classrooms, we were able

to learn without the aid of the technology and the internet in general. However, nowadays the school systems are integrating technology into every classroom in any way possible. It is interesting how the classroom setting changed so dramatically and rapidly and is it major companies such as Apple that have caused this change. In short, there are numerous corporations and companies that are creating monopolies, capitalistic moves, and extreme changes in our society.
In conclusion, everything is going to change with time; however, certain things such as mass transit, religion, marriage, and technology have already changed. A lot of people say that they do not like change, but change is going to happen whether we like it or not. The aspects of sociology that we talk about in class are relevant in today’s society and everyday life in general. People do not realize how relevant the sociological science is in their lives until they learn about the science themselves. This science can help us cope with the change that the future holds. We need to take events, literature, scientific discoveries, and much more from the past into consideration for our future.