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How media influences our lifestyle today
How media influences our lifestyle today
How media influences our lifestyle today
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Are people puppets of society? Do we control the social system or does it control us? Society is said to mould individuals, but to what extent? Questions no one can properly answer, although different sociologists have different perspectives. We could argue `Yes, we are puppets of society' or `No, we have free will and can make our own decisions' Although the most preferred theory is that `We are influenced by society but our fate is not determined by it.' All three argue whether we are puppets of society or not? (Social structure -Education) Many sociologists believe that we are controlled by society; they claim that social institutions, such as work, religion, the law, media, education, and family life, determine our behaviour. These institutions mould us to act like Robots where we all look and work the same. For example the institution of Education controls the way we behave during school. We follow the rules and show respect to teachers. We have to wear school uniform or dress appropriately and cover our stomachs and shoulders. It forms our opinions on things, such as what are considered to be good and bad grades for examinations, different schools have different standards. Certain schools have control over when students are allowed to go to the toilet, banning them from leaving to go during lessons and most schools decided when students are allowed to eat and drink, confining it to lunch and break time only. (Social structure - Media) People may believe that they have individual images but sociologists that believe the social structure theory, arguing that we are puppets of society, would differ from their opinion. They say that Media has control over our behaviour too. When we read magazines or watch celebr... ... middle of paper ... ...late at night and there are no other cars or pedestrians around people will often drive straight through the red lights. This shows that institutions do not control people; we can make our own decisions. (Structuration) My person opinion is that I do not believe either of these theories; I believe that society can often have restrictions on how we behave although it is our decision what we do. There is a theory that argues this case too. The Structuration Theory, it combines both the social structure and the social action theories. Anthony Gidden's defined it, he notes that `social life is more than random individual acts, but is not merely determined by social forces.' Meaning it is not merely hundreds of activities of small groups of people, but can not study it by simply looking on a macro level, you have to study using both the macro and micro theories.
The world is divided up into numerous things: Countries, states, cities, communities, etc. However, when looking at the big scope of things, one can group the vast amount of people into a society. This society is where the majority lie in the scheme of things - in other words, the common people. Individuals do exist in this society, but they are scarce in a world of conformism. Society’s standards demands an individual to conform, and if the individual refuses they are pushed down by society.
Sociology is the study of the relationships that humans have with each other and social institutions. It aims to understand the links that exist between individuals and the social structures around them and also the functions that these social institutions perform in society.
How do the actions and words of a society affect the way people act? In Never Let Me Go, author Kazuo Ishiguro depicts a society in which individuality is threatened by the pressure to conform through methods such as peer pressure and social expectations. Without a doubt, peer pressure is most commonly found in schools today just as social expectations are suffocating the middle class’ desire to become their own unique person.
Sociology is described as “looking at the world a particular way” (Matthewman & West-Newman, 2013) When opening your mind to this, it is then easier to discover the reasons why we do certain things and why things are the way that they are. There are three main schools of sociological theorising, which are conflict theory (creating a social hierachy), Micro Interactionism (studying social interactions), and Functionalism (how social events contribute to social order). These ideas are defined by sociologists Karl Marx, Max Weber, Durkheim, Irving Goffman, and ---- in an effort to reveal the inner functioning’s of the world.
This text shaped my understanding of sociology because I was able to see how much power society, specifically the majority, can have over an individual because it seems to be the easiest course of action. This concept is known as social conformity. The article Opinions and Social Pressure took the time to convey how the minds of the majority and the minority work, and provides insight on how social conformity shapes our everyday experiences.
First of all, my first story which proves that society could potentially take control of people’s lives is The Pedestrian. Ray Bradbury writes this story in the perspective of the main character, Leonard Mead, who goes for a walk in the evening. Unfortunately, society at that time is too lazy or “screen controlled” to understand why people need to go for a walk or simply get some fresh air like Leonard does. Bradbury describes the scene of this society by writing, “The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them,” (Bradbury 3). This quote illustrates many individually aligned houses all dark and lonely with a touch of colorful light inside...
First, institutions control nearly all of the individual’s time. Second, institutions control the individual’s body. (Foucault, “Truth and Juridical Forms” 79-81) As such, “the operation of these institutions implied a general discipline of existence that went far beyond their seemingly precise ends” (Foucault, “Truth and Juridical Forms” 81). Institutions control the entire livelihood of the individual such that his time and body may be transformed into productive labor time and labor power. For example, in school, the individual does not only learn arithmetic and other like subjects, but also the correct, most efficient way to accomplish such.
Society is a result of our interactions, and society guides our interactions. This all stems from social construction. Social construction conveys values, ideas and traditions. These values, ideals and traditions are created and become traditions that are then passed on. These traditions then come to be perceived as natural rather than cultural, which is often how media will display it and society unknowingly accepts.
In the analysis of society in today's times, the motives of social change, control, and conformity provides the basis of how society controls human behavior. The ideals and expectations place onto people in modern society are established through means of control where people are expected to behave within a spectrum of normality and what society deems as acceptable behavior. Forms of social influence as simple as peer pressure and wanting to fit in transform into major controls of society like laws, law enforcement officers and the government as a whole. The way that people make sense of their environment is through formed first impressions, interpretations of other people's behavior and how that behavior affects their attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions of other types of people. The overall impact of these ideas on individuals shows how conformity, persuasion, stereotypes, and culture affect how society maintains and changes social norms.
Media also influences the thinking of people and society in general through entertainment as well as advertising and marketing campaigns. It is the creative ideas and boost to the imagination that people get once they watch a television show, movie, commercial or listen to a certain song. The impact any of these forms of media can have on an individual’s thinking can change in that most of them view the various stars in the movies, TV or the music industry as role models and as a result, they start imitating them. This type of influence oftentimes will influence the way someone views a political
Sociology is a social science that enables people to understand the structure and dynamics of society. By using a scientific approach, and by critically analysing society using qualitative and quantitative methods, sociologists can find patterns and connections within human behaviour to provide explanations of how society affects people. Sociological views are based on theories that have been tested through unbiased research and attempt to take all values into account. Common sense theories are generally individualistic and naturalistic assumptions that are based on opinions than can vary depending on an individuals class or cultural background. During this essay I will aim to provide examples of the differences between the sociological viewpoint, and the common sense viewpoint of human behaviour, using theories of some renowned sociologists.
People around an individual will always try to influence them in a particular direction. They will attempt to dictate on how the individual should conduct their lives; the dictations could be direct or indirect. The direct influence is whereby one has to conduct their lives based on the set social rules and regulations. In the indirect influence, one is just expected to flow with the prevailing social norms and values of a group of a people. What follows from all the influences is called social conformity. An overwhelmed person has to change their behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs just to fit within a group. However, it is not a must for one to conform to the social expectations, but some are too weak to stand up against social conformity. Therefore, the role of social conformity is to control a person, but an individual can always resist and live as they wish.
Some sociologists believe that humans have the freedom to make their own choices and decide how they behave (agency) while others theorize that human behavior is determined and influenced by the patterns, arrangements, norms and guidelines of society (structure). The third position doesn’t choose either or but rather states that the two; structure and agency equally play a role in shaping human behaviour and attitudes; this perspective is known as structuration; developed by Giddens (as sited in Huyssteen, 2003).
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper