Sociology has come a long way since it first began, with new discoveries and a better understanding of how society functions as a whole. Scientists are able to see how the behaviours of each individual helps us to further our knowledge about its origins and development. However, there are still a number of aspects of sociology that are up for debate. One of these topics is the primacy of structure and agency in influencing in human behaviour. Structure is defined as the designed arrangements which impacts or limits the decisions and opportunities available. Agency is referred as the capability of individuals to act by themselves and make their own choices free of influence (Duffy and Mandell, 2011: 357). The debate between structure and agency can be looked at as an issue of socialization against self-rule in determining if people work as a free agent or if they work in a manner that is managed by social structure.
Kosut and Moore (2010) argue that the body “is the ultimate location of the division in sociology between structure and agency” (Kosut and Moore, 2010: 2). They use numerous theories and the work of other sociologists to provide evidence for their argument for the idea of the body and how it can be used in everyday society. The body can be thought as the location of the division between the two aspects because although people have the right to do as they please with their own bodies like getting a tattoo or expressing themselves through fashion, individuals still tend to follow the social norm as to not be excluded or become an outcast. So does the body fall into structure or agency?
Arthur Frank described the body as a mode of communication, because the body itself is not voiceless, but it is speechless, and what h...
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...n structure and agency is the aging body. Society used to respect and worship their elder, thinking it was a natural and normal process, but in today’s society, people wish to hide the aging process and anything that goes along with it, considering it to be an ailment (Calasanti, 2005: 1). Individuals are supposed to show control over their bodies and that showing signs of getting of means that you are unfit, unhealthy, and not following social structures (Calasanti, 2005: 2). Losing such control is deemed unacceptable, and thus you become considered not normal. Numerous companies have developed many different ways, i.e. Anti-aging creams, to prevent the signs of aging, so one may be more socially acceptable when they come about old age, but this goes against agency, as people should be able to grow old in peace and not have to worry about what society thinks.
The way in which the body is viewed is a complete social construction, dependent on the society, history and wider cultural attitude of a given group. Social constructionism can be defined as the ways in which society, culture and history builds up and dictates social norms. It shapes the way we think, behave and interact with our environment. The social construction of bodies is, therefore, the way in which society ascribes significance to different parts of the body and influences our understanding of it as a whole. The social construction of the body feeds into and reinforces inequalities to a great extent, on a number of levels. Gender inequalities and the issues of racism and colourism are good examples of inequalities that are fuelled
This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.
2. The body as a subject is evincing humanity beyond cultural construction and linguistic formulation.
One of the sociological theories is conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with people's level on wealth, or class. The conflict theory says that social change is beneficial, contrary to focuses on social order. In the story of the woman and her children, the conflict theory plays a big role on the situation. Police of higher class are threatening the homeless woman. The conflict theory is a constant struggle of people of higher class over powering people of lower class, or the weaker. The police are trying to over power the woman by telling her to leave. Even though the woman and her children were doing nothing wrong, the police used their power to tell her to leave. Also the people of the area showed their conflict theory by telling the police officers to come. They must have felt embarrassed to have a woman of such lower class to be around them. They used their power of class to have the woman removed from their community. The woman wants to be there because she has no home and it is a good community to be in, but the people look at it as an embarrassment to them because it makes their area look bad for someone of such lower class to be around them. The conflict theory is unique to all other theories because it separates people into categories determined by their wealth and standards. Their status is the element that categorizes them, weather it is class, race, or gender. The conflict theory do not always use class, race, and gender all at once. In this situation race and gender is not a main issue, although gender could be a reason, but it would fall under the feminist theory. This story is mainly dealing with class. Through all this conflict the woman feels over powered and domina...
1. The study and science of Sociology is a comparitively new pursuit, as opposed to the general sciences such as physics, archeology and chemistry, that is now being used to explain and help improve our way of life and behaviour. Many benefits are derived from the study of sociology; understanding the social dynamics within communities or certain groups give clarity on why problems and conflicts arise within them, and how those can be solved, as well as impinging upon our individual day to day existence.
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
After reviewing the article titles given for this first assignment, I believe they indicate that Sociology, generally speaking, is not only a study of diversity or commonality in traits among people; it is also a science about factors in a person’s life and how these factors culminate responses. Interestingly enough, its topics of concern seem to be directly determined by current and common events of the world. Through the invention and expansion of new ideas, popular trends and fashions through time, Sociology adapts to responsibly to service the very subjects of interest it studies; for, even the slightest change of a person’s daily experience can have an insurmountable impact on attitude, personal growth, family dynamics and basic group behavior.
305). Society is constantly bombarded by messages informing us about how to reduce the signs of aging, instead of accepting the natural process (Germov, 2014, p. 305). These beliefs have lead to ageism being very common in society. Ageism is best defined as the negative attitudes, which are associated with the aging process (Novak, 2006, p. 3). Ageism involves an individual or group being stereotyped and experiencing discrimination due to their biological age (Novak, 2006, p. 3). This discrimination can be direct or indirect discrimination, victimisation or harassment (Johnson, 2013, p. 27). Unlike other individuals and groups who are stereotyped and discriminated against, those who are making these comments will one day themselves be of old
...ety in this period?." Whereas, taking into consideration the interaction between individuals and their societies, sociology sees where people and groups of people are products of whole societies in which they live.
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.
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
The discipline of sociology provides a perspective that allows for individuals to expand and dig beyond “common knowledge” and inherit an approach to society that allows an advanced analysis of the root cause of activity in a certain society, opposed to assessing it on an assumption. A beneficial component to sociology is that it can be individually directed to different components of society that all contribute to its overall functioning. Under a sociological perspective we can use an engaged approach that once applied to social issues can improve the functioning of societies on both local and global scales that are considered complex, degrading, or facing considerable amounts of neglect. When we take into consideration the environment and
Age can be defined in a number of ways. Before defining this process, it is important to consider that there four approaches to this culturally significant phenomenon. The most straightforward of these is chronological age, which is the number of years old a person is. Your biological age is measured against the change your body experiences physically, and the deteriorating functionality of it. The third way to define age is psychologically. This can be anything from a change in the processes of perception and senses, to how effectively your brain can absorb and comprehend information. Furthermore, your ability to adapt to different circumstances and your personality itself can reflect your physiological age. Finally, the approach that aids the study of the sociology of ageing the most, is approaching the definition of age from a sociological approach. An individual’s sociological age is defined by the social expectations of the elderly. (Openstax College 2012)
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).
Sociology and psychology is the study of the mind and the environment around us which makes us who we are. These theories assist us to understand behaviour from individual and societal levels.