Essay about A Closer Look at Sociological Theories

Culture refers to spiritual, intellectual and aesthetic development of an individual, group or society. It captures a variety of products and activities that determine and define the way of life of a people. Cultural theories are thus tools that give understanding to values, codes, norms discourses, ideologies and pathologies. Theory offers a model of influence through which culture exerts on social life and social structures. Theories play a role in the provision of stability, opportunity and solidarity or as in this article means to understand and resolve conflict (Burton et al.). This writing focuses on sociological theories in the cultural setting of Jena in Louisiana (A Town in Turmoil). Social Conflict Theory Social conflict theory†¦show more content†¦Instead, it looks at a community as a parasitic relationship where what benefits one party hurts the other. The arrest of the six students and their being arraigned in court seems to work for the white student community as the black society pays dearly with the loss of education and scholarships. On the contrary, the forceful retaliation from the black students is reported to cause physical injury. The point in this theory is that patterns are created which don not always favor all parties. In this highly charged and racial Louisiana community represented by the students in Jena, the conflict between the dominant and the disadvantaged remains persistent. The black community as described in this article is a targeted by the systems and structure and how they operate and thus disadvantaged. The white community through the administration of the school, the judiciary and the office of the district attorney continue to flex their muscle and to protect their privileges while the black community fight back to gain their position. The other element described in the social conflict theory is the avenue in solving the problem. Education seems to bridge the gap of inequalities. Those who take advantage of education find themselves in high positions of influence. In the Louisiana community, it appears the white have dominated. The remarks of Billy aShow MoreRelatedSociological Imagination Summary1307 Words   |  6 PagesAns: In the book â€Å"The Sociological Imagination†, the author C. Wright Mills begins by describing the perilous situation of the American man during the 1950s. He describes they situation as one of internment and frailty. Mills sees men as restricted by the routines of their daily lives. They go to their jobs and become workers, they go home and are family men. The American men of the 1950s were in a state of powerlessness due to the effects of World War Two and the looming threat of nuclear warfareRead MoreA Sociological Study Of Religion1159 Words   |  5 PagesReligion is one of th e most difficult topics in life, not to mention the oldest. People look for the ultimate truth to religion, which in my opinion leads to misguidance and a slant of science. I think this helps true believers find their way to a faith; it certainly helped me. Science does get carried away at times; however, it is good that people are questioning stories from the bible because then we can see how corrupt the world is. Why can t faith exist? Why does everything have to be blackRead MoreSociology in Everyday Life Essay911 Words   |  4 Pages Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things like ideas and institutions.    Everyday that you wake up and come into contact with what you do and the people you speak to is sociological. You wake up and interact with objects. Some of these objects you see yourself in such as your clothes, and your music, would be called the sociology of identification. If you live with your parents and siblings, you wake up and interact with themRead MoreGoffman s Functionalist Sociological Approach1469 Words   |  6 PagesSociological approaches are â€Å"systematic, sceptical and critical study of the social. It studies the way people do things together†. (Macionis and Plummer 2012) It also â€Å"goes beyond everyday common sense by using systematic methods of empirical observation and theories† (Boundless [online] 2015). I will be using Goffman’s functionalist sociological approach of Dramaturgy to understand human life and to analyse my first few weeks of university. Goffman’s sociology is â€Å"concerned with everyday lifeRead M oreSociological Imagination1391 Words   |  6 Pagesbehavior; yet looking deeper, it is the study of humans in groups and how they interact with one another. Sociologists look at these groups by means of the sociological perspective. This involves looking at a certain behavior like it has never been looked at it before. When done right one can come to a deeper level of understanding about behavior. Using your sociological imagination you are able conceptualize how a persons macro level, which consists of the larger aspects of life such asRead MoreContemporary Mainstream Approaches : Neo Realism And Neo Liberalism1527 Words   |  7 Pagesmainstream approaches (neo-realism and neo-liberalism) In the previous chapters, we’ve taken a broad glance of Realism and Liberalism; in this chapter we take a look at the modern version of these political theories and their respective differences. Although Realism and Neo-realism are close in name, they aren’t that close in ideologies. Both theories differ on their definitions of power and anarchy along with their respective model structures of the international system. Two neo-realist branches studyRead More Symbolic Interactionism Essay1381 Words   |  6 Pagesbehavior; yet looking deeper, it is the study of humans in groups and how they interact with one another. Sociologists look at these groups by means of the sociological perspective. This involves looking at a certain behavior like it has never been looked at it before. When done right one can come to a deeper level of understanding about behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Using your sociological imagination you are able conceptualize how a person’s macro level, which consists of the larger aspects of life such asRead MoreThe Iron Cage By Sociologist Max Weber952 Words   |  4 Pagesmodern day society? If your answer is yes to any of the two questions above, then you are experiencing and living what is known today as the â€Å"Iron Cage†. The â€Å"Iron Cage† refers to a very simple, yet complex theory developed by sociologist Max Weber. In his theory which addresses a sociological problem regarding standards of living; Dr. Alana Bibeau further deliberated on how Weber argues, that an individual’s life is being transformed not only by the ideas of efficiency, but shaped by the increasingRead MoreSociological Theories on Religion2049 Words   |  9 PagesSociological Theories Perspectives on Religion Christopher J. Reed Sociology 101 Mr. Nguyen March 14, 2011 Sociological Theories Perspectives on Religion When it comes to the social institution of religion, the three major sociological theories differ in a majority of ways. All three have their own way of how they perceive religion functions in society. The purpose of this paper is to show the impact each theory has had on religion as well as the people inside the institution itself. ReligionRead MoreSymbolic Interactionist Perspective In Sociology1543 Words   |  7 Pagesperspectives are formed. (Contributors at CliffsNotes, 2016) A theoretical perspective, a set of assumptions about reality that demise the questions we ask and support the answers we seek. These perspectives work as sociologist’s lenses in which they look through; they can either clear up or distort the â€Å"image.† Sociologists employ three primary theoretical perspectives: the symbolic interactionist perspective, the functionalist perspective, and the conflict perspective. (Crossman, 2017) Symbolic