Alex Otkovic
Sociology 1010
Professor Dwight Adams
11/30/12
E-Portfolio Assignment
Sociology: A Brief Overview
What is sociology? The dictionary defines sociology as “the science or study of the
origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society.” (Dictionary.com) There
are three main sociological perspectives, or viewpoints, in sociology. Symbolic interaction ism,
the functionalist perspective, and the conflict theory/perspective. Sociologist study and analyze
the social aspects of life on two levels; micro and macro. I will briefly touch upon the three
major perspectives and other aspects of sociology that I personally found very interesting.
The first sociological perspective, symbolic interactionism, was introduced to American
Sociology in the 1920's by the great mind of George Herbert Mead. We see symbolic
interactionism in our every day lives. For example, how do we know which restroom to use
when we're in a public place? The symbols on the doors will guide the way. Traffic lights are just
another example. We wouldn't be able to drive around safely if we didn't understand how to
interpret symbols. The symbolic interactionism perspective is placed on the micro level for it
only views the smaller aspects, as opposed to the macro level which views the whole. In other
words it views the one-on-one situations in life like a job interview or casual conversation. The
problem here being that it does not necessarily focus on the larger characteristics of life or
society. However, the functionalist perspective does.
The functionalist perspective basically takes the smaller parts of a society and determines
how those aspects will help the strength and solidity of the entire society as a whole. The leading
sociologist behind this theory is Emile Durkheim. He was very intrigued by how a society can
remain it's stability. He believes that all smaller aspects of a society rely heavily on one another
to survive. Functionalists like to emphasize on social order. Social order is a set of social
practices which preserve and enforce the behavior which society find “acceptable.” In
comparison to life, the functionalist perspective is something we have all been put through. We
“student's” have been playing a small role in a large society. We go to class so we can get a
better education. With a better education we get a better job. With better jobs we pay higher
taxes. It's all just a cycle of supporting one another. The functionalist perspective is on the macro
level because it looks at the larger aspects of sociology.
The conflict theory, or perspective, derives from German philosopher Karl Marx. It is
considered to be a macro study of sociology. He believed that you cannot have a society without
conflict. Without conflict there is no room for advancement in the social order. When conflict
theories apply to deviance, it is believed that factors such as personality, labels, and social
disorganization are irrelevant because people purposely commit crimes in response to inequality.
Hence the conflict theory draws a lot of attention to class conflict.
Culture is yet another large aspect in the study of sociology. An important aspect to
consider is cultural relativism. This is the practice of analyzing one's culture without using any
sort of comparison from your own culture. This is the underlying importance in the study of
anthropology. We aren't capable of understanding another person's culture if we compare it ours.
This doesn't go to say that all norms and behaviors of a culture are acceptable and that none are
harmful. It simply says that there is a certain time and place for everything. What may be
perfectly ethical and fine in one culture, may be seen as horrific and illegal in another.
Culture can be broken down into three separate parts; norms, values, and material goods.
Norms are a large aspect of culture. Norms are defined as rules of conduct that enforce
acceptable or normal behavior within a certain society. Norms, like most aspects of culture,
differ from nation to nation. The text book has a very interesting point on norms. It says “Among
most Americans, for example, one norm calls for direct eye contact between persons engaged in
conversation; completely averting one's eyes is usually interpreted as a sign of weakness or
rudeness. Yet, among the Navajo, a cultural norm call for averting one's eye's as a sing of
respect.” (Essentials Of Sociology,pg.51)Values are ideas held by a certain culture and or
subculture about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. Values, like all other aspects of culture
vary from each society. Material goods are the physical objects which people create and use in
societies. Objects such as cars, houses, cell phones, computers, clothes, food, and drink. The
important thing to recognize is that a culture relies heavily on its technology.
Socialization, often times referred to as the nature vs. nurture debate, is one of the most
important ideas in sociology as well as psychology. Most believe, including myself, that a baby
is born with a blank slate. That child then learns everything it needs to know through viewing
others and experience first hand from society. Hence the nurture part of the argument. However,
people whom believe that it's all genetics and that children are born intelligent or unintelligent
side with nature.
Deviance is probably the thing that struck me as the most interesting subject to study in
sociology. Deviance is defined as behaviors or modes of action that don't conform to the norms
or values most people in society hold, or breaking of rules basically. Deviance is hard to point
out because it varies from culture to culture. What some cultures find acceptable, other consider
to be wrong. For example, child abuse in America can be the simplest act of striking a child,
while in other countries it is considered good parenting. The reason I found deviance and
conformity so interesting is because people actually like to label me as a deviant, because I don't
necessarily conform to societies rules. I don't get perfect grades in school, I don't stray away
from drugs, alcohol, or sex, and so therefore most people might look at me and immediately say
I'm a deviant hooligan. If there's one thing I've learned from sociology, its that you can't judge a
book by it's cover. Most people who smoke marijuana and drink alcohol aren't generally bad
people, they just have different life choices than others and that's okay. I've learned to accept
people who don't do those things and I expect them to accept me as well.
Gender is defined as not only physical features of a person but as well as their
sociological traits that separate them apart from the opposing sex. Gender is more than that.
Gender is something that each and every one of us “does” every day. How do we do gender? We
play certain gender roles, for example, females do gender the completely opposite way of the
males. Females wake up in the morning and take a good hour and half to get dressed up and put
on their make up, now I will not say that there aren't disadvantages to being a male, but there is
one thing I'm glad about; not having to put on make up every single morning. As a male I can
wake up, take a 5 minute shower and be ready for the day. Boy am I glad I'm not a woman. Sure
that statement may seem sexist at first, but really it's for more reasons than just getting dressed
everyday. Studies show that females in the workplace continue to get paid lower wages for the
same work as their male counterpart.
In conclusion, Sociology has a vast variety of subjects to study. My favorite, as stated
before, are deviance, conformity, socialization and gender. Deviance and conformity because I
feel like it is the subject that hits closest to home for me. Socialization is something that each
individual goes through no matter which view one may hold, be it nature or nurture. Gender was
a really interesting subject to study because you can never learn enough about the opposite sex.
This is probably why I found it so interesting and fun to learn about. I was really surprised to see
how many different theories there are for each and every subject. Sociology has opened up my
view on many things, especially how people behave in order to keep stability throughout a
certain society. I am most certainly going to continue my education within sociology by taking
more advance courses which will focus on some of the subjects that I have mentioned above.
Works Cited:
Giddens,A, M. Duneier, R.P. Appelbaum, and D. Carr. Essentials of Sociology. 3rd ed. New
York City: WW Norton & Co Inc, 2011. Print.
N.p. Web. 30 Nov 2012. Accessed from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sociology?s=t