Good Essay About Sociology: Final Exam Based On Readings

Question One. Many sociologists have developed contrasting theories based on their understandings of the ways that people interact. All sociologists understand social philosophy differently, and Cooley, Mead and Goffman have all contributed differently to the issue of social interaction between people in every society. While certain theories are more controversial, and all are based on different understandings, each has its own important place in an overall understanding of human interaction and behavior. These sociological perspectives can be used to frame and understand human and societal behavior. Understanding these theories gives researchers a basis to understand how self and identity are created in society.
Cooley’s work is based in his observations of society and human interaction—for this reason, he is sometimes criticized. Cooley’s theories suggest that the individual and society are inextricably linked, and that neither can exist fully without the other. More importantly, the individual has a formative, albeit minimally formative, effect on society, while society also has a formative effect on the individual. Cooley suggests that the individual’s values and understandings of culture, meaning, and right and wrong are linked to society and cannot be divorced from society. Unlike Cooley, Goffman and Mead’s theories were rooted in the conceptualization of symbolic interactionism.
Symbolic interactionism suggests that reality and society are linked very closely, and they cannot be divorced from each other. Cooley, on the other hand, suggests that while the individual and society are fundamentally a microcosm and macrocosm of the same thing, Mead in particular sees the individual as a function of society rather than vice versa. Mead sees the individual and social reality as constantly in flux, ever-changing—the individual’s ability to interpret reality is part of the development of consciousness. Goffman’s theories are less focused on the interaction between society and the individual and more focused on the interaction between two individuals and how those interactions influence society. Symbolic interactionism remains a very important field of study for sociologists today.
Impression management is the way that an individual tries to offset or change their impression as it is given to other people. Individuals who are part of minority groups often engage in this practice as a way to offset the negative effects that are sometimes the result of negative stereotypes in society. For instance, using formal language is a good way for an African-American to offset the stereotype that African-American individuals are under-educated. Wearing certain types of clothing is another way that people can try to control the impression that they give to others, and this can be a simple as wearing clothing that is slightly more or less conservative than is typical to assure others of one’s role. People engage in impression management all the time; for instance, as a student, it is sometimes suggested that students are informal. Wearing conservative, businesslike clothes to an interview is a good way to manage the common perception of students as being slovenly, unprofessional, and unprepared. Although clothing is the easiest way to offset the perceptions that one group has about another, it is certainly not the only way. Make-up, body language, and even verbal language can change the impression that one individual or group gives another. Impressions, particularly first impressions, can be very important in society and in one’s professional career.
Question Two. All families are quite different, and their structures are varied. After careful consideration, two families were chosen for analysis in this case. The first family is a family of Chinese immigrants. This family household is made up of the paternal grandparents—both are still living—mother, father, oldest male child, middle male child, and youngest female child. The second family is a much more typical western family: they are a young couple who have just had their first child, a young girl. Only the immediate family lives under the roof. These two families are very different, although they live in a very similar place geographically.
The Zhang family is an extended family network, and although they live in an English-speaking country, they have maintained a number of important cultural traditions from their Chinese roots. Importantly, the extended Zhang family lives under the same roof; the maternal grandparents are not living with the family, presumably because the traditional way of enmeshing families is patriarchal in Chinese families. The strong cultural roots are what keep this particular family’s system of engagement intact.
The McCourts, alternatively, are quite different. The mother and father are typical western people; although they are not married, they live independently from their extended families. Ben’s father and mother live close to the young couple, but both Ben and Katie have been living away from their mother and father for a number of years. This system of familial entanglement is very different from the Chinese method of familial networking, but it is no more or less legitimate than the Chinese cultural system. This family has adopted the traditional nuclear structure that has been the norm in western families since the 1950s normalized it.
The titular character in The Maid’s Daughter experiences a very unique situation. She is Mexican but also part of a very wealthy family in Los Angeles; this story is an interesting study regarding what it means to be part of a family. Olivia is treated like she is part of the family, and the wealthy family that her mother works for even sees her as part of the family to a certain extent. However, Olivia has her own identity that is separate from both her Mexican heritage and the experiences that she had in the family with the children of privilege. Had she not had these experiences, she would also have been very different. The soldiers in the My Lai massacre, alternatively, were in the middle of violence, war, and destruction; they were psychologically beat down to the point where they could justify the atrocities that they committed in their own minds. While Olivia and the soldiers were both out of their element, comparing the two experiences is quite disingenuous.
The network structure of the soldiers undoubtedly contributed directly to the massacre of the citizens in My Lai. It is well documented that people in positions of authority can be driven to do terrible things if they feel there will be no negative consequences; the Stanford Prison Experiments conclusively showed that many people have the potential to do evil. When the soldiers experienced the horrors of losing their brethren, they were forced into a bond with a leader who did not have their best interests—or the best interests of the Vietnamese—at heart. Although it may seem as though this is attempting to excuse the terrible things that were done at My Lai, this is not the intention at all: it is merely a suggestion that leadership, violence, and death played a significant role in the ability of the soldiers to do evil. When people are protected by the ability to pass their actions onto a higher authority, they do things that their internal moral compass would otherwise keep them from doing. This is also compounded by the fact that the soldiers were working in large groups; they were protected by their anonymity.
Question Three. There are a number of really important things that I will take away from this class, and many of the things that I learned have given me a much greater appreciation of the injustices in the world. For instance, I have begun to think more critically about the way that society shapes who we are as people; I have also begun to try to understand the ways that my culture has shaped who I am and who I have become.
Another thing that has been very interesting for me is the discussion of family culture and networks. I have always thought of my own family and my own experience with my family as typical, but I am beginning to see that it is typical or average only in certain circumstances. Indeed, even what I see as average is something that was informed by where I was born and how I was raised. While this is something that I have always known, it was not necessarily something that I had thought about before. Moving forward, I will have a much greater appreciation for the role that society plays in our development.