Blogging through Invitation to Sociology (2020)

What I learned from introduction to sociology is mostly that in our recent decades our society has developed from a fairly homogenous, orderly and stable society, to a society with enormous variety and diversity. During these classes I know now that introduction to sociology refers to how people develop social and emotional skills across their lifecycles. It also focusses on the need to put people first, which is necessary for our society, and for the groups of people who are part of it. This makes me realize that our world is constantly changing because of sociology Furthermore, working with Wikipedia was a challenging project. I discovered that Wikipedia made a historical evolution in our society. I would have never thought that Wikipedia would be the biggest web research of all time. It has now become the very best web searching in an ethics of our economy and society. But Wikipedia is an online web search, which is caused by technology. What I’ve also learned more about how techn...

According to the reading about social development and ethnic groups, no country is homogeneous in terms of race, religion, language, script, customs, ideas and ways of life. Society is the collectivities of people demarcated from other collectivities. Since the new objective of social development calls for a shift in emphasis from the individual to larger collectivities, the role of ethnic group in social development has been gaining momentum. In this reading, the author critically examines the role of ethnic groups in social development in the third world countries in general and South Asian countries in particular. The concept of social development is more comprehensive than economic development. Social development is possible only when the group mobilization and action. Ethnic solidarity is only one among many possible forms of collective actions, that have strong implication for ethnic resurgence in modern society. Furthermore, social developement objectives are not always clear, ...

According to the reading, gender and development is an interdisciplinary field of research and applied study that implements a feminist approach to understanding and addressing the disparate impact that economic development and globalization have on people based upon their location, gender, class background, and other socio-political identities. A strictly economic approach to development views a country’s development in quantitative terms such as job creation, inflation control, and high employment. Gender and development consider many of these same factors, however, gender and development emphasize efforts towards understanding how multifaced these issues are in the entangled context of culture, government, and globalization. Furthermore, there is also a term ‘women in development’ which is a theory of development by contesting that economic development had identical impacts on men and women. The focus of the 1970s feminist movements and their repeated calls of employment opportunit...

Social inequality  occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through  norms  of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It is the differentiation preference of access of social goods in the society brought about by power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. Social inequality usually implies to the lack of equality of outcome, but may alternatively be conceptualized in terms of the lack of equality of access to opportunity. Social inequality is found in almost every society. Social inequality is shaped by a range of structural factors, such as geographical location or citizenship status, and are often underpinned by cultural discourses and identities defining, for example, whether the poor are 'deserving' or 'undeserving'. Social inequality can be classified into egalitarian societies, ranked society, and stratified socie...

Stratification is the structuring of society by level of command over resources like wealth, power and prestige. Wealth, power, and prestige systems of stratification overlap but are not identical. Social class refers to grouping people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the wealth-based division into upper, middle, and lower classes.  Class stratification exists when income, power, prestige and other valued resources are given to members of society unequally and when, on the basis of inequality, various subpopulations become culturally, behaviorally and organizationally distinctive.   Karl Marx  divide all of society into two hierarchical social classes: The Proletariat and the Bourgeoisie.  Gerhard Lenski:  His evolutionary theory of stratification argues that mobilization of people without privilege forces a more democratic distribution of power and resources primarily through progressive taxation (taxes on the rich). The fig...

Dramaturgy is a sociological perspective used as social interaction in everyday life. The term was first adapted into sociology from the theatre by Ervin Goffman, who developed most of the related terminology and ideas in his book “The presentation of self in everyday life, 1956”. However, in dramaturgical sociology it is argued that the elements of human interactions are dependent upon time, place, and audience. In other words, the self is a sense of who one is, a dramatic effect emerging from the immediate scene being presented. Goffman forms a theatrical metaphor in defining the method in which one human being presents itself to another based on cultural values, norms, and beliefs. The goal of this presentation of self is acceptance from the audience through carefully conducted performance. If the actor succeeds, the audience will view the actor as he or she wants to be viewed. Furthermore, dramaturgical perspective is one of several sociological paradigms separated from other soci...

Symbolic interactionism is a theory that emerged in sociology and has subsequently spread to other areas such as anthropology and social psychology. This theory analyzes interactions and their meaning. In this way it tries to understand the processes that lead people to be part of a society. In other words, it studies social activities and self-creation. Symbolic interactionism is based on interpretations. People have different interpretations of reality. However, these interpretations will be more similar in people from the same environments. One of the cultural differences that is most problematic when people travel is symbols. For example, if someone holds the palm of his hand to someone else, I would interpret this as a way to stop or be silent. However, a Greek would probably consider it as an insult and a Lebanese would associate it with the evil eye. Furthermore, symbolic interactionism takes a stand against absolute truths. In particular, it claims that there is no single trut...

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of individuals or organizations, to social interact between them. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The social network is useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies. Furthermore, the term is used to describe a social structure determined by such interactions. Furthermore, social networks are the subject of study in sociology and social psychology. Different social networks can be identified. In a family, school, streets, or in an office where people see and speak to each other every day, the intensive social contacts have a different influence than, for example, among scientists who see each other at conference once a year. To investigate group processes, sociologists often study social netwo...

Social structure refers to the enduring relationships or bonds between individuals or groups of individuals. The notion of social structure as relationships between different entities or groups or as enduring and relatively stable patterns emphasizes the idea that society is grouped into structurally related groups or sets of roles, with different functions, meanings or purposes. Moreover, social norms influence social structure through relations between the majority and the minority. Because those who join the majority are considered normal, while those who align with the minority are considered abnormal, majority-minority relationships create a hierarchical stratification within social structures that promotes majority in all aspects of society. Social structure can also be divided into microsociology/microstructure and macrosociology/macrostructure. Microstructure is the pattern of relations between most basic elements of social life, that cannot be further divided and have no soci...

Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms. Norms are social expectations that guide human behavior. Deviance is mostly divided into two deviant activities, first one is crime, also known as formal deviance, which is the violation of formally enacted laws. The second one, refers to violations of informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law, and is referred to as informal deviance. People display certain “normal” behavior. Whether in an industrial area, parking lot in a shopping street: they walk a certain route, and are present at certain times and stay somewhere for a certain time. If people deviate from this, extra vigilance is important. However, this doesn’t directly mean someone is breaking the law, it can be also seen as the first sign of crime. The offense is a specific form, but deviations from the law are not just deviant behavior. Deviating from unwritten rules of conduct also applies as such, even if this is done by respected persons. Another...

Socialization is a fundamental sociological concept with various elements, what not everyone agrees on which one is the most important. However, sociologist do agree on the three main goals of socialization. First, impulse control and the development of a conscience. Second, role preparation and performance, including occupational roles, gender roles, and roles as marriage and parenthood. And third, the cultivation of sources of meaning, or what is important, valued, and to be lived for. Moreover, socialization is the process that prepares humans to function in social life. It should be re-iterated that socialization is culturally relative, people in different cultures and people that have a different raze, gender, class, religion, and their sexuality. Because socialization is the adoption of culture, it is going to be different in every culture and subcultures. However, it should also be noted that, not every aspect of human behavior is learned. Of course, some aspects of human behav...

Question: could globalization collapse again? My answer: yes The globalization of markets that have inequalities that are not offset by a global wealth redistribution system. So, there is both concentration of wealth and poverty. The system will explode. I don’t know if it will be within two years, or longer, but I think we are on the brink of a global economic crisis. The reason why I think this is because of the world’s epidemic ‘Corona virus’. Financial markets, exchange rates and commodity quotations are also currently again subject to strong fluctuations from the Corona virus, although I think that impact may be short-lived. The effects are unevenly distributed across sectors. What may flatten this decline somewhat is that a large part of the world is working, whether or not remotely, and that several governments has already announced crisis measures to support companies and workers. Nevertheless, if the restrictive measures to contain the virus persist for a long time, eco...

Demography shows how the human population is constantly changing. It shows the changes of the structure and distributions of populations, and how populations change over time due to births, deaths, migration, and aging. Demographic analysis can relate to whole societies or to smaller groups defined by criteria such as education, religion, or ethnicity. Because demography is interested in changes in human populations, demographers focus on specific indicators of change, which are the two key indicators birth and death rates. Additionally, demographers are also interested in migration trends or the movement of people from one location to another, for example a person from The Netherlands moves to South Korea to live there. If the movement from one country to another country is increasing, it will be called ‘overpopulation’. In this case it indicates in which the population of a living species exceeds the carrying capacity of its ecological niche. Overpopulation is not a function of the ...

Technology is needed to develop new technical solutions and products. Technology is mainly about new technical concepts, and as a result it Is closely linked to innovations. However, innovation is generally described as coming up with and developing new ideas. With technology it enables new innovations to be developed and produced, and vice versa. Moreover, technology can also be the knowledge of techniques, processes etc. or it can be referred to machines, computers, devices and factories. As an example of modern technology, is the mobile phone. Everyone uses it because with our phones we can stay in touch with friends, family, colleagues etc.  The introduction to the mobile phone has led to a number of changes in our society, like changing social mores. For example, the author uses a survey from the United States which states that there are specific times when people believe it is okay to use a mobile phone, and other times when it is inappropriate. Moreover, it also shows ...

Over the past 70 years, China made a huge transformation into the economy, just in time for widespread fears that a trade war with the United States will derail that growth and drag the world economy down with it. From the McKinsey Global Institute report, it showed that China’s engagement with the world in the coming years, will economically value between $22 trillion to $37 trillion could be added or subtracted from the global economy by 2040. Hereby, China overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest economy in 2010, which it has remained in that position, second only to the United States. However, some economists have predilected that China’s economy will surpass America’s by about 2030. Moreover, according to the World Bank, the Chinese economy has been the world’s largest since 2014. This comes by the major of its massive network of factories that churned out everything from toys to mobile phones for consumers all over the world. China’s entry into the World Trade organization i...

The government belongs to everyone, always and everywhere. From the birth declaration to the law on funeral services, from encouraging theater attendance to combating serious crime. In many areas, the government takes measures, legislates and supervises compliance. In many other areas, the government plays a more cautious role, but only sets general conditions. For example, consultation on wages and working conditions is left to employers and unions. And an organization or association of parents can set up a school within certain limits. A government also refers to the system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state. Each government has a different kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy. The philosophy is a balance between the principle of individual freedom and the idea of absolute state authority. Furthermore, most political systems originated as socioeconomic ideologies. Experience with those movements in power and the...

Politics is also known as the activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. It also refers to the process by which groups of people make social economic decisions. This term is applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions. Therefore, it consists of social relations involving authority of power, the regulation of political units, and las but not least, the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply social policy. Three key elements combine the character of politics: power, authority and violence. First, power is a type of power by a group in a society which allows that group to decide the distribution of public resources, including labor and wealth. People who have power, are often defined as the ability to influence the behavior of others with or without resistance. Second, authority is used in the government. The term refers to claim a legitimacy, the justification a...

Before reading the articles about changes in the Korean society, I would characterize South Korea as a society with a materialistic workaholic culture, a drinking culture, a compromise culture, a punishment culture, and a men culture. But I also would describe it as a country with a future. In this blog I will write about how the Korean society has been changing and if the changes are better. The first thing that comes up in mind is how K-pop has made an incredible change in the past few years. In the early years of 2000, teenagers have projected their dreams onto K-pop idols for years. But last year a K-pop band, named ‘Behind The Scenes’ (BTS), made a big impact in the world of K-pop. BTS is not an average K-pop band, they do not conform to the stereotype of the flawless, manufactured idols who are expected to serve as black screens for fans’ projections. This success is a good example of the power of K-pop. It proves that they have a major impact on industry decision-making. Ho...

The scientific method is a method of acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science, which involves observation. There is in general a continuous process that includes observations about the natural world. The best hypotheses lead to predictions that can be tested in various ways. The most common testing of hypotheses comes from reasoning based on carefully controlled experimental data. Moreover, the term scientific method was brought up many years ago, and is now a popular use in the twentieth century. The scientific method is the process by which science is carried out. As in other areas, science can build on previous knowledge and develop a more understanding of its topics over time. The scientific method has five steps: make an observation, ask a question, form a hypothesis, or testable explanation, make a prediction based on the hypothesis, test the prediction and iterate: use the results to make new hypotheses or predictions.  I believe that if you...

The free culture movement is a  growing understanding among artist and audiences that people shouldn’t have to ask permission to copy, share and use each other’s work. In free culture, you just translate the book, use the song, etc. if you want to. If the person doesn’t like the translation or the film for example, he/she is free to say so. There is plenty of free culture out there already. In the past all culture was free culture, but in today’s legal environment, the way people create free culture is to put their work out under a free license. This license was started by Lawrence Lessig, who was the first influential activist of the free culture movement and who owns the ‘Creative Commons’ organization. The creative common license is a special copyright license which explicitly allows most of the activities that standard copyrights prohibit. Free culture means you can perform it, record it, distribute it, use it in your own works, and anything else. It does not mean you can clai...