...Essay: Evaluate the role of education in society. Consider issue of gender in your response. Also, consider how such factors may impact on a person’s life chances. This essay will examine the role of education in society and an analysis of inequality in relation to Gender. It will discuss briefly education and examine the different theoretical approaches to education followed by an analysis of inequality using information on statistics of inequality in British education in relation to gender and attainment. This essay will Identify and evaluate key policy developments in education provision designed to bridge the gap of gender inequality in British education. The role of education in society has been among the major issues in contemporary sociological and political debate. According to Iannelli and Paterson (2005) education is a major factor that helps determine the jobs and social class positions of individuals in society. As an institution of sociology, education plays a dominant role in transmitting prevalent ideologies of society by providing pupils with the curriculum and hidden curriculum as well as the skills that will prepare them physically, mentally and socially for their life chances (Clark 2005). Educational institutions play a very important role in reducing social inequalities. Over the last century British schools experienced very important changes and moved from a selective system to a comprehensive one in the 1960s and 70s. Much research has shown that the...
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...Sexual behavior is a topic that raises multiple issues that are worth concern. It is a subject that many social scientists are interested in, especially in providing insight to social problems that might arise from sexual behavior. Social scientific evidence shows that problems have arisen from teenage pregnancy, prostitution, and pornography. These issues can be solved through looking at the problem with the insight of sociological theoretical perspectives. These perspectives include conflict theory, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism. Conflict theory holds the idea that society is characterized by inequality based on race, gender, social class, and other dividing factors. It also states that social change is possible through extensive...
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...Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism theory. Each theory has its own interpretation on family. First we must comprehend these three different perspectives, then their application of family and finally how those view of family affects society. The functionalist theory focuses on ways in which family gratifies the needs of its participants and is structured to maintain the stability of society (Schaefer, 2011). This perspective focuses on the six paramount functions described by sociologist William F. Ogburn (Schaefer, 2011). Family is responsible in establishing function in society by using the six paramount functions and they are reproduction, protection, socialization, regulation of sexual behavior, affection and companionship, and provision of social status (Schaefer, 2011). Functionalist theorists have opposing views on the particular functions that a family must perform but they all agree that family plays an integral part in the societal function. Sociologists, who work with the functionalist perspective, view family as contributing part of society’s basic needs and obtaining specialized roles in society. Functionalists believe that the family is an optimistic and advantageous foundation in which family members receive nurturing, care, health care, housing, and education. Functionalist’s primary objective is how the individual is molded by family structure to be a suitable member of society. Individuals are puppets and sometimes prisoners of social control, and there decisions...
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...guarantee for gay couples seeking fertility treatment; many couples trying to have a baby are turned away based on how a doctor feels about same sex families. As it stands, no physician or hospital receiving government funding can discriminate against a patient based on his or her race, color, religion or national origin (Appel, 2006). It goes against the human rights of the potential patient to discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation. How do anti gay legislation further conceptualize the idea the nuclear family? Using a Symbolic Interactionist perspective, this paper looks at how gay and lesbian families use family symbols and rituals as strategies to negotiate family identity in interactions with families of origin, social network members, and community institutions, as well as challenge hetero-normative ideologies of family life. Context Increasingly, there has been a rise in non-biological parenting in gay and lesbian families. An increasing number of lesbians and gay males form families with children. In a 2001 census, the first to collect data on same sex partnership, found that 34,000 couples identified as same sex common law couples, and 15 percent of female...
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...elements of the discipline. An example of a macro theory is Feminism which was first introduced by the Suffragettes which was solely focused on political equality and then brought light to the topic in 1918, when women were given the right to vote if they owned their own house and were over the age of 30, shockingly it took another 10 years for the age to lower to vote to 21. They focused on the gender division between men and women. Feminists characterise our society as patriarchal, which means male dominated, and they argue that mainstream sociology focus on the concern of men and not on the concern of women. There are many elements within feminist attitudes and this incudes Marxism feminists. Liberal feminists, Radical feminists and Black feminists all have a similar goal which is to end male patriarchy in society and free society of exploitation to women by focusing on achievements and accomplishments that women have achieved throughout the years. Another example of a macro theory is Marxism, this is a conflict theory in which people believes that we as people are victims of capitalism and our whole world essentially focuses on money, social and political problems, based on the social change in terms of economic factors. Within...
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...P1&P2: explain the principal sociological perspectives and explain the different approaches to health and ill health. Functionalist Perspective and the approach to Health: The functionalist perspective was published in 1951 by Talcott Parsons which studied the social structure as a whole and the ways in which it functions. This view promotes the social solidarity and value consensus; this is the belief that each person should share the same basic norms and values within society. Therefore, this would make each society run smoothly. Functionalists believe strongly that each individual has an equal opportunity of success within their life, that the nuclear family is a vital concept as it provides the most suitable environment for children to be raised within and believe if an individual has ill health that it is there responsibility to work with health professionals to re-gain good health status. This perspective has been widely criticised by individuals as it is believed that they do not value the diversity within a society. The functionalist approach to health is identified through the relationship shared between an individual who is sick and the whole of society. Talcott Parsons strongly believed that for a society to run smoothly all individuals must be free of ill health and that ‘medicine serves the wellbeing of society as a whole’. Individuals in which believe the functionalist perspective believe that having a sick role in society is classed as an act of deviance...
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...Assignment Title:- How can we apply sociological perspectives in HSC? |STUDENT DECLARATION | |I understand the rules of plagiarism and I declare that the work produced for this assignment is my own. | | | |Student Signature ____________________________________Date_____________ | |Assignment Launch Date |Tuesday 3rd November 2011 | |Assignment Hand in Dates |Assignment 1 |2011 | | |Assignment 2 |2011 | | | | | | | |GRADING CRITERIA | |To achieve a pass grade you must show that you |To achieve a merit you must show that you are |To achieve a distinction you must show | |are able to: |able to: ...
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...century due to ethnic differences. To illustrate, “The predominant modern stereotypes are the violent, brutish African-American male and the dominant, lazy African-American female - the Welfare Mother (Green, 1998-1999, p. 1).” Set in a mixed society of different cultures the aim is to prompt the audience into ‘looking into themselves’ and acknowledge their own personal prejudices; they are overt or covert racists too. The 3 elements of cultures openly portrayed are the language used, the norms maintained by society, both formal and informal. As far as how many viewers actually have the courage to accept their faulty mindsets, is left to them. While at first glance, the movie appears to send out a passionate appeal about ending racism and discrimination, an in-depth probe reveals that the ‘wrongness’ of proclaiming Whites as a superior race, albeit subtly, is actually not acknowledged at all; the excuse of personal problems suffices to let them off the hook quite easily. Symbolic Interactionism Theory: It seems as if the director is in a dilemma regarding the acceptance of underlying racism and the total abolishment of existing racial tensions in the U.S. This might be better understood via an...
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...Sociology and Family Family is the most important social institution in sociology today, as it helps to identify all human societies. Families are developed in different genre of society and can be defined as “a basic social unit consisting of parent(s) and their children, considered as a group of people living together or not. A typical family consists of a mother, father and their unmarried child or children. Today, families are separated into categories such as a single-parent families, stepfamilies, adopted families, grandparents or uncles or aunts raising another sibling child or children, and parents raising adult kids due to them moving back home or in need of the help to remain home; not to mention gay/lesbian couples are now allowed to have a family. Due to the uniqueness of every family, there will be some kind of similarities among the other. Whichever family type it is, one will find different perspectives as it relates to a family institution. In this paper, you will read about how the three society theories: functionalism, conflict and social interaction affect and the effect it has on families. You will also gain knowledge to find that social institutions are the results of social actions and also the causes of social actions. Families can be seen as a norm in a social relationship. This tradition is conducted and reinforced by religion, politicians, mass media and other indoctrinated natives. The diversity of a family structure has changed over the...
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...invites us to look for the connections between the behaviour of individual people and the structures of the society in which they live. The structures are functionalism, Marxism, Feminist, Interactionism, Collectivism, Postmodernism and New right. Functionalism Functionalism is a perspective created by Emile Durkheim. He believed society was made up of inter-connected institutions for an example education, family and government which depended on each other to function. Functionalists see society as being similar to the human body. In the same way the body relies on the heart to pump blood round to other vital organs like the lungs and brain. Functionalists see society as being constructed of different inter-dependent components like the family and education system. So in the same way the human body would fail if the heart stopped, functionalists’ argue society would stop working properly if the family stopped functioning properly. Functionalists say this would happen because the family is an institution in which primary socialisation occurs. Primary socialisation is where younger members of a family are taught societies norms, values, roles and beliefs, By having the same values which we all share, a value consensus is establish. Therefore we can see the family has a function in the social system. This perspective of society differed from other sociologists of his era as Durkheim's theories were founded on things external in nature, as opposed to those internal in nature...
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...| Principles | Impact on health and social care | How and why it works | Functionalism | * Adaptation- refers to the changes that occur in order to maintain various aspects of a social system’s culture. For example families have to adapt to schools. * Goal attainment- a system must define and achieve its primary goals. * Integration- a system must adjust the interrelationship of its component parts. * Latency- latency refers to the rewards that the system offers to keep members motivated. | Sick role is a term used in medical sociology regarding sickness and the rights and obligations of the affected. This is because, from a functionalist perspective, a sick individual is not a productive member of society. Therefore this deviance needs to be policed, which is the role of the medical profession. | The theory outlined two rights of a sick person and two obligations. The sick person's rights are twofold the first one is being spared from normal social roles; the second one is not being responsible for their condition. Equally, the sick person's obligations included trying to get well and cooperating with the medical professionals. | | * | | | Marxism | * Opposition to an economic system based on inequality. * The freedom of the workers must be the task of the workers themselves. * The recognition of the existence of social classes that divide men and women into distinct segments of the population. | Concerned with conflict rather than stability...
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...Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, and interactionism, Collectivism, Postmodernism and The New Right. The first perspective which I will be explaining will be Functionalism. Functionalism is the view that our society is based onagreed norms and values. A norm is social rules that define correct behaviour in society. An example of a norm can be an individual attending school until they are the age of 18. Values are what are important to an individual and this differs in class, culture, ethnicity and gender. An example of a value which is important to most of our society is going to school, going to church or volunteering. Functionalists see social structure or the organisation of society as more important than the individual itself. They say that people are born into society and become the product if all social influences around them because they’re socialised by different institutions such as family, education, media and religion. Sociologist Talcott Parsons sees society as a system that works together to keep things running smoothly just like the human body. Social consensus is a key belief of functionalism. It allows society to continue to progress because the theory believes that we have shared norms and values in society which we must follow. Another sociological perspective that I will be explaining will be Marxism. It is a structuralist theory but it is based on conflict rather than consensus. Marxists believe that the bourgeoisie (people in a higher social class) exploit people that...
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...BTEC L3 Extended Diploma Health & Social Care 2014/15 |Name of unit |Assessor | |U7 Sociological Perspectives for Health and Social Care | | | |J Gurney | |Assignment title Assignment 2 |Verifier |Date | | |B. El-Fares |12/10/10 | |Date issued: 25th Nov 2014 | |Submission date 6th Jan 2015 | |Scenario | | ...
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...Assess the usefulness of interactionist approaches to the study of society. (33marks) Interactionism is an action approach, which focuses on the individual, and tries to understand and interpret human behaviour. They focus on the study of individuals, and how society is constructed by members’ interactions and meanings. They also focus on how human action is meaningful and can be interpreted by an observer. Therefore they take an opposite approach to structural theories and believe individuals have the ability to create society through choice, meaning and action. Symbolic interactionism is concerned with explaining social actions in terms of the meanings that people give to them. Interactions are based on meanings we give to situations. We express these meanings through symbols, especially language. Meanings and symbols allow people to carry out human action and interactions. Language and communication deepens our capacity to become self-aware and aware of others. In addition to ‘talking to others’ we engage in talking to ourselves’, that is, engaging in internal conversations when we are making decisions. Mead (1863-1931) states that humans use symbols as a mean of interacting. Without these symbols there would be no human interaction and human society. Symbolic interaction is necessary since humans have no instincts to direct their behaviour. Mead recognized that people had the capacity to reflect on their own actions. This is because everyone has a self which...
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...Zoë C.P Gaines English 101 3/26/2016 Following Social Norms Human society is made up of billions of people right? It’s no wonder to me that in order to keep all of the worlds’ people at a level where they can function peacefully, some structures with regard to behaviors and mannerisms are needed. These, structures are better known as social norms. Social norms are the expected and set behaviors that are found within each and every culture around the world. These norms include both social and legal expectations. They constitute the main fabric of a society and its inner workings by setting in place social unwritten rules, also known as common law; which determines how people behave and act towards and around one another. The foremost function of social norms is to institute social structure and permit cohesiveness between members of society. These norms that are set in place are ordinarily accepted as right, or anticipated behavior depending on various circumstances that depend on environment and culture within such society. Once established, members of society who follow and abide by these norms feel more at ease socially while living out their day to day lives. Although, sometimes an individual's personal identity may in some sense be restricted by some social norms, therefore following the common law of the community you live in is generally seen as being good of the society; and therefore following them becomes an advantage to the members of that society. ...
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