Sociological Perspective Vs Overgeneralization

Growing up in 21st century North America has allowed for a fairly privileged perspective on the way day to day life occurs. I have always had a roof over my head, food on my plate, and even a comfortable bed to sleep in; what happens when someone is forced to stop and think about life without these commodities? What happens if all aspects of modern day life in America were, all of the sudden, stripped away forever? The sociological perspective was fabricated based upon a variety of questions that conform to differences in the pattern of behavior throughout divergent societies. The sociological perspective was created to enhance a person’s ability to see the general patterns in the behavior of society and how they influence individuals. There

Our ability to put ourselves into a sociological perspective is not straightforward when it is based upon everyday life. Most of the time rapid change or crisis within a particular society can enhance our viewpoint of other societies. Though these changes often encourage the use of the sociological perspective they may also lead to overgeneralization. The tragedy of 9/11 is a perfect example of how many Americans shifted their perspective of Muslims based on the idea that the small group of Muslims that executed the attacks are representative of the entire Muslim population. This example does not show the most positive aspect of the sociological perspective; however, it does express the dangers of overgeneralizing upon different societies. In my personal life, I have been able to observe many different social forces that have impacted the individual that I am today. The first force that has shaped me, as well as many other people living in civilized societies, was my experience in the education system. The most powerful influence upon me began with my peers. The things that you wore, things that you participated in, and the people you knew all determined how “cool” you were within that peer group. No one wanted to be marginalized within

As I grew older I began to realize that the world is full of different societies and, after taking a few sociology classes, I began to realize that societies had a specific role. I later found out that this realization is a part of a global perspective. Global perspective is important because it explains that where we live can shape the lives we have. Growing up around technology, for instance, gives teenagers in technologically advanced societies the power of knowledge at the click of a button. This greatly creates a gap between the society of our generation versus the society of our grandparents’ generation. Our grandparents grew up in an era where technology was not prevalent in their everyday lives. This resulted in hard work being the basis of their society. The harder people in the older generation worked, the more respected they were; whereas, in today’s era, it is more about intellect and how quickly information can be distributed among the masses. Today’s society also has much different views upon race, sex, class, sex, and age that further separate the society of teens today versus the society of our grandparents. These views show differences in the social-conflict approach which explains how the previous things