Social structure has shaped the characteristics and the aspirations of Melvin Affandy, an Indonesian studying in University of Washington. Sometimes people fail to see that the identity of a person is subjected to his/her societal background. This is the result of people not having a quality of mind (sociological imagination) which disconnects their understanding of the tight relationship between social structure and what the person has become. Hence, I am going to analyse my subject from his societal background. By doing an interview, I extracted a statement describing how he perceives himself. These statements, if analysed, indicates how the social structure around Melvin has impacted him this way. In this paper, I am going to discuss about …show more content…
This decision is a result from a demand from his parents for Melvin to get an idea of a company and gain experience for that matter. He choses to get along with it as a result of the thought that he needs to gain work experience which is the result of the target set by universities and job positions, since most of universities and companies prefers applicants with more hands on experience. He is able to get a position in a famous company in Indonesia because he got the connection from his society in his school. He had a friend whose father works for Indofood, which enables him to get his position. His business oriented family (since his father works as a financial manager) shaped his preference for a job in the Investor Relations Department which revolves around economics. Moreover, he mentioned about his inability to speak fluent Bahasa Indonesia. This is the result of him going to International School, in which the first person is English, and the fact that both of his parents are able to speak in …show more content…
His preference to study abroad in University of Washington is the outcome of the social structure. Firstly, he went to an International School in which most students go abroad for their education. More specifically he chose the US because of his family’s economic background that favours the study in US. since the cost of living is much cheaper than in his secondary choice of country, UK. Secondly, he took IB examination, which limits his options with universities abroad than in his country. Lastly, his first language is English, which suits the language of students in United
Often differences and similarities between people may be obvious but more often their relationships can be difficult to recognize. “The relationships of individuals to the societies in which they live vary widely with time and place”. (Blair Nelson from the syllabus for assignment Essay Exam 1).
The movie analyzed in this paper is The Mission. This movie contains several sociological aspects and concepts. The concepts most easily identified are the ones that will be discussed in the following pages of this paper. Those concepts are Social Inequality, Deviance, and Subcultures. Social inequality is the social differences that exist whenever one group of people has different access to the rewards a society offers. Deviance is a variation from a set of norms or shared social expectations. Finally subcultures are groups of persons who share in the main culture of a society but also have their own distinctive values, norms, and life styles. These three concepts are clearly recognizable and are the concepts most prevalent in storyline of the movie.
‘Sociological Imagination' as explained by C. Wright Mills is an individual's ability to recognize the connection between the course of their own lives and the role that historical and societal changes play in the personal decisions they make (Mills, 1959). Unaware of the effect of this connection on the kind of people they are becoming, they are unable to solve personal troubles as they look for solutions within themselves as a biographical entity (Mills, 1959). They fail to identify the structural transformation that is responsible for their private troubles. Dilemmas that individuals face within themselves or amongst direct relations with others are known as personal troubles (Mills, 1959). In contrast, public issues, are troubles that
The preliminary to fruitful discussion of social matters is that certain obstacles shall be overcome, obstacles residing in our present conceptions of the method of social inquiry. One of the obstructions in the path is the seemingl...
This is the foundation of the Sociological Imagination Concept. According to C. Wright Mills, sociological imagination is developed when we can place personal problems in a social situation or environment such that they are no longer viewed solely as individual or personal problems, but instead as social problems. That is problems that are shared by enough peop...
...rrest Gump’s personal life. The Vietnam War was probably the most significant of these historical events as it places Forrest in a position to make two friendships, Bubba and Lt. Dan, who were instrumental in his motivation and future financial successes in personal life. Other happenings in society such as economic conditions after a war, the attitudes of people toward handicapped when Forrest was growing up, racism, special treatment for talented athletes, and many others are only a few examples of historical events that were woven with the personal life of Forrest and his friends. I have cited in my paper just a few of the many examples of the concept of sociological imagination depicted in this movie. As one reviews this movie, one becomes cognizant of the many happenings in society that influence and shape Forrest’s, Bubba’s, and Lt. Dan’s lives. Before studying the concept of sociological imagination in sociology class, I never thought about the effect of the events taking place in society intersecting with the characters’ lives. Now, I realize that sociological imagination is the underlying theme of this movie.
One thing we have to learn is that society is never the same. It changes over time and continuously affects us. Another aspect from the article examines sociology and the relationship between “private troubles and public issues”. “Private troubles” affect an individual and their situation. It is not affected by society, just the individual who has that “private trouble”. “Public issues” affect the society as a whole, including an individual and their situation, along with many other individuals and their situations. Gould and Lewis state that those who have “public issues” are “trapped in a ‘private orbit’”. They are imprisoned in their everyday worlds and the circumstances around them. Even with trying to find a job to escape from the “private orbit”, they cannot overcome the troubles. They are stuck in this “private orbit” because of the economy and society and how everything that happens affects every individual. To get out of our “private orbits”, we need to look beyond them and search for factors that can explain history and how it affected us. According to the authors, the “sociological
After reviewing the article titles given for this first assignment, I believe they indicate that Sociology, generally speaking, is not only a study of diversity or commonality in traits among people; it is also a science about factors in a person’s life and how these factors culminate responses. Interestingly enough, its topics of concern seem to be directly determined by current and common events of the world. Through the invention and expansion of new ideas, popular trends and fashions through time, Sociology adapts to responsibly to service the very subjects of interest it studies; for, even the slightest change of a person’s daily experience can have an insurmountable impact on attitude, personal growth, family dynamics and basic group behavior.
The sociological perspective examines the hidden reasons for one’s actions and identities that people have. It stressed how they are influenced by their society and most of all their social location. Social location predetermines all aspects of one’s life and there are rules that come with social location, and with rules come social control mechanisms and social stratification that keep people in line. With social location also come institutions that provide roles which form one’s identity. In the movie, “Good Will Hunting,” the main character Will Hunting is a young deviant what grows up in a rough neighbourhood and has the intellect of a genius. Role theory and other concepts from the sociological perspective explain Will Hunting’s actions and identity.
...lay in societal change. However it was only until the works of Durkheim and Simmel that the role of individual interaction and society is brought to the forefront. Durkheim largely viewed the individual as needing society as a mechanism of constraint to the aspirations of an eternal goal. Finally, Simmel was able to expand on Durkheim’s dualism by noting that society could be viewed as more than a mechanism of constraint rather as an accumulation of individual interaction. Either through a combination or as individuals each theorist distinct view of the relationship between the individual and society demonstrates a new understanding towards the nature of social reality.
As I sketch my sociological portrait, I find myself first looking at the multiple statuses I hold in society and how each came about. I am not only a father to an young adult, but a son, a brother, a friend to many, a neighbor, a student once again and a blue-collar worker. Each of these statuses developed during various times in my life, and requires me to take on, at times, numerous roles. These statuses have defined who I have become and the impacts I have on society. My sociological portrait will be based on the social institution of family. My family has been the most influential in molding who I have become.
...Henslin, James M. "Social Structure and Social Interaction." Essentials of Sociology: A down to Earth Approach. 10th Ed. 10th ed. Pearson, 2013. 112. Print.
The socio-autobiography is one of the ways that gives the people in general, what is the real life for a person in perspective of social history. The socio –autobiography is a real way to know where we are among a certain society. In this paper, the main objectives are to compare my socio-autobiography with my friend’s grandfather and align two concepts as sociologist points of you in order to illustrate the clear picture of how to use this kind of document in perfect shape.
Many different people, from many different backgrounds can define society in many different ways. To some it is the community they live in, to others it is the entity that shapes their lives, and yet to others, it is an exclusive club in which they're are a member of. To Emile Durkheim, the world's first official Sociologist, society is a complex structure in which each separate part is responsible for its own function for the benefit of the whole. This essay will not only explain how society can be both internal and external to human beings, but also three characteristics of the social fact concept, and three of Durkheim's sociologically significant concepts.
In general, individual cannot be built without the continuous outpouring him or her into the society for understanding his or her position and identity. It is impossible that an infant is able to figure out he or she is a human being before he or she has the conception about “human being.” A man cannot know whether he is smart or not without comparison with other men. Therefore, all information about an individual must be obtained from other individuals in one society. The biological process of being a social individual is the time when the individual interacts with an outside social environment in both physical and emotional ways. The reason why an individual has to touch and output outside environment is the incompleteness of society. That is, there is no society which does not base on human beings because society is not a biologically extraneous phenomenon, and the society must be shaped by activities of every individual. With the continual establishment of the relationship between every individuals and social world, the existence of society become real. In short, the broader social world is the product of the activities of human