The Role of Sociology during Wars - Term Paper Example

s School Role of Sociology in Understanding War The concept of war is generally associated with s like International Relations and Strategic Studies, in fact to be more precise with areas like conflict and peace studies. However, nowadays, the social scientists are returning towards sociology to understand the fundamentals of the concept of war to draw predictions and further to resolve the crisis after having analyzed it in depth. As a general perception, war is an elevated form of conflict which takes the shape of rather armed conflict, and may be between two or even more parties, usually states. Since a lot of assets are at stake during a war, it is crucial to resolve the crises and in order to do so understanding the root causes is very important. This paper aims at discussing how sociology can play a crucial role in predicting, understanding and thus, avoiding wars. Sociology is the study of societies, usually modern ones which comprises of people being the sole fundamentals or building blocks of the society, and thus understanding the psyche and societal roles of these people can help understand war more effectively, as proposed by the sociologists (Stanchak 2000). The first part of the thesis comprises of the role of sociology in understanding the concept of war which is the sole pre-requisite for predicting and thus, resolving the issues which have the potential of turning into a war like situation. In this context, Lachmann (2012) argues that war can be traced back in history and can thus be studied in terms of benefits and losses for individuals or groups within individuals. For instance, he states that citizens of a nation associate their collective interests with the state authority, and the state in turn seeks benefits from the state in terms of taxes and services etc. Thus, over the years, the state has developed strong control over the citizens in terms of controlling their socio-economic lives either directly or indirectly, and in this global world, the same benefit and loss patterns have resulted into conflicts between states over resources which are already in scarcity. Supporting this argument, another proposition posed by Shaw (2007) can be stated which indicates that the reasons behind wars can be related to sociological patterns across society. This implies that war rather than being taken as an absolute entity should rather be studies as general conflicts between individuals or groups, and he focuses on the concept of genocide where a certain group attacks an un-armed group of people to pursue their personal interests. In other words, sociologists base the reasons for wars between states not on the basis of national interests, sovereignty or the like, in fact they argue that it is inherent in the human nature to be involved on conflicts given their desire to seek more benefit for themselves. The second part of the thesis deals with understanding war to draw conclusions and give suggestions about preventions of wars. Political sociology is a branch of political science which theorizes concepts of international relations with concepts of sociology to explain wars and give conclusion about what are the possible prospects of war. Political Sociology generally discusses the power politics with respect to societal aspects or rather in terms of interactions between individuals to explain how and why wars lead towards massive destruction (Nueman 2005). One way to do so is to study historically about how wars had left a drastic effect of individual’s life, and in the long run the results are only negative and tend to lead towards massive destruction. On one hand, where the proponents of International Relations for instance the realists believe and argue that war in inevitable and leads towards peace in the long run, on the other hand, sociologists are of the view that war only leads towards destruction. For instance, while sociologists study the World Wars in depth, they derive conclusions about how family lives were disturbed owing to wars, women raped, and societies ruptured, morals delineated, and societal roles reversed owing to the wars, which weren’t a source of benefit even for the victor`s of the war, as even they faced massive economic crises in the aftermath of war. Thus, sociologist or even the political sociologists tend to focus on the social and economic status of individuals as a result of the war to conclude that war only leads towards destruction and never towards anything positive for anyone. Given the in depth understanding of societies of the societies in reference to the concept of war, the sociologists are thus able to give solid suggestions about how war can be avoided and issues having the potential to result in war be resolved. War is more of a game of perceptions, and the threat perceptions revolving around nations in this present post military world should be considered on a priority basis to resolve war (Shaw 1992). Thus, in order to avoid war these perceptions need to be gauged and guided in the right direction, for which the society should be trained implying that it should inherently be stored into the minds of individuals that war is inherently destructive in nature. For this, sociologists suggest that morality should be inflicted upon a society by virtue of the principals of accountability and justice which is only possible after setting up institution ensuring social justice in societies, only then can the desire to pursue national interests can be addressed into something constructive (International Studies Association 2000). Thus, conclusively, sociologists have managed to explain and understand the concept of war very effectively by virtue of which we can predict the nature of war and address it before it occurs. The general desire amongst individuals while interacting to benefit more from the other results onto war, and thus societies tend to maximize benefits which result into war. Thus, people should be made aware of the fact that wars only tend to lead towards maximum destruction and thus, should be avoided. Lastly, institutions must be strengthened to add an element of justice and morality amongst individuals of a state which will then be apparent once any kind of interaction takes place. References: Neuman, W. L. (2005). Power, state, and society: An introduction to political sociology. Boston, Mass: McGraw-Hill Shaw, M. (1991). Post-military society: Militarism, demilitarization, and war at the end of the twentieth century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Lachmann, R. (2010). States and power. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Shaw, M. (2007). What is genocide?. Cambridge: Polity. International Studies Association. (2007). International political sociology. Malden, MA: Published on behalf of the International Studies Association by Blackwell Stanchak, J. E. (2000). Civil War. New York: Dorling Kindersley Pub. Read More