The Facets of Sociology - Essay Example

Sociology INTRODUCTION There are many facets of sociology. Basically, sociology is the study of people. People can be ified as to gender race, ethnicity, religion, ideology, age, etc. Sociology was defined by Neil Smelser in his treatise on Sociology as the study of the major patterns of change and the modernization that occurs in societies and the determination of the universal social or even cultural mechanisms that hastens the process of changing society. (Dentler, 2002, p. 2). BODY In terms of culture, it is the study of the culture that signifies this group cultural group is a New Zealand Milk worker, American Indian , Japanese carmaker and the like. Sociology is often synonymous with culture. Sociologists generally study culture by interpreting collective meanings by tracing the moral textures and delicate emotional pathways that each individual or group of individuals being influenced. Sociology further concentrates on the answering why and what is the meaning of each culture in order to uncover the ideal structures of culture as influenced by the cultures of nearby groups that they are in contact with during their day to day activities (Alexander, 2003, p. 5). In terms of power, it is similar to the study of why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Why the American People declared their independence from it native England, Why Hitler declared that all Jews must be eradicated from the face of the earth, Why Russia and China became Communist governments, Why Russia finally broke up into several independent states, and other similar examples(Fogel & Lee, 2002). In terms of gender, it is the study of why females act the way they do and why males often act this way or that way. Another researcher, Rorty, stated in a research that the arguments on feminism from the rather abstract meaning gender that focused on the self and a person’s enrichment. For, inequality can be glaringly abound in a societal group because each person in the group is magnetized to espoused to implement the group’s stand on gender which generally states that the Caucasian race is physically and mentally superior to the whites (Cruickshank, 2002, p. 59). In terms of ideology, sociology is the study of why the Japanese during World War II was well bent on conquering the world and why the Communist founders and the democratic countries often go head to head against each other believing that their system of government is the best in terms of giving their people a better way of life. George Eliot stated in his research that the study of Ideology is the sophisticated understanding of the many facets of ideology and inequality, leisure and work, class and status without idolizing the subjects under study. His study had focused on the villagers living the English Countryside. The study focused on how and why these folks drank, made stupid jokes, imposed their superstitious beliefs, had a good sense of kindness to children and the hospitality and cooperation that their group so demanded to conform (Halsey, 2004, p. 21). In terms of prejudice, sociology studies why most whites are so eager to discriminate against the Africans, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Thailanders, the Malaysians, the Indonesians and even the Americans during their War for Independence from the United States. Sociology is the study of how many governments like the United Kingdom and other European countries have instituted laws that would punish anyone who would prejudice a person in terms of job application, promotion and increase in salaries because of one’s race, religion, etc. The members of the United Nations General Assembly had voted approved the Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion or Belief on November 25, 1981 (Ghanea, 2003, p. 1). A. Relation of these concepts to New Zealand society. In terms of culture, the New Zealand society believes that there are generally only two kinds of cultures. They are the Europeans and the Aborigines. The Europeans led by Captain Cook and his successors are typified as invaders and grabbers of the aborigines’ ancestral lands. The Aborigines are identified as the real landowners of New Zealand. (Rose, 2001, p. 62). In terms of ideology, there is a new scale of summarizing the central and core elements of social representation of the individual person as contrasted to the group based entitlement to allocation of scarce resources in New Zealand. There is currently a status quo that there will be an equal representation between the different groups as embodied in the Equality Positioning Scale agreement. This agreement was meant for the assurance of Pakeha undergraduates who had supported liberal as against conservative political parties. Many New Zealanders had positioned their espoused that equality in all New Zealand society preferred to choose the Labour and Green parties. A 2005 regression analysis study showed that New Zealand voters preferred groups that advocated equality in terms of gender, color, religion and other respects (Sibley & Wilson, 2007). B. Relation of these concepts to New Zealand health care delivery. In terms of health care, another New Zealand study shows that there is a general conception that the health care patterns in many communities showed that the poor were found to receive an appropriate or a slightly excessive level of services given their projected health care needs. This is founded on the principle that the effects of a continued restructuring of the New Zealand public health system focuses on providing the required minimum decent health care to all members of New Zealand society. Many researches found that there is big disparity in terms of health care delivery there. This has been brought about by the demand for health care services based on the income capacity of the health care providers and the health care patients. Currently, the ever –increasing gap between the rich and the poor in New Zealand society takes its toll on the quality and quantity of health care services that the health care units can afford to offer its ever increasing patient roster. The hospitals have to pay for the salaries of its doctors, nurses, maintenance staff and other daily operating expenses to survive until another fifty or more years (Fogel & Lee, 2002). c. The current description of New Zealand society demonstrating knowledge of the historical and recent influences and ideologies. The current description of New Zealand society demonstrating knowledge of the historical and recent influences and ideologies is better than the societal environmental during the time of Captain Cook and his successors. Discrimination was the order of the day then. The ethnic tribes of New Zealand were unceremoniously pushed out of their homelands and driven far to the countryside. There was a very clear line between the rights of the Caucasians and the rights and duties of the Aborigines then. Our current society is based on the law of equality on all facets of life. These facets include religion, gender, ideology, culture, power, and prejudice. The economic life of New Zealand is centered on the milk industry because the country’s grass is well suited for the Cows produce the world famous New Zealand brand of powered milk and other milk products (Fogel & Lee, 2002). d. Definition of Ethnicity and Race in New Zealand. Race means a group of person of common descent or heredity. For example, the Japanese race, the New Zealand race and the Chinese Race, the African Race, The human race. Another definition of race is that it is a group of tribes or people that form an ethnic stock. An example of an ethnic race is the Slavic race and the New Zealand aborigine group. Currently The dividing line in terms of ethnicity and race in current New Zealand has been very vague even to the point of being hidden because the New Zealand laws and the European Union laws makes it a compulsory act to treat everyone as an equal in applying for jobs and buying houses, choosing which grocery to buy their personal needs and which recreational places to spend their family time in (Fogel & Lee, 2002). Examples will suffice to prove that ethnicity health in New Zealand is unique. One example shows that people from ethnic minorities that include colonized indigenous cultures such as the Maori of New Zealand had glaringly higher incidences of mental illness. And, these Maori people had higher statistics in terms of admission to mental hospitals, higher compulsory hospital mental illness admission percentages and higher readmission mental illness (Theuma, Read, Moskowitz & Stewart, 2007). Also, another example shows that Somali refugees who arrived in droves in New Zealand to escape the dangers of second world war in their home country had common health related problems. These Refugees living in Hamilton, New Zealand were asylum seekers or reunited with their families who arrived earlier in Hamilton. . They tackled the language barrier upon arrival in New Zealand They struggled to overcome misunderstandings in terms of health care delivery systems because they differ from the New Zealanders in terms of the social dimensions of religion, colour, race, language and culture practices. Their unstable mental health was triggered by the horrors of war back in their native country (Guerin, Abdi & Guerin, 2003). Further, a third example shows that the Meihana model of mental patients incorporated the ethnic beliefs, values and experiences of the Maori tribes in a holistic health care approach. This is termed Te Whare Tapa Wha which is translated as ‘best practice’. The clinicians would work within a safe framework by using the Maori’s ethnic beliefs as a jump off point to cure their mental inadequacies. Slowly, the clinicians will move the Maori patients out of their comfort zone to uncharted a psychological world in order to catapult them into our realistic 20th century time period (Pitama, Robertson, Cram, Gillies, Huria & Dallas-Katoa, 2007). CONCLUSION Society life today in New Zealand has overshadowed the prior life of the New Zealanders. Family life is better today as compared to family life during the time of Captain Cook and his successors. The people can freely exercise their religion of choice today as compared to the time of Captain Cook. The people can freely enroll in any course they want with no restrictions. In terms of media, The law mandates that people of different races, genders, cultures, powers, ideologies, ethnicities and prejudices are treated on equal footing when news reports formulated. References Alexander, J. C. (2003). The Meanings of Social Life: A Cultural Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. Cruickshank, J. (2002). Realism and Sociology: Anti-Foundationalism, Ontology, and Social Research. London: Routledge. Dentler, R. A. (2002). Practicing Sociology: Selected Fields. Westport, CT: Praeger. Fogel, R. W., & Lee, C. (2002). Who Gets Health Care?. Daedalus, 131(1), 107+. Ghanea, N. (Ed.). (2003). The Challenge of Religious Discrimination at the Dawn of the New Millennium. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff. Retrieved August 3, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=114157183 Guerin, B., Abdi, A., & Guerin, P. (2003). Experiences with the Medical and Health Systems for Somali Refugees Living in Hamilton. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 32(1), 27+. Halsey, A. H. (2004). A History of Sociology in Britain: Science, Literature, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pitama, S., Robertson, P., Cram, F., Gillies, M., Huria, T., & Dallas-Katoa, W. (2007). Meihana Model: A Clinical Assessment Framework. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 36(3), 118+. Rose, D. B. (2001). 4 The Saga of Captain Cook Remembrance and Morality. In Telling Stories: Indigenous History and Memory in Australia and New Zealand, Attwood, B. & Magowan, F. (Eds.) (pp. 61-79). Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. Sargent, L. T. (2001). Utopianism and the Creation of New Zealand National Identity. Utopian Studies, 12(1), 1. Sibley, C. G., & Wilson, M. S. (2007). Political Attitudes and the Ideology of Equality: Differentiating Support for Liberal and Conservative Political Parties in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 36(2), 72+. Theuma, M., Read, J., Moskowitz, A., & Stewart, A. (2007). Evaluation of a New Zealand Early Intervention Service for Psychosis. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 36(3), 136+. Read More