Social Alienation Can Be a Major Problem - Essay Example

Jenny also feels alienated due to her ethnicity. She describes being a part of one of the first Hispanic families in town. She complains that there is not much communication between the different groups. Jenny's comments are interesting as they bring together a large variety of different types of alienation. Growing up can be hard to do in a general way, but Jenny is perceptively analyzing both class and ethnic differences in her school. In my own experience in high school, I noticed people like Jenny and saw that they had a hard time. I did what I could to help them. I grew up in a small town like McMinden, a town that was changing, and can sympathize with her feelings about the negativity at school.

            Suzanne provides another perspective. She cares about her children, but could perhaps be described as a Soccer Mom. She is exhibiting signs of role expectations for her children. She wants her children to be like her father. The path to accomplishing that goal is through school athletics. She doesn't speak about what her children want, only what she wants for them. Her heart is in the right place. She seems to be a product of a difficult life and is facing up to the challenge of being a divorced mother. However, the single-mindedness of her expectations for her children seems somewhat excessive. She may be setting her children up for failure. In a town with little else to do, being an athlete may be the most glamorous thing. In my hometown, the football players were heroes. Everyone wanted to be like them. But a few years later they were working at gas stations.

            Mendoza, the police officer, talks about drugs in the town. McMinden is not a bucolic paradise. The difficult economic times and lack of opportunities have made some people turn to drugs. Mendoza is there to sanction this kind of behavior. It is illegal and not acceptable. Sanctioning is how society shows its disapproval of a kind of activity. If he didn't do his job, drug abuse would be more prevalent and more people would be on the road under the influence. The bonds that keep the town together would collapse. Drugs are indicative of a larger social malaise, usually economic. People who have few opportunities may turn to drugs to ease their pain. It is the job of law enforcement agents to prevent this. An interesting observation on the part of Mendoza is that abuse occurs in all segments of society. That suggests the problems in McMinden are severe. In my town, drug problems usually occurred among the marginalized. The fact that is occurring everywhere in McMinden society suggests that the town is about to implode.

            These interviews with townspeople show how diverse the various perspectives in this town truly are. Perspective depends on several factors such as gender, race, socio-economic status, employment status, health, and more. To get a full sociological perspective of a town, a range of different people must be considered. All of these problems seem interlinked. They are caused by the economic problems that people are suffering in the town. The town is changing both economically and demographically. Many of the young people are leaving. All of these things are resulting in severe social issues.