Social Theories - Essay Example

Sociological Reflective Essay Analysis of social structure as well as social segmentations is fast gaining popularity. This is primarily because society is a web of complex aspects which are totally or partially dependent on each other. People make a society. Thus, a characteristic of one determines the phenomenon or features of the other. Over time, sociologists have attempted to map out what makes up a complete individual and what shapes up his activities and his psychology (A Structural Theory of Social Influence 2006, p. 3). This paper presents an overview of some social theories related to culture, race and gender, interaction within society and the self- identification. Besides discussing these theories, the paper also presents first- hand reflections on the assumed personality. To what extent does these theories bear resemblance in practical life is sorted. Moreover, their impacts on society as a whole are also traced. Culture: theory Culture can be defined as a system, which we accept and adapt. Culture widely differs from place to place, from person to person, from society to society. To express in other word, culture is the summation of all forces functioning around an individual blended with individual’s inner persona. Culture can be regarded as ‘shared symbolic systems’. These systems are largely creations of mind and are composed of aspects like art, kinship, language, myth. The mind receives the social practices as rules and then acts according to the logic of binary contrast. This gives rise to a state of conflict between the ‘natural realm’ and ‘arbitrary order of man’. As a result cultural laws and practices often get overlapped and interconnected with each other (Keesingl, n.d., pp. 78-79). The years at Sweden had taken away much of my religious beliefs. Though officially a Zoroastrian, religious beliefs were not able to have much impact on my personal and professional life. My family and ancestors were staunch believers of Zoroastrism, following every religious rituals and ceremonies. Religion was so deeply embedded in them that it determined their lifestyles as well as social structures. Since childhood, I was taught similar values and ethics by elder members of my family. Though my family had left Tehran years ago and settled in Sweden, their cultural values were still intact. After arriving at Australia, I felt a sense of de-association. But I got accustomed. It became all the more easy because, of my similar experience of de-association in Sweden. Much of my ethical values were changed by Australia’s liberal outlook. My mind has accepted these behavioral practices the way they exist here in Australia. It is a type of mental conditioning that the mind underwent. Thus some old values and practices remained intact in me and to some others I got used to. Therefore, from my personal perspective, ‘shared symbolic systems’ or mixed values, ethics and practices built up the culture in me. For this reason, I feel a sense of association with Australia’s liberation, equality and tolerance of Sweden cultural practices of Tehran and ethnic roots of Persia. However, within my own self I can feel a sense of ‘conflict’ arising, all because of the logic of binary contrast. Primarily, I think, this is because, my relational self which was shaped by teachings in childhood has clashed with the ‘arbitrary order of man’, that is the social regulations set up according to the necessity and whims of man. Social interactions: theory Interaction with other individuals within a society contributes much in shaping up a person’s individuality. There are several patterns of interaction and they determine and individual’s ‘social life’, ‘social actions’ and their assimilation, adaptation and orientation. It is believed that every person have a particular way of thinking and reacting. That is to say, their thoughts and action could be predicted if their distinctive traits could be categorized successfully, after tracing the nature of inequalities and mechanism of economics within their respective societies. Again, one can trace ‘constraining structures’ in conflict with ‘creative actions’ of an individual (Plummer 2010, pp. 103- 105). This theory bears relevance in my practical life. The fact of being a student of psychology often made me debate between social structures and the arbitrary actions that are performed. Introduction to a lot of people, their mindsets and more especially their cultures have made my outlook more broad and tolerant. As my culture has been heavily influenced by these, some aspects of social traits of Australia have become my personal or individual features. In other words, my individual self had become a part of the society and the society also had become a macro excerpt of the self. Thus, in spite of being an immigrant from Sweden, I married a girl from Australia and adjusting to the new ways of life as a student and a waiter did not become much difficult for me. Moreover, my ethical values directed me that it is my duty to support the other members of my family. This sense arouse from the awareness that man loves to live in collaboration and harmony. This also forms the basis of personal interaction and makes the ‘social action’ more predictable. So, in order to support a family, I work 20 hours work per week. Gender and race: theory According to Social Dominance Theory, one group within a society always possesses a tendency to dominate over another group. While the former enjoys positive social value, negative social value is generated within the latter. Discriminations based on groups are generally carried out on three levels namely, upon age- system, patriarchic system and arbitrary set system. Among these, the arbitrary- set system is most common among salient groups who are categorized under culture, ethnicity, social status, caste, religion, and clan. Subordinate Male Target Hypothesis limits the discrimination within males of a particular society. All these elements together construct a “group- based social hierarchy” (Sidanius 2000, pp. 1- 2). In all these three years in Australia, I had the privilege of examining Australian societies very closely. From a broader perspective, the society is divided into upper, middle, under class and working class. Being an international student, I am quite unable to decide my class as I am partly a central middle class person for my strong ethical and educational background and working class for I am employed in a mediocre job of a waiter and lead an average life. But, I can clearly feel the domination of upper class and upper middle class in certain aspects. Being the affluent classes, they were always regarded as the best- educated and the brightest people in society. Thus, the best job profiles as well as other opportunities are reserved for them. Perhaps due to this social perception I ended up with a job of a waiter in spite of pursuing higher education in psychology. It would have been better if I got through some job pertaining sociology or psychology, then I would have been able to give my family a moderate lifestyle. Also the norm of arbitrary- set system is very much prominent here and is more pitted against out- group males. There are numerous people from various minority groups who share the same fate here in Australia. I have been dominated by richer section of males, like my boss in the restaurant I work in. All these point towards the “group- based social hierarchy” policies practiced by Australian societies. Self- identification within class: theory Any individual’s self identity is composed of numerous types of perceptions of class. The term’ class’ refers to structured inequality which can be analyzed with respect to subjective location, social position, life chances, historical dimension and political aspect. Thus, class becomes the most fundamental as well as the most important component of an individual (Back, et. al 2012, pp. 48- 50). My identity as a self is a part of my presence within a culture. My position in a society makes me aware of the better lifestyles of my neighbors. Here the class does not define the criteria of a better life. Awareness of my own self locates and defines it. Also my social position is determined by the amount of material possessions. Also, in my case, external variables like ancestral roots to Tehran, status of my family, etc influence the social mechanisms as well as my neutral standpoint in politics. Conclusion This paper reflected those aspects which are influenced by society. Life of an individual largely depends on the peripheral circumstances and people. Thus I found a huge change in my attributes, characteristic traits, and lifestyles. My priories in life also changed. Society is a vast prospect and is constantly shaped up by parameters such as class, gender, culture, religion, preference, lifestyle, family liability, affluence, ability of interacting, communicating etc. All these elements not only did shape up an entire society but individuals too, but also have made one person different from another (Berger and Zelditch 2002, pp. 5-6). As a middle aged male in Australia and having a family to support, often the evils of society got exposed and often I was overwhelmed by society’s broader mindset and liberty. For everyone, social life is of mixed experiences. All the different places I have lived, had contributed something or the other to my personality. Therefore, I am a mixture of different cultures, class and ethnicity. References 1. A Structural Theory of Social Influence (2006), Cambridge University Press, UK. 2. Back, L et. al., (2012), Cultural sociology an introduction, Wiley, US.   3. Berger, J and Zelditch, M (2002), New Directions in Contemporary Sociological Theories, US: Rowman & Littlefield 4. Keesingl, R M (n.d.), ‘Institute of Advanced Studies, Australian National University ‘,Canberra A.C.T., Australia. 5. Plummer, K (2010), Sociology the Basics, Routledge, UK. 6. Sidanius, J (2000), ‘Gender and Race Discrimination: The Interactive Nature of Disadvantage’, . Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination The Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology, New Jersey: Mahwah Read More