Values and Norms in a Society - Essay Example

The Individual and Society

Part I

1. Notably, macro sociologists entail three core examples: the symbolic interactionist paradigm, the functionalist paradigm, and the conflict paradigm

2. The classical theorists focused their macro sociology on the societies and how people respond to their cultures, the structure groups, and organizations.

3. Populations can be formed or reformed through processes such as social processes and the effects of demographic changes. Examples of such methods include births, deaths, migration and immigration, and other factors that might cause variation in their existence.

4. Malthus argued that the power of reproduction is greater than the earth's carrying capacity due to the increasing rate of an individual's population. Also, he claimed that several factors like war, diseases, and famine could lower the population. Contrary to the expectations, the population kept increasing due to the abundance and plenty of food and even medication lowering death rates.

5. Postmodernism draws heavily from the sociology grand theory of structuration theory, critical theory, and structural Marxism.

6. Erving Goffman spoke of the presentation of self as the front stage and oneself backstage behavior.

Discuss Ways in Which Social Culture Shapes Institutional Structure in the United States

In the context, culture is used to define values and norms that are mutually shared or collective behaviors accepted by a group of people in a certain region. On the other hand, society is used to define a group of people living in a distinct geographical region (Gugushvili, 2017). Therefore, in a society, these individuals interrelate with one another and share a common culture. On this note, it can be stated that the United States is a society that incorporates various cultures. An institution is an established platform that is placed in a certain region and is focused on meeting individuals' needs such as governmental issues, education issues, health and even religion issues (Gugushvili, 2017). There are various ways in which in which social cultural issues affect the structure of different institutions in the United States. Therefore, an institution will always be structured and ran in accord to the beliefs of the society that it is located. The paper is tailored to discuss how different institutional’ structures are affected by diverging social and cultural matters (Gugushvili, 2017).

In the United States, saying ‘hello’ to a person or asking a mere question 'like how was your day' or even offering other significant minor questions have been observed in a friendly manner after two people meet (Haveman, & Gualtieri, 2017). Therefore, individuals will rarely touch or physically hold someone as this has been observed to be a norm in many of the cultures. Therefore, in different institutions, when people meet, either an employee with their employers, with their co-workers or even with the customers seeking for the services, they mostly greet one another verbally (Haveman, & Gualtieri, 2017). This would explain the reason why when one enters into any institution, and you would frequently greet people that you meet there verbally without necessarily having to hug or use your hands.

In the recent past, sociologists have targeted their researches in comparing social institutions in the United States and other parts of the world. For instance, for the case of education, it is free in the United States at public schools (Haveman, & Gualtieri, 2017). However, there is no implementation of the universal healthcare program in the suited states, which has been noticed happening in other countries in the world. Therefore, according to the standard beliefs in the United States, one should not pay when achieving an education in a public school. When one visits a health organization, one is expected to pay for the services provided (Haveman, & Gualtieri, 2017).

In some of the countries, not hugging or kissing someone when two individuals meet is observed as a sign of rudeness and disrespecting one another. However, according to various societies in America, there are objective rules concerning personal space (Freidson, 2019). Therefore, in the institutions, individuals are more concentrated in at least you say ‘hey’ to someone, and not necessarily hugging everyone in the institution to evade rudeness (Freidson, 2019).

In conclusion, it is evident that the ways in which institutions are run and how people behave in these institutions is primarily grounded on their beliefs in their societies. Besides, institutions ensure that they have observed the values and norms of the particular individuals where they are located for a substantial running. In this, people in institutions respect each other and avoid frequent quarrels.

Social Media, Post-Modern Approach and Irving Goffman’s Analysis about Presentation of Self

According to the postmodernists, the truth is dependent on the social and historical context, and not as many people observe it being entire and universal. Therefore, they argue that the truth will always be partial regarding the issue concerned and not always certain and complete (Chudova, 2017). In the recent past, social media has been considered to have grown into the field of the postmodern system. In the context, postmodernism can be considered to be the effort of questioning the world by basically involving philosophers, strategies, as well as world views. Therefore, to get an accurate answer about something, the system depends on the issue to be discussed, the situation, and the individual that has provided the answer anticipated (Chudova, 2017).

When the above definition is applied on social media, then there are various observations as to why the current communication is significantly related to postmodern concerning the truth (Chudova, 2017). On the other hand, networks related to social media have been considered to be a perfect-representation of postmodernity because they have been reviewing ways in which humans interact and breaking down the original procedures of communications (Chudova, 2017).

On the other hand, similar to the manner in which postmodernism takes nothing to be fixed, social media has been regularly changing in various ways. Individuals' behaviors have been frequently observed changing in social media (Chudova, 2017). Therefore, what was perceived to be wrong in the field of social media has changed and observed otherwise. Also, what a certain group of people takes to be correct is observed to be wrong by another group (Chudova, 2017).

The argument of the truth in consideration of postmodernism and social media networks can also be observed in the argument by Erving Goffman. Goffman argued concerning the presentation of self and stated that there i8s a theoretical presentation that is related to the face to face relations (Freidson, 2019). According to when individuals will not always behave the same when they meet others physically and will try their best to regulate their behavior relating to the person they are meeting. Hence, people will guide and control their impressions so as to fit to what the other person expects from them (Freidson, 2019).

Therefore, his argument concerning self-representation is relatable to postmodernism and social media in that individuals behave differently on different occasions. On this note, one can behave completely differently in social media compared to what the person is physically observed (Freidson, 2019). Hence, to know the truth of this individual, it would be better physically meeting the person. Similarly, in consideration of postmodernism, to know the whole truth, it is better basing arguments on the situation that the participant is in, and who is giving the response (Freidson, 2019).

Furthermore, the truth should not be generalized as it will turn to have some relatable mistakes in some cases. Take an instance of a presenter who is in front of the audience; his behavior will outwardly be different from what is actually the truth about him in real life or even in the social media life. The presenter will do anything possible to ensure that the audience is impressed by his responses. In some cases, one acts in specific ways for the benefit of evading embarrassment and maintain legacy concerning his name. Therefore, "truth should never be generalized but should be partial and in accord with the situation that one is in.