3 Sociologists and Their Accomplishments

1. Karl Marx- He was a sociologist who was best known for his political philosophy. Due to all of his research and findings, socialist systems rule China North Korea, and Cuba. He was able to identify the problem of modern society which, in his words, was the oppression of the workers by capitalist factory owners. He contributed to sociology by realizing the idea that social life is a mainly made up of conflict between groups. He put a big emphasis on economics as well as studying the reasoning behind social classes.

2. Auguste Comte- He was best known among the French sociologists. He was the one who cam up with the name for this field, sociology. However, he originally wanted to call it social physics. He had a negative stand point of France ( post -revoluntion). He wanted to rebuild society along feudal lines. He also wanted to repace the church with a "priesthood"of sociologists. These sociologists. These sociologists would use science as the basis for the proper way to live. He was all for the scientific approach to t he reasoning behind society, he did not do much researching therefore his works are rarely read today.

3. Herbert Spencer- He was best known in the 19th century. He was influenced majorly by Charles Darwin. His goal as a sociologist was to explain how human societities evolve. He is best known for opposing the idea of aiding the poor because he believed that went against,""the survival of the fittest."(a.k.a social darwinism

"Society is God's. Since God created everything, God created human society as we see it, thus God is responsible for everything that happens in it."

God did not create society; he created the people that make-up the society. He did not create society as we see it. It evolved out of our fallen state. Along the way God held up society with his justice and his principles that he gave us to live by. Society is not God's, but the people who make up the society were made by God. Just as God is not responsible for the bad things we do, in the same way God is not responsible for everything that happens in society. For the most part, what happens in society is directly affected by the people that make up the society.

"In any given society, everyone shares the same values."

In society everyone tends to share the same values. This is due to the process of internalization (which takes place when an individual accepts the values of his or her society). When you live in a society the social standards of the external world start becoming our own personal beliefs. There are agents of socialization (parents, teachers, friends, neighbors, etc.) that influence and shape our beliefs and habits. Society guides the thinking and actions of each person from within, without forcing each person to do so. The collective beliefs of a society become personal convictions to individuals within a society.

Examples of Different Riddles

Level

Micro

Organization: Why do people litter?

Comparison: Why are some people mean and some people nice?

Contradiction: Why do fast food businesses flourish if they are unhealthy?

Macro

Organization: Why are there starving kids in the world?

Comparison: Why are kids in the U.S. obese while kids in Africa are deathly skinny?

Contradiction: Why is having children out of wedlock looked down on, yet so is abortion?

Macro vs. Micro Riddles

Macro- level riddles involve big questions that come about at a large-scale. Macro- level activities can include things dealing with nations and other large scale units. Macro-level riddles deal with large group structures and societies as a whole. A basic example is the white male presidency riddle. It is a macro- level riddle because it deals with the leadership of an entire country.
Micro-level riddles involve smaller questions that come about from a small groups behavior. Micro-level riddles can be easily seen through families and couples. An example of this type of riddle is- why are some students silent in the classroom, but those same students are very talkative outside of the classroom.

Power vs. Authority

Power is the possession of authority and being capable of exerting force to accomplish something. Authority is power to enforce or influence a command or law. A professor would have authority over the classroom because he controls your behavior as well as assigns you work. A police officer would also have authority because they are able to enforce laws and be sure that they are carried out. Parents also have authority over their children because they have the right to tell them what to do and to make them obey rules. An actor has power (a famous actor) because it is at a more national level of influence. They have power over you, but not in an authoritative way, it is more of a manipulative way.
An example of power vs. authority can be seen in this news story-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6252359.stm. In this story we see that there is somewhat of an absence of government, which would be the authority of the people, however, there is not a shortage of power. The power is seen through the troops that roam the streets to attempt to ensure some sense of security. But, as one man said,"I need peace; I need a government and I need employment." We see that a man of the community feels as though there is a lack of authority over the people, which even power cannot make up for.

What is Society? Why Do We Have Society?

Society is a body of individuals living as members of the community. It is a considerably large number of people who interact and share a culture, and tend to live in the same geographical area.
Society is our "social home." To humans, society tends to be a secure and familiar shelter. We become comfortable with our own society, so much as that when we go into another society that speaks a different language we feel out of place and that we do not belong. Through the process of socialization ( the process by which we learn the rules and beliefs of society) we learn to find our way around.
Humans are people of interaction and social beings which is the main reason for the formation of a society. Since humans make up the society from it comes up social life. Without human interaction and social life there would be no society. Think about this- how would you dress or act when you go to a party if you had no influences from society? Society impacts a human being so much as to affect everything from the way you dress to the way you feel when in your community.

What is Sociology? Why Study Sociology?

Sociology is the scientific study of human social behavior. Sociology deals with observing social life and the basic regularities that deal with it. Sociology, however, does not only deal with biological and psychological regularities, it goes beyond the surface and digs deeper to find the reasoning behind individual behavior. Many things affect human behavior such as friends and family, race, age, and gender, or even richness or poorness. A sociologist examines the individual and the possible affects that society may have on that person. A person lives in society, but at the same time there is a possibility for him to be shaped by the things that go on in the society. All that being said, the primary reason for a sociologist to want to study sociology would be to become aware of the reasoning behind social reality and the things that occur.
A good example of sociological thinking is not judging the people who make up a group as a whole which is best seen in a protest. The people who protested for the Vietnam War soldiers to return home may have seemed very harsh and straight forward. But, outside of the protesting, perhaps one of the members had lost a few family members in the war. So they may have simply been protesting to protect themselves from yet another heartache. They are portrayed and assumed to mean because they are protesting, but they when you dig deeper there may be different reasoning's to their behavior.