Sociology and Social Interaction
Sociology is the methodological study of the society, social interaction, and social groups. A society is a large group sharing political, economic cultural or geographical territory in the community. There are a lot of ways in which social interaction may be studied. After the Industrial Revolution, there were fast social changes that led to the eruption of sociology as well as sociological problems. Typically, these problems led to the development of three major sociological perspectives which are; symbolic interaction theory, conflict theory, and structural-functional theory. Also, several concepts inter-relate to the above approaches. As such, this essay is aimed at analyzing the family using one of the three perspectives, and relating to the different concepts.
Symbolic Interaction Theory Applied to Family Analysis
My parents Willy and Rachael gave birth to two kids me and my sister Jacky. Also, before we were born, they adopted our elder stepbrother, Moses, who came to be so influential to the family. From my side, I choose symbolic interaction theory as my perspective to analyze my family. In this category, one of the family members related to this theory is my maternal aunt, Gloria. She is about 30 years old, and we recently realized that she had been a long time prostitute in our hometown. Typically, her decision came to be understood as a standard way of generating income for her family, just like other hustles.
Culture
However, cultural elders from the family and also the society was not pleased by her decisions claiming that the act is not accepted as far as culture is concerned. However, to Aunty Gloria, this was a way of generating income as long as she is careful not to contact diseases. She claimed that girls had been underrated in the society in that, men can do a lot of things in their effort to generate income without much restriction. As such, she clarifies that she stands on behalf of other women who might fear being thrown out of the community for such reasons to hold firm to their decisions. As far as culture is concerned, the media has changed the roles and responsibilities of people in the society (Brinkerhoff, Ortega, and Weitz). In this example, the media has changed how Aunty Gloria views the roles and restrictions of women, which drives her into becoming a commercial sex worker.
Deviance and Crime
Depending on the surrounding or state, acts may be said to be deviant or not (Brinkerhoff et al.). Just like in war, killing is not deviant while in the society or natural surrounding, murder is a crime. All depends on the historical setting, audience, the place, and the type of individual (Brinkerhoff et al.). To Aunty Gloria, prostitution is not a deviant in the specific hotel rooms in town, but the act is deviant when she comes to the village. Although the action is not a crime, she is subject to punishment in the society. In sociology, a crime is unacceptable behaviors or acts that are subject to legal actions.
Race and Ethnicity
Before I was born, my parents adopted a black kid whom they found thrown in a dustbin. He was named Moses, and he used to tell us that a lot of people underrated him because of his skin color. In school, he found it difficult to interact with others and preferred to be isolated than forcing himself into his classmates. Typically, symbolic interaction theory makes it understandable to the society that racism, as well as ethnic inequality, should not be encouraged in the society (Brinkerhoff et al.). For this instance, one of the practical application of this theory it teaches the society that through rapid cultural interaction, the 'who is white' and 'who is black' has been erased (Brinkerhoff et al.). Typically, through interaction and socialization, Moses' state reduced with time as he learned that his lack of interaction and low self-perspective made his school life difficult.
Socialization
Role-taking in our family is highly considered as the members ensure that something has to happen because it is his/her responsibility. Socialization is the process by which individuals learn the rules, values as well as practices necessary for successful participation in the society (Brinkerhoff et al.). Naturally, it involves taking social roles. In my family, for example, my mother is responsible for household functions while my dad is responsible for the repairs and other outside activities. Notably, we tend to copy most of what our parents do and try to practice our future roles while still young, depending on the future expectations or gender. For instance, when we were kids, my sister Jacky would mostly play with toy stoves while I played with toy hammers.
Similarly, people take roles in the society, and our seriousness depends on how we consider others' views and expectation on us (Brinkerhoff et al.). For instance, when I was eight years old, the seriousness that I put on my daily tasks depended largely on my parents' expectations. Typically, I considered the meanings of the roles given by my parents, although I did not know what symbolic interaction theory concerning socialization.
Sex and Gender Inequality
In the contemporary societies, men tend to be more respected than the women and are given more priorities. For instance, they are said to be given more leadership powers than women. This is clarified through the symbolic interactionist theory which tries to make us understand how gender stereotypes persist and also the sources as well as the outcomes of sexism in the society (Brinkerhoff et al.). Taking an example from my family, my grandfather Michael Reigns developed a perspective that his sons should inherit most of the wealth from him despite the facts that my father and his brothers tried to make him understand that their sister Jane, whose husband was feeble, needed some property too. However, my grandfather did not consider the case, and my aunt had to live in poor conditions, catalyzed by the fact that she was not educated due to her gender. Resultantly, her kids also lived in impoverished conditions and whenever we gathered together for family meetings, they worn faded and torn clothes.
Conclusion
Overall, symbolic interactivity is very influential in making it easy to understand the meaning of the above concepts as used in sociology. The society is an important factor in our lives and should be considered regarding culture, and socialization among many other notions. Most of the things that are studied in sociology is majorly applied in the family, hence its instant application. Symbolic interactionist theory explains how culture defines the restrictions that should be considered in the family, and how deviance defines the levels of different deviants and unconformity. Similarly, it illustrates how socialization majors on the role are taking and the impacts, how gender studies entail the consequences of gender inequality, and how race and ethnicity means and how it can be solved.
Work Cited
Brinkerhoff, Ortega, Rose Weitz. Essential of Sociology. 9th Edition. https://ng.cengage.com/static/nb/ui/evo/index.html?eISBN=9781285467719"snapshotId=22327"
Accessed 28 Sept. 2018
