Gaia Pianigiani showed the use of six sociological principles in Pope Francis Pursued Psychoanalysis article 42
The paper illustrated sociological concepts such as collective imagination, socialization, sex and gender, social stratification, racism and the sociology model. At the age of 42, the Pope met psychoanalyst for over six months on a weekly basis (Pianigiani 1). The sessions were supposed to illuminate some of the items taken in the book by a French sociologist.
The Pope's Therapy Relationship
The paper states that the pope has developed a therapy relationship. Interestingly, the therapist was a woman and she invited Pope Francis when she was about to die for a spiritual conversation. In addition, the therapist was a woman and she invited Pope Francis when she was about to die for a spiritual conversation. In addition, the therapist was a Jew hence did not receive the sacraments. The pontiff also described her as a nice person (Pianigiani 1).
The Influence of "Real Women"
The bishop of Rome also extremely praised the inspiration of “real women” in his lifetime. Some of the influential women include his mother, his grandmothers and Esther Ballestrino de Careaga who was a communist in Argentina and the initiator of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement. The group was credited for putting pressure on the military dictator in the country to communicate on the destiny of disappeared children (Pianigiani 1).
Understanding Social Interaction with Women
The pontiff also suggested that the psychoanalyst helped him on how to reason on politics. More importantly, he acknowledged that the therapist helped him to understand the social interaction with women. For instance, he pointed out that women have the capacity to see things in a different manner as compared to men (Pianigiani 1). Therefore, he advised that it is essential to listen to both men and women when making decisions. He lamented that some of the Catholic priests demonstrate high incapacity level to communicate effectively owing to failure to socialize with different genders hence they tend to be rigid people. As a member of Jesuit, he has high value of spirituality and introspection as well as socializing. He admitted that in the Vatican he feels to be in a cage although not spiritually (Pianigiani 1).
Sociological Imagination
The concept of sociological imagination suggests that the ideologies and behavior of humans are products, which have been encoded into their lives by the social institutions such as friends, religions and family in their surroundings. Therefore, an effective sociologist should be able to link personal lives of the individuals to the greater social factors (Pianigiani 1). Just like Pope Frances, a sociologist must have the ability to connect and understand the people’s social environment and history.
Socialization
Socialization refers to the practice where various social institutions demonstrate to its members how to accurately behave themselves within that culture. For instance, the Jesuit groups, which the pope belonged, emphasized the need for its members to establish a feeling of self and introspection (Pianigiani 1). The article also demonstrate the interaction of different members of the either gender as the pope and the therapists shared issued on spirituality, psychology and sociology. Gender represents the diversity of social characters between females and males (Pianigiani 1).
Social Stratification
Moreover, social stratification is evident from the article as the people rank individuals depending on a hierarchal structure of power, prestige and property. The pope is the highly ranked person in the Catholic Church and was able to interact with persons from lower level in the society such as a therapist (Pianigiani 1). On the other hand, he revealed that many priests have become rigid persons because they have not nurtured social interactions among persons of diverse social hierarchies.
Racism and Acceptance of Diversity
Racism is also at play in the social life. Racism is a social formation, which influences the life philosophies, personalities and some behavior. The pope was able to maintain social interaction with a person from a different race since she was a Jew. More significantly, both were able to overcome the social barriers associated with living in different races. In this regard, they accepted their diversity, which enabled them to share crucial values in their lives (Pianigiani 1).
Sociological Paradigms
There are four paradigms of sociology evident in the article, which include the feminists’ perspective, symbolic interaction, conflict theory, and functionalism. Functionalism refers to the interdependency and association between different social groups, small and big. Moreover, symbolic interaction examines how persons interact with one another while conflict theory determines inequalities in the society (Pianigiani 1). Furthermore, the feminist perspective analyses the inequalities between various sexes in the society. Therefore, these suggest that social reality is realized when individuals interact with each. Based on the interaction between the pontiff and the therapists, it is clear that it helped to eliminate discriminations among women (Pianigiani 1).
Conclusion
The article Pope Francis Sought Psychoanalysis demonstrates the importance of social interaction between different people in the world. The pontiff created rapport with a woman therapist. The relationship was essential in his life because it helped him to understand critical factors about women (Pianigiani 1). Similarly, it served to share important concepts in life about the importance of sociological interactions in society.
Work Cited
Pianigiani, Gaia. "Pope Francis Sought Psychoanalysis at 42, According To Book." Nytimes.Com, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/world/europe/pope-francis-psychoanalysis.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FSociology&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection.
