Jwupart 2nbwult

Sociology; Paticipation Assignment #2 (Due on Tuesday Dec 9th)

1. Pick any two of the following sociological theorists and discuss the theories they proposed. What are your feelings; do you think the theory was true or untrue? (in what ways). The list of theorists are as follows: Auguste Comte, Harriet Martineau, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Jane Adams, W.E.B Dubois

August Comte: August Comte is described as the father of sociology. Comte was the father of positivism, a philosophy that saw the evolution of new ideas as the shaping force in history. Positivism is based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works. Positivism agues that sociology should only concern itself with what can be observed with the senses. He said that the study of society must be based on observation, experiment rather than on ideology religion or intuition. He saw sociology as a scientific study of two aspects of society: social statics that investigates how social order explains a society, and social dynamics that explores how individuals and societies change over time.

Karl Marx: Karl Marx was a German social philosopher. He is described as the most influential social scientist. Marx major theories were capitalism, class conflict, and alienation. Marx like Comte tried to explain the changes that were taking place in society during the industrial revolution. For Marx, the development of capitalism was the most important social change. He also believed in class conflict, that society is divided into capitalists and proletariats. He argued that there is a close relationship between inequality, social conflict, and social class.

I believe both of the theories are true. I agree with August Comte when he says that the study of society should be based on observation and experiments rather than in religion because throughout time people change and people act in different ways. I agree with Marx theory as he says that there is a close relation between social class and social conflict.

2. Pick an article from a newspaper that your feels captures a current hot issue in sociology, and summarize the article. What aspects of the topic tie it into the field of sociology. Does the article focus on a Micro, or Macro Sociological issue?

Article Tittle: How gay rights went mainstream
This article is about Gay rights movement. The writer explains the success of the gay rights movement is historic, and adds that whatever the court decides the majority in the U.S has enforced same sex marriage. He also adds that many of the supporters of gay rights positioned the movement as two-party and reasonable. This topic has become very popular all around the world. Gay rights are now part of our daily life as the author suggests, and has become a hot issue in sociology. This article ties up to the field of sociology under the branch of Gender and Sexuality, as gay rights are becoming ordinary we can see a change in how the people think about gender and sexuality. I believe this article focuses on a macro sociological issue because it is broad and general.

3. Describe the ethical issues presented in the Milgram Obedience Experiment? How was the contemporary experiment changed to get around the ethical digressions of the 1962 experiment? What were some of the conclusions that were drawn from these experiments?

Ethical issues:
Protections of participants – the participants were exposed to extremely stressful situations that may have caused psychological harm.
Many of the participants were visibly distressed.
There were many signs of tension such as laughing, stuttering, and trembling.
Right to withdrawal – He didn’t give the opportunity for participants to withdraw. Instead he put them under pressure to continue with the experiment.
“Please continue”.
“The experiment requires that you continue”.
“It is absolutely essential that you continue”.
“You have no other choice, you must go on”. Changes:

Conclusions:

4. Read the article by C Wright Mills -- the Sociological Imagination and answer questions at the end of the article. This reading can be found in the Andersen Sociology Reader, and I will pass a copy of this article out to the class on 12/04/14.

1. Article: Poverty and Unemployment in 2012
According to Ramon Espinoza, the head of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), poverty and unemployment will be Honduras greatest challenges for 2012. This past year, only 60,000 jobs were created. Poverty grew five percent in urban areas as a result of the economic crisis. More than five million people in the population of 8.2 million are poor. C. Wright Mills would call unemployment in Honduras an issue because issues have to do with matters that exceed local environments of a single person and the range of its life. Unemployment in Honduras has to do with larger structures of social and ancient life. The unemployment in Honduras as C Wright Mills would say requires us to consider the economic institutions of a society and not the person situations of individuals. Mills would call it a social issue because unemployment is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control.

2. Our generation has been influenced by many historical events such as wars, medical discoveries, inventions, technology, and vast more. This tells us that the influence of society and history is what changes life. With these major historical events we have solved many problems society has phased. We have created, discovered, and explored so that people in each generation develop into superior individuals.