Social Order Essay Example for Free

Social Order Essay Discuss the role of primary and secondary groups in the maintenance of social order and the emergence of deviance in Caribbean societies. Through the evolution of sociology as a discipline, several ‘big questions’ have dominated discourse in the subject. Such questions surround how social order is obtained and maintained in society as well as the factors that account for a movement away from the social order and engage in behaviour thought to be deviant. This discussion will seek to give an account of the treatment various sociologists have given to the issue of social order in society; and the role primary and secondary groups play in the maintenance of order. In the wake of such major revolutions as the French Revolution of 1789 as well as the Industrial Revolution that was also in progress in Europe, society as was conceived at the time experienced massive transformations. Questions arose that needed to be answered. â€Å"The types of questions these nineteenth-century thinkers sought to answer – what is human nature? Why is society structured like it is? How and why do societies change? – are the same questions sociologists try to answer today† (Giddens 1997). This statement further elucidates the central notion of this essay; that the problem of social order has always been at the forefront of the minds of sociologists. O’Donnell (1997) describes social order simply as â€Å"†¦a state in which social life – actions and interactions – can be conducted without major interruptions†. While there are breaches of the social order by and large collective life is able to happen without chaos. It is this relative uniformity in social action, on a macro level, that has pre-occupied the minds of sociologists for some time. A defining fact of human social life is that people will gravitate to each other in various ways. Macionis and Plummer (2008) defines a social group as â€Å"†¦two or more people who identify and interact with one another.† Social Groups range from married couples to friendship groups, to gangs, to churches, to multi- national corporations. Macionis Plummer (2008) go on to define a primary group as â€Å"†¦a small group whose members share personal and enduring relationships.† They argue that â€Å"†¦individuals in primary groups typically spend a great deal of time together, engage in a wide range of common activities and feel they know one another well.† Essentially, primary groups are small and – due to their size – they are able to allow members a considerable measure of familiarity. The opposite is true of secondary groups. These may be defined as â€Å"†¦large and impersonal social group[s] whose members pursue a specific interest or activity†¦Secondary relationships usually involve weak emotional ties and little personal knowledge of one another† (Macionis Plummer, 2008). Weaker social ties allow secondary groups to facilitate a much larger membership that would obtain in a primary group setting. By this token, we are able understand that membership in primary and secondary groups, serves to facilitate different needs. They achieve different ends in completely different ways. In primary groups, members define themselves in relation to who they are, while in secondary groups persons are defined in relation to what they offer and what the others receive in return. Before we can understand sources of deviance, we must understand order. Order becomes manifest when people conform to social norms and values. The social order is maintained through the presence and implementation of sanctions. A sanction is â€Å"†¦any response to a behaviour that serves to reinforce the norms of a society or social group.† Sanctions may be positive or negative. Positive sanctions or rewards, are implemented to encourage a desired behaviour, whereas negative sanctions are implemented to deter or discourage undesired behaviour. Social order is maintained by the work of the agents of social control. These include such social institutions as the family and the peer group, as well as the education system, religious institutions, the mass media as well as such institutions as the security forces and the justice system. As we become exposed to these institutions, we become aware of what our social group expects of us. We gradually learn what appropriate behaviour is and get an idea of the consequences of each. In this regard, we can better understand the practical framework within which properly ordered collective order happens. This question of how it is that humans are able to cooperate and engaged in structured behaviour is taken by this writer to be central to sociology, largely due to the fact that it manifests itself in the work of such writers as Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Karl Marx, Max Weber and even W.E.B. Dubois. Emile Durkheim postulated that the basis of social order was, in fact, wide scale agreement and shared morality. Bilton et al (1981) states that Durkheim and fellow functionalist, Talcott Parsons, were talking about the same idea when they used the terms â€Å"collective conscience† and â€Å"value consensus† respectively. Essentially they were both suggesting that human beings submit to a set of social rules because they believe in their validity to a greater or lesser extent. The difference between them was that â€Å"†¦in Durkheim the source of this belief was society itself but in†¦Parsons, society is described as a social system† (Bilton et al, 19 81). Haralambos et al (2002) states that â€Å"†¦Durkheim assumes that society has certain functional prerequisites, the most important of which is the need for social order.† Haralmbos et al (2002) go on to further explain that, â€Å"without this consensus or agreement on fundamental moral issues, social solidarity would be impossible and individuals could not be bound together to form a social unit.† Parsons’ treatment of society as a social system has been seen as foundational to his other ideas, but the fact importance he placed on society as a social system was crucial to his broader understanding of social order and cannot be understated. This treatment of social order became central to functionalist writing, since common values produce common goals. This is largely because writers in the functionalist school posit that since society is a system of interrelated parts, there is a need for there to a certain amount of agreement in society in order to make the system work. Thus, from a functionalist perspective, social groups and institutions are effective in shaping social order by virtue of the ways in which they ensure conformity to the consensus on values that exists in society. The challenge with this functionalist analysis of order is that it presents a very idealistic and almost utopic picture of how society works. It suggests that we all come together because we happily agree upon a certain set of values there is no element of coercion or exploitation involved. Another perspective that gives a different treatment to the issue is that of the Marist school of thought. The work of Karl Marx presents a sharply contrasting picture of the order problem in society. Rather than seeing social order as the result of collective agreement and harmony in society, Marxist sociology presents a radical alternative to this view. Jessop (1999) highlights the importance of seeing Marx in a material determinist framework. He did not see society and its institutions as emerging from the wide scale on a set of values, beliefs and ideas. Rather, he saw the society as emerging from economic forces. Primacy was given to the economic system of society rather than the value system. A major argument postulated by Marx is that conflict emerges in society with the emergence of private ownership (Jessop 1998). For Marx, the bottom line behaviour of man is the pursuit of subsistence. Thus, in order to survive one must engage in some form of work. By working, we engage in different types of relationships with each other. Marx highlights two basic states of being; owners of the means of their production and owners of their labour. Essentially there are the haves and the have nots, the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. These, according to him, are the two basic classes of society. Marx postulates that it is the bourgeoisie who – by virtue of having control of the means of production – have ideological control over the society. They can therefore exert their idea of values, norms, etc on the wider society, seeing that the superstructure of society is biased in their favour. Although there is conflict in society, the effect of that conflict is sublimated as a result of ruling class dominance. Charon (1999) summarizes Marx’s take on the issue as suggesting that social order is maintained through force and manipulation of a subordinate class of people. From this perspective, we see that in society, it is possible for social groups to work to conspire to hold masses of people in check. The agents of social control represent the ruling class agenda and ideology. In this regard, some persons fall into deviance, because the ruling class agenda, which dictates what is acceptable or not, conspires against them. As such, it is the capitalist system that creates deviants, rather than the deviants themselves. Thus far, the writers examined have subscribed to a macro or structuralist approach to society and the individuals in it. They postulate ideas that suggest that the society creates the individuals and therefore emphasis is placed on understanding the work of social structures in maintaining social order. However, a large body of sociological work subscribes to a micro or interpretive approach. They suggest that the structuralist stance underestimates the abilities of the individual and treats them as less than autonomous beings. Conversely, interpretive theorists seek to understand structured, relatively uniform behaviour against the backdrop of humans being purposeful and rational beings. They do not merely seek to know that a behaviour has been committed, but more so, the interpretations of the meanings behind the behaviours in question. Max Weber, though influenced by Marx, was highly critical of his approach to understanding society. He did not subscribe to the one-sided idealism of functionalism, but at the same time, rejected the one-sided materialism of Marx. For him, both of these forces worked in tandem and were crucial in shaping social cohesion and change (Jessop 1998). He drew his analysis from his research into The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism† (1904) which explored the ways in which religious beliefs shaped the development of capitalist system while, at the same time emphasizing that the capitalist system could shape the course of religious beliefs. In rejecting the more structuralist approach, Weber presents the idea that society and the social order does not exist in isolation of the purposeful actions of the individuals in it. He suggests that it is individuals in interaction who give rise to a social structure. The social action approach to understanding behaviour relies heavily on the concept of rationality. He identified different types of rationality, namely: traditional, affective and value-free rationality and emphasized that societies progressed towards deeper more rational behaviour with development. According to Jessop, Weber saw social change as the rationalization of social life. This rationalization became culminated in the creation the bureaucracy in modern society. Thus far, the perspectives that have presented have been colour-blind in the examination of society. They have either presented a vision of society that is either too harmonious to fathom any idea of conflict and division or examined a conflict that emphasizes wealth-based conflict so far that it understates the presence of any other form of conflict that might be abundant in society. It can be argued no perspective best explains the dynamics of Caribbean social order on its own. As such, a more Caribbean perspective must be sought. M.G. Smith, in his seminal work, The Plural Society in the West Indies advanced the argument that the Caribbean societies are several cultures co-existing without blending to form one. Smith (1955) begins his analysis with the basic functionalist premise that society begins with shared values and common social institutions. As a functionalist, he sought to apply this basic principle to a diverse Caribbean cultural landscape with slaves, mulattoes and whites living alongside each-other. When Smith (1955) examined such social institutions as Family, Religion, Education and Economy, he concluded that there is no single collective value system among the three major cultural groups. Rather, he argued that each group had a value system of its own and that the Colonial system was responsible for holding the societies together. This idea of ‘cultural pluralism’ as he described it was quite popular in Caribbean thought for some time, as it helped to explain the divided and divisive of Caribbean social relations. Hence, through the work of M.G. Smith, we are better able to see how social order is in the Caribbean is achieved. On the other hand, other Caribbean writers in the structural functionalist tradition have disagreed with Smith. Edward Braithwaite (in Barrow and Reddock, 2002) argues that the Caribbean does indeed have a common value system. He posits that there has emerged in the region a common ascriptive base, upon which values are built. For instance, he believes that over time, blacks came to accept white dominance, as did the whites and, hence, the argument that there were absolutely no common values does not hold. He suggests that, while stark differences exist in the way cultural institutions are practiced by different sections of the society, it cannot be denied that underlying commonalities abound. Hence, from this perspective, we are again able to appreciate, another perspective of Caribbean order. Yet another Caribbean sociologist worth examining is Edward Kamau Brathwaite (1971). In his work, Creolisation in Jamaica, Brathwaite advances the argument that the cultures which were flung together and helped to shape Caribbean culture have indeed mixed, blended and fused to form one. In providing a working definition, Edward Kamau Brathwaite in, Creolisation in Jamaica (1971) states that creolisation is â€Å"†¦a cultural action – material, psychological, and spiritual – based upon the stimulus/response of individuals within the society to their environment and – as white/black †¦to each other.† As such, creolisation theory posits that when the Africans were thrown together in social arrangement with the Europeans, there was a cultural fusion and this fusion of cultural elements came to form something new. The assumption is that the two cultures were flung together but one was the ‘dominant’ culture (Europe) and the other was subo rdinate (Africa). Simple exposure to linguistics will explain that a ‘creole’ is a fusion of two or more languages to form a new one. In this way, the new language – though influenced by both – is neither of the pre-existent languages. For example, Haitian creole is heavily influenced by French, but is by no means understood by a native French speaker living in France. The point is that, when the process of creolisation takes place, a new social order is formed. Ken Pryce in Barrow Reddock (2004) questions whether or not ‘mainstream approaches’ to understanding order and deviance be readily applied to the Caribbean. As post-plantation societies, the Caribbean region has been shaped by the complex dynamics of its cultural experience. In his piece entitled, Towards a Caribbean Criminology he posits that Caribbean experience is complicated and hence, scholars must examine the peculiarities of the region and the ways in which social groups contribute to deviance in the culture. Pryce (in Barrow Reddock 2004) suggests that more attention must be placed on the lumpen proletariat class (as described by Karl Marx) and the ways in which they’ve been exploited by the capitalist class; resulting in a certain level of deviance. He also discusses the ways in which modernization of Caribbean societies has contributed to the modernization of deviance and crime in the locality. For his part, Anthony Harriot (in Barrow Reddock, 2004) critically analyzes the changing trends of crime and deviance in Jamaica. He highlights the trending down of property related crimes which have happened alongside a rise in violent crime. He also notes that the gun has increased in prominence in violent crimes over the last three decades. Harriot (in Barrow Reddock, 2004) focuses attention at two major sources of violent crime in Jamaica. These are ‘domestic violence’ and ‘gang violence’. These two categories have accounted for the overwhelming majority of violent crimes (particularly murders) in Jamaica. What this reveals is that, membership in primary groups, in which persons are familiar with each other, does not exclude one from perpetuating and being the victims of violence. Domestic violence takes place among persons who share familial bonds. Couples and wider family members are often the perpetrators as well as the victims of deviant activity. Similarly, gang violence in has been cited in annual statistics are the largest contributor to violent crime statistics. In the final analysis, it is beyond doubt that groups – both small and large – are fundamental to human social experience. We turn to them for a sense of collective identity and belonging. Because of this reality, social groups help to promote social cohesion, solidarity and facilitate social order. However, while group life is instrumental in preserving order in society, it is also a fact that social groups do contribute to deviant behaviour in societies everywhere. References †¢ †¢ Barrow, C. and Reddock, R. Caribbean Sociology  © 2002 Bilton, T., Bonnet, K.,Jones, P., Stanworth, M., Introduction to Sociology,  © 1981 Macmillan Publishers, Londin †¢ †¢ †¢ Coser, Lewis, Key Sociological Thinkers,  © 1977 Chevannes, B. Rastafari: Roots and Ideology,  © 1995 Giddens, Anthony, Sociology (3rd Ed.)  © 1999 Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge †¢ Giddens, Anthony, What is Sociology? A Definition and Some Preliminary Considerations,  © 1986 Macmillan Publishers, London. †¢ Haralambos, M. and Holborn, M. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives  © 2004. †¢ Macionis, J. and Plummer, K., Sociology: A Global Introduction,  © 2008 Prentice Hall.

Billy Pilgrim as a Christ Figure in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s Slaughterhouse

Billy Pilgrim as a Christ Figure in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s Slaughterhouse Five After reading the novel, Slaughterhouse Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., I found my self in a sense of blankness. The question I had to ask myself was, "Poo-tee-weet?"(Vonnegut p. 215). Yet, the answer to my question, according to Vonnegut was, "So it goes"(Vonnegut p.214). This in fact would be the root of my problems in trying to grasp the character of Billy Pilgrim and the life, in which he leads throughout the novel. The pilgrimage that Billy ventures upon is one of mass confusion, running with insanity, finally followed by sanctuary, if layed out in a proper time order sequence. Billy is a victim, prophet, survivor, as well as a firm example of innocence and inspiration. The answer man in a society searching for answers. He is the new prophet. Yet, can Billy pilgrim be compared to the, "Savior", Himself? Is Billy molded after Christ? Aren't we all prophets, if we are children of God? Is Billy a living testament of a new religion? These are the questions that need to be examin ed in order to fully understand the essence behind the character of Billy Pilgrim. The first area that should be examined is the aspect of the pursuit of the acquired knowledge of being. Billy, who believes in the concept of destiny, without the use of free will, received this lesson from the aliens on Tralfamadorian. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ gained his views supposedly from the creator Himself, by being the Son of the God. Yet, the creator who controls all of life and knows all is extremely comparable to the citizens of Tralfamadorian. These four dimensional beings can see time from beginning to end in any particular order and play a godlike role in existing by seein... ... Billy was to keep the time sequence of the universe in stable order. God touched the two men; Jesus led by the Creator, while Billy was a follower of science and time. Which god is the true God and from that which man is the Christ? Vonnegut's Christ is of the modern gospel and is a very convincing prophet. The idea is debatable either way and shall be argued for quite sometime. Works Cited Martin, Robert A. "Slaughterhouse-Five: Vonnegut's Domed Universe". Carrollton: Notes on Contemporary Literature, 1987 March, 17:2, p.5-8. Mustazza, Leonard. Forever Pursuing Genesis: The Myth of Eden in the Novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Toronto: Bucknell University Press, 1990. p. 102-115. New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Nashville: National Publishing Company, 1968. Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York: Dell Publishing Co. 1982.

The Roman town

The Roman Town was laid out with straight roads and it was in a grid pattern. The shape was a sort of square aswell. It was enclosed with a wall, which had four gates and eighteen towers including the two, which were at the sides of each gate. In the town there would have been an amphitheatre, a theatre, the main temple, the forum, a little temple, a bathhouse, a games room and some shops (small shops not like the NAAFI or Tesco). In the town centre the theatre, forum, a temple and the amphitheatre. The town was defended with a wall, which went all the way around the town. The armies, which guarded the wall and gates, defended the town. Shops, market and forum. Butchers, bakers, pieshops, wine shops, pottery shops, clothes shops, and fruit shops, coal shops, drink shops and food shops were the roman shops. The goods were made at the villa and workshops at the back of the shops. The things only few people could afford were glass vases, nice and well-decorated pots, vases, silk and jewellery. Shoes, woollen cloth, normal pots, food and drink were the things many people could afford. On the streets there would have been beggars begging, soldiers marching, guarding things and arresting people, shop keepers shouting out what they're selling, people buying things, people weighing things and children and people running about. It would have been very busy with all the selling, buying and running about going on. I really like to live during the roman times in those busy streets. The forum was important aswell as lots of other things. It was important because it had the basilica (town hall and law courts), the curia (where the town council meets), the treasury (where all the towns' money is) and the tabularium (all the official documents were kept there). Temples. People believed temples were important God or Goddess' homes. The things that went on at the temples were praying, killing of animals and then examining of the dead animals to see if the gods were pleased or angry. Vesta was the Goddess of purity, fire and hearth. A sacred flame burns in her temple in Rome. Juno was Jupiter's wife and sister. She was Goddess of women and children. Mars was god of war and was always dressed as a Roman soldier. He is the son of Juno. Jupiter was the chief god. The god of the sky and thunder, he carries thunderbolts around to throw. The temple had 27 decorated pillars holding it up and a tiled roof lying on top. At the front of the temple there would have been a gold statue of the god or goddess whose temple it was. Inside the floor was made of marble and stone blocks with fire in the middle would have lit the temple. The walls both inside and outside would have been nicely decorated. The Amphitheatre. An amphitheatre was an oval arena where gladiators fought each other or wild animals. The word amphitheatre means â€Å"theatre in the round†. The Coliseum is Rome's most famous amphitheatre. The amphitheatre had seats like steps but bigger going up all around the sides of it. There are 3 types of gladiator, they are Retiar, Throcian and Mirmillo MY TIMETABLE OF THE AMPHITHEATRE. 09:00-10:03 The Circus 1 10:08-10:55 Warm Up Fight 11:00-12:00 The Death Fight 12:05-13:00 The Circus 2 13:05-14:05 No-man Fight1 14:10-14:30 Executions 14:35-15:55 Lunch Break 16:00-17:00 Wild Beast Hunt 17:05-18:20 Animal Or Human DEATH 18:25-18:45 Executions 18:50-19:50 No-man Fight2 Homes And Houses. The Slums In Rome flats were about 7 storeys high. They were usually dirty. As the storeys went up they got smaller. The poorest people lived on the top floors (the smallest apartments). People hanged their washing on lines which went from one window to another. The very top was open (no-roof) and it was used to store things on like chickens, crops and other things. In a flat the kind of furniture you would find was beds, tables, chairs, draws, shelves and cupboards The disadvantages of living in a flat are flats aren't very big and you have to trust everyone not to go and take or eat your food or steel any of your things and plus there was a lot of noise. The Merchant's House The two biggest areas in the merchant's house were the impluvium and the atruim. The floors were mosaic and that made them well decorated. The walls were also decorated, but they were decorated with stucco. The Villa. The villas were on the outskirts of the town. Although they were luxurious houses they were usually at the heart of a working farm they were well furnished and had mosaic floors.

Anorexia Nervosa Is An Eating Disorder - 1407 Words

Abnormal Psychology YourFirstName YourLastName University title Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of putting on weight with a negative attitude towards body weight (medical dictionary). Due to this extensive fear, people eventually starve themselves leading to extremely low body weights. People suffering from Anorexia take extreme efforts to keep their body weights in check by limiting the amount of food they eat. These efforts range from excessive exercise, misusing diet aids to vomiting after eating just to reduce the level of calorie intake. However, it should be noted that Anorexia is less of an issue about food but more of a mental problem whereby people suffering from it equate†¦show more content†¦As a result, this treatment procedure aims at not only reversing the complications of the disorder but also remedying the mental distortion of body weight. This has necessitated inclusion of psychotherapy, behavioral and cognitive interventions in the multifaceted treatment program. This approach ens ures that while complications are reduced, the root problem is equally dealt with reducing the probability of recurrence. Additionally, the nature of the effective treatment as multi-faceted necessitates a team approach (Mayo clinic). In this process, dieticians, psychologists as well as medical health providers take part. Medical care is important to reverse the complications related to starvation and in some extreme cases may require hospitalization of the person suffering from the disorder. Recovery is hinged on first acquiring a healthy weight and then maintaining it through proper nutrition. For this purpose, psychologists are important in developing behavioral strategies necessary for acquiring the healthy weight which can be maintained with guidance from a nutritionist. As a psychiatric disorder, the importance of psychotherapy could not be overstated (Mayo clinic). Psychotherapy may be family based or individualized to the affected person. Family-based psychotherapy is crucial for teenagers who need help in making right decisions towards restoration of healthy weight and mainlyShow MoreRelatedEating Disorder : Anorexia Nervosa1622 Words   |  7 Pages Bulimia Nervosa To be diagnosed with eating disorder, someone must meet certain criteria. The criterion for diagnosis slightly varies depending on if you are referring to people who (A) fear gaining weight, and have significant weight loss,(B) eating a huge amount of food , then use laxative to remove the binged food, (C) the use of excessive exercise and fasting in order to remove or to reduce the amount of calories consumed, and (D) distorted body image, no matter how thin they become, theyRead MoreEating Disorder : Anorexia Nervosa1658 Words   |  7 Pagesbeen affected by this disorder. 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