Term Paper on "Sociologists) Protestant Ethic Played an Important"

Term Paper 9 pages (2679 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Sociologists)

* Protestant ethic played an important part in the progress of capitalism because it enabled Christians to take on attitudes that made them more productive in the workplace. This ideology promotes the idea that the individual is responsible for acting in agreement with both his or her principles and with the principles of society in general in order for the world to progress.

* While numerous religions lobby with regard to how people should not manage their own fate, Judaism and Christianity generally support individuals in acting for themselves. Judaism actually encourages people to get actively involved in trying to support both themselves and the social order as a whole. Christian and Jewish countries are thus more likely to have a higher rate of economic growth in comparison to countries dominated by other religious ideologies.

* the German sociologist Max Weber emphasized the fact that bureaucracy is the most effective strategy that people can employ with the purpose of structuring the system and in order to put an end to corruption. Even with this, Weber himself agreed that this process was likely to generate problems in some situations as a result of making it difficult for people to make resolute decisions or to take actions when it is essential for them to do so.

* in contrast to Weber using the idea of bureaucracy in order to emphasize the path to an effective society, George Ritzer developed the idea of McDonaldization in order to elaborate on this concept. Ritzer mainly inspired from the process of globalization that influenced people from across the world to take on similar attitudes with regard to certain problems. The fast-food restaurant, from Ritzer's perspective, has a strong influence on the general public by making it more or less interested in particular matters.

* While Raewyn Connell is right in thinking that Australian Sociology as well as some parts of Australian literature reflect a cultural cringe. However, this is perfectly normal when considering that the process of globalization enabled ideas to travel faster and for particular parts of the world to have a strong influence over others. This does not mean that certain communities practically come to be dominated by ideas developed by others and that they thus lose their cultural identity.

* Connell emphasized that the development of Sociology was significantly influenced by relations of power and domination. Discrimination largely had an effect on this domain and it is difficult and almost impossible for one to ignore the clear information showing that privileged groups have had the tendency to play a more important role in the development of Sociology in comparison to communities that were largely discriminated and that thus had little to no access to playing a role in this particular process.

* Georg Simmel focused on providing society with the ability to understand that it was impossible for people to maintain many of their traditional values in the modern society. He claimed that individuals have the tendency to distance themselves from other people that are in their vicinity. When considering the fact that technology and globalization have provided people with the ability to get involved in activities that are likely to have little to nothing to do with activities performed by individuals living in their vicinity, it is only safe to say that Simmel was right in thinking that progress has a strong influence on how people think.

* From Simmel's perspective, intimacy is a particularly complex concept and people are more or less inclined to share intimate details with others. It largely depends on how these individuals perceive other people, as they are more probable to share intimate information with people with whom they are close and they are less likely to share intimate information with individuals that they have a colder relationship with. It is difficult to determine whether one can actually experience intimacy online, taking into account that while a person can put across all of his or her intimate details to another person in an online environment, he or she might feel that this communication channel makes it possible for him or her to keep some details secret and thus to refrain from putting them across. One would have to consider that his or her interlocutor is equal to him or her in order to share intimate details with him or her.

* Simmel regards secrets as one of humanity's greatest achievements because of the feeling of unity that it induces in people keeping secrets. The German sociologist considered that in order for the modern society to function effectively it needs to be able to keep secrets. He actually emphasized that it would be impossible for the modern society to exist as long as it does not maintain a complex level of secrecy. The economy is one of the best examples concerning how secrets play an important role in making society more efficient. This system provides people with the opportunity to use money as a means to hide business deals, purchases and changes in ownership.

* Reality can be socially constructed as a result of people acting in accordance with a basic set of rules that they have learnt throughout their lifetime. Individuals adopt attitudes toward others on account of the interactions they have with these people and on account of the experiences that they went through up to the point when they first interacted with these respective persons. Each person's idea of reality is thus likely to differ depending on the experiences that he or she has gone through. It is thus wrong to criticize the way that a person thinks solely on account of how another person cannot possibly understand the first person's conception of reality.

* Karl Marx saw the idea of labor from a general perspective and he concentrated on elaborating on it by using the context of society rather than by focusing on the individual. His position is in contrast with positions adopted by most economics, as he obviously wanted to use Marxism as a main tool to explain why it was important for individuals to work and what the ultimate goal of labor was. He believed that people depend on each-other and that it is thus essential for them to do everything in their power in order to provide society as a whole with the resources it needs.

In contrast to Marx, Max Weber saw work and labor as a means for people to have access to ideas, rather than simply being the primary goal of mankind. Weber was appreciative of the idea of Protestant ethic, but the fact that he was irreligious influenced him to think of this system of beliefs as work ethic and as being especially effective in providing individuals with the ideas they needed in order to experience progress.

* Passing is regarded as the process of coming in possession of a series of rights to have people associate the person with an elected sex status and of securing these respective rights. The process also involves providing the possibility of detection and the risks linked with the steps that one needs to take while experiencing the development. Passing can also be regarded as an interactional strategy that a marginalized person adopts with the purpose of receiving acceptance. In order to be provided with social acceptance, Agnes focused on being perceived as a real woman, on constantly behaving as she was a woman, and on passing as a female regardless of circumstances.

* Agnes took on a constructivist approach, taking into account that she focused on her principles and that she focused on adopting attitudes characteristic to women when coming across particular situations. Agnes concentrated on controlling problematic aspects of her life by making it seem perfectly normal for her to express certain attitudes. She used a series of excuses in order to avoid having intercourse with her boyfriend Bill.

* Goffman supports the belief that people cannot be themselves when interacting with others because it is characteristic to individuals today to concentrate on maintaining the image they projected across their life. People go through great efforts in order to avoid providing others with the ability to see them in an unfavorable posture. Society practically influences people to behave as actors in front of an audience: they need to do everything in their power in order to impress audiences with their abilities and in many cases people abandon their role in society in order to take on attitudes that they consider to be in accordance with principles that they value. When regarding things from Goffman's point-of-view, the social order is filled with individuals that are both actors and audiences at the same time.

* Arlie Russell Hochschild's book "The Managed Heart" presents flight attendants and the training they receive in order to be able to cope with stressing situations. Being a flight attendant can apparently be a very humanizing experience, taking into account that individuals in such positions are likely to be discriminated on account of their… READ MORE

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