“If I Were a Sociologist…”
Introduction
If I were a sociologist, I would major in social class and mobility. In this paper, I explain what sociology is and define social class and movement. A sociologist studies human beings’ lives, behaviors, and organizations within large social, political, and economic forces. Sociologists determine how social influences affect different groups of people and the ways large institutions and organizations touch the lives of different people. Sociologists define this by analyzing critically and using empirical methods. Sociologists develop excellent grasps of knowledge about social class and social order. Sociology impacts all disciplines in different ways, thus determining the change in the lives of people. If I were a sociologist, I would strictly major in social class and mobility.
Social Class and Mobility.
Social class refers to a set of concepts that mostly deals with categorizing people into different groups based on their socioeconomic differences like wealth, ethnicity, gender, level of education, and their social and political status (Social Stratification). The various groups used to categorize people are mainly: upper class, middle class, and lower class. On the other hand, social mobility is the drastic change in the level of an individual either going higher or going lower. The difference is not obligatory to be determined as a good change or adverse change.
Intergenerational and Intra-Generational Social Mobility
Social mobility is not always classed according to change in wealth, and it varies in different people. To some people, it can be a change in health status, education level, literacy rate or ethnicity, and nationality. As determined, at times, social mobility may be intragenerational, this is where status change happens within a person’s lifetime. Social mobility may also be intergenerational, i.e., children attain a higher status level than their parents. A great example of intergenerational mobility is education and wealth status. Some children achieve higher education and wealth level than their parents, and the children end up receiving praise.
Absolute and Relative Social Mobility
Absolute social mobility refers to the total movement of people between different classes that are observed. On the other hand, relative social mobility is defined as an estimate of the comparison of two people from various courses in their upward or downward movement. An example of absolute social mobility is seen in a region’s economic development in providing quality education to the people who did not receive the knowledge. The event ends up raising the literacy level of the people and their status in socioeconomics. In relative social mobility, someone can determine the outcome of a particular opportunity presented to a person in a specific location. An example of relative class mobility is a middle-class child born in the USA. If the child gave with education, the outcome is said to be the child will attain a college-level knowledge and get a middle-class income.
Conclusion
To conclude, sociology helps people in understanding human society and how the social system works. In understanding this, we determine that sociology helps us to understand that people in different social classes will have various solution methods for problems in life. If I were a sociologist, I would be able to determine all this and determine the reasons for social change and the rate of the change in today’s population.
Works Cited
Annette, L, Arrue (2011). Different Childhoods, Family life, Class, and Race.
University of California Press.
Brown, F. D. (2009) Social Class and Status Concise Encyclopedia of Pragmatics
Hinkle, Roscoe, (2014) American Sociological Developments