The Real-World book by Ferris provides a strong introduction to sociology, equipping us with good knowledge about the social causes and impact of human behavior, social life, and social change in different communities. The most interesting topics to me after reading the book are culture, social classes, religion, and social change. As presented in chapter three, culture involves the practices and behaviors of a specific society/community. Culture is a fundamental topic showing the entire way of life for a particular group. The authors analyze different aspects of culture by explaining how other societies have different norms, morals, and values. One can easily tell the element of cultural diversification by reading this topic. Deferent components of culture, as mentioned in this book, build my interest and zeal to study more about the culture. Culture is identified by the specific people’s language, norms, values, gestures, signs, and materials. The most interesting bit about culture is the cultural change in society. According to Ferris & Stein (2018), change in the culture has been championed by technology hence increasing cases of cultural appropriation.
Chapter seven talks about social classes in society, which contributes to the inequality structure among the people. The topic of social class is interesting since it explains how communities are divided based on the distribution of wealth, gender, race, and class hence leading to the establishment of social hierarchy in the community (Ferris & Stein, 2018). Concerning social class, every society consists of those people who are in a high social class (the rich), middle social class, and lower social class (the poor). Social class groups are divided based on the income of people in society. Social classes in society present conflict so that social classes continue to grow with the divisions between the rich and the poor.
Another interesting topic, as presented in the book, is religion. The topic is most interesting as it helps understand the diversification, modernization, and globalization of religion globally. Despite people being granted freedom of worship and religion, there is still conflict and inequality between different religious faith such as Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. The aspect of trends in religion helps understand how certain communities can adapt to the religious practices of another society. Hence, diversification as one of the trends in religion has been boosted by modernization and globalization (Ferris & Stein, 2018).
Furthermore, sociologist concludes that religion serves different roles in society which includes shaping the morals of the people, connecting people in the spiritual realm with God, and creating law. Another chapter that attracts my interest in this book is social change. The aspect f social change in society fundamentally establishes a need for sociologists to study the causes of social change among different communities (Ferris & Stein, 2018). The aspect of social change has promoted interactions at workplaces as workers can interact amongst themselves despite their cultural differences. The aspect of social change in society is inevitable, resulting in social conflict and inequality among different social groups.
The chapters that impacted me more about sociology comprise social change (chapter 16) and culture (chapter three). Culture presents different norms, standards, ethical values, and languages of other societies worldwide. Cultural discussions presented in this book illustrate the realities of the world concerning sociology. The chapter helps understand how cultural values change in different communities based on language, norms, and beliefs (Ferris & Stein, 2018). The book discusses the culture wars as presented in real society hence providing an understanding of why we experience intercultural conflicts in society. In the current society, there are many instances where people clash due to differences in the values, norms, and beliefs presented per their cultural differences. The ideal and real cultures present significant parts of the culture in society. For instance, ideal culture present norms, and patterns of behaviors that different members of the society present. However, the authentic culture represents the values and norms of a specific culture and can not change or practiced in another culture. Therefore, it is not possible to appropriate real culture since it comprises cultural values meant for a specific community.
The chapter on social change presents how the current world is responding to trends in the social values in society. Therefore, social change in society is presented by competition among the cultural members, and this creates a need of having effective conflict resolution. The aspect of social movement has resulted in activism and resistance among some society members. The authors use the U.S. to provide social activities resistance between the democrats and republican (Ferris & Stein, 2018). One of the common social movement theories in mass society theory states that people join a certain change/ movement to satisfy their psychological needs. Through this, sociologists need to understand the psychological needs of different groups of people in society.
The most interesting issue that has helped me to view society from a different dimension is racism and ethical consideration the society. Racism is a global concern that sociologists should rationally study. Different cultures have diversified moral values in society concerning their races. For instance, ethnic identity is displayed by the specific ethical values of the community, distinguished n the basis of race, language, and cultural images. The concept of racism is through cultural appropriation, whereby the dominating race in society presents stereotypes by mistreating the minor race. Sociologists can study the evidence about racism through observation, social media platforms, and posting questionnaires to a specific group of people in society. The evidence provided on the racial and ethnic populations comprises survey and statistical figures. The statistical evidence for the U.S. shows that the country is dominated by white than black Americans (Ferris & Stein, 2018). The evidence provided by sociologists is not different from previous perspectives of racial discrimination and ethical values. The White American culture has dominated the Black American since it is one of the minority groups in the U.S. Black Americans are denied the same access to power and resources in the U.S. as the White Americans.
The course, introduction to sociology has contributed a lot to my perspective on the social environment, culture, and different aspects of change in the community. The aspect of cultural appropriation and sharing of culture between different cultures in society will stick in my mind for the next five years hence making me remember this course (Ferris & Stein, 2018). I will have to remember how cultural values and norms are copied from other cultures to flavor the cultural context of the community. However, the minority culture is deprived of exercising its cultural values due to its small numbers. The black lives matter demonstrated by the African Americans shows how some cultures face critique.
Reference
Ferris, K., & Stein, J. (2018). The Real World: An Introduction to sociology. In 1lib.domains (6th edition, Vol. 624). W. W. Norton & Company. Web.