Blog #3 Emile Durkheim

When looking at society as a whole, Emile Durkheim would view it as a structural functionalist society. To him, every person and every aspect of life plays a role that keeps the world running smoothly. We looked further into topics such as crime, which Durkheim would also believe to play a role in society. When we discuss crime, many people may automatically think negatively about the matter, and that all it does is harm our society. Durkheim would argue that even though some crime is quite negative, it may have some beneficial aspects in terms of helping our society function properly. In one way, crime could create jobs, such as police officers and correctional institutions, or even security housing systems that give people careers. It also creates unity among societies in that people come together to create social change. Crime also lets people figure out and agree on what is considered to be deviant behavior, and ultimately gives people moral goals and guidelines to live by.

This way of thinking proves that according to Durkheim, even things viewed negatively serve as a function of society. I like this way of thinking, because it gives a sense of purpose to everything that is done. I think that people who may be more negative with viewing society, this is a way to look at it in a better light. If we didn't have the negative, we would be fuzzy on the positive. If there were no "bad guys" we wouldn't know or appreciate the "good guys." It gives me the sense that every person has a place in society and that everyone actually does matter. We are all tiny little human beings in the world, but together we affect one another until groups are made and do have a profound affect on society. To me, it settles some frustrations. Even though it sometimes irritates me that we have upper upper classes, I believe that we do need each and every class to play a different role in society and create ideas, conflict, and changes.

In saying that I think everyone should believe they have a purpose and place in society, I want to touch on Durkheim's subject of suicide. I wanted to touch on one branch of his work in explaining suicide with the integration/egoistic type. This type has to do with how well people feel connected into society and to other individuals. Egoistic people may pull back from others and become isolated from people and fall into a depression. I think these cases of that sort of depression is a major factor as to why suicide was and still is a problem today. Combining these thoughts with those above, I think it should be stessed to people that in the end, we need one another. We all do matter and play a part in society no matter how big or small. Suicide is a morbid, awful thing that I, and society as a whole, wants to see disappear. I think its important for people to start looking at themselves as important parts of a functioning society, that needs them in order to really work.

This image simply shows that all of us as individuals make up our society as a whole. We all serve a purpose and together help society function properly. It goes hand in hand with Durkheim's structural functionalist view on society.

Blog #2 Marx Ideology

The small group I was in during class focused on Karl Marx's thoughts of ideology, which struck me as the most interesting. We found that ideology means a system of ideas which in a way keeps social order. Ideas come from people. Power shapes the ideas that people form. It appears that people from higher classes create these ideologies and enforce them to keep control of lower classes. Ideas formed can create social order by giving a pathway for people to follow, and have and idea of what is considered to be socially acceptable and create norms. Even though it seems good that there is some sort of social order, Marx thinks it could also have negative effects because it gives people a false sense of reality that is obscured.

When we describe the function of ideologies, Marx uses the metaphor "camera obscura," meaning reality (the image) is turned on its head. He says that ideology reflects an inverted image of social reality that is false and distorted. It's true that the image is still there, but it isn't being portrayed or gone about in the best possible way. Even if the ideas aren't being portrayed correctly or in the most efficient way, they will continue to stick if the majority or people of power say so. The way each person lives their lives are going to create different ideas based on their experiences and connections, yet these ideas can get mixed up and confused.

I think these views Karl Marx expresses are still relevant today. We talk about a 2 class system in class, and even though we have grown from that, ideologies still to me seem to be a tool of power against lower classes. I do think that certain ideas all over the world could be distorted without us really realizing it because it has been normalized. Below I have an image of "camera obscura" and how reality (the candle) is manipulated by ideologies and views of the powerful (slot B) and in turn flips the original reality upside down to be something totally different and obscured.

Tocqueville/Individualism Blog #1

The content I felt connected to the most this past week was information on Tocqueville. I was a little confused at some of the ideas at first, but reading further my best understanding was about individualism. This term is somewhat new and needs to be differentiated from "ego." Ego is about the love of self that leads a person to prefer himself to all. Egoism is thought to be a part of human nature that is to some extent embedded in all of us. On the other hand individualism is something that comes about and changes along with societal conditions. Actions we take are based off of feelings rather than instinct. Individualism is when people isolate themselves from the masses and in a way is okay with having members of society fend for themselves. This has greater sociological consequences on our society because people have little contact with others outside their intimate groups. This becomes an action rather than just feelings associated with egoism, and therefore causes more material costs on our society. For example, our society has moved more from an aristoracy to a democracy. Tocqueville seemed to favor aristocracy because it was a time when it seemed people were more willing to help others around them and think less of themselves. People would make sacrifices for certain other people. Yet now in the democratic age it seems individualism plays a bigger role and may have an adverse effect on our society. Help between citizens is lost and causes people to be stuck in solitude that could be self-destructive.

I agree with Tocqueville in the sense that individualism might have an adverse affect on society. One thing that struck me was that people withdrawing from society and cutting off those social ties can take a toll on a person physically and emotionally. Physically if someone were in need of any sort of assistance they may not ask for help or have anyone to turn to. Emotionally I would think withdrawing from society could contribute to depression and perhaps increased rates of suicide. I think its important to have social ties and experiences and that individualism takes away from that. Like we talked about in class, I do think that democracy has matured and that individualism still applies to some people but not so much the majority anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUGEqjWYkSY

Above is a short youtube link on Tocqueville and some of his ideas. It talks about at the end how individualism causes people to be more focused on themselves; notice the sign held up reading "Me Me Me!" It shows that he'd think people should become more involved and educated in order for society and our country to run smoothly. Society must escape destruction by keeping all sorts of ties (political, moral, etc) strong among its citizens.