sociology assignment higher

1.1 What Is Sociology?

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Explain concepts central to sociology.
• Describe how different sociological perspectives have developed.

What Are Society and Culture?

Sociology is the scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups. A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture is what sociologists call a society .

Sociologists study all aspects and levels of society. Sociologists working from the micro-level study small groups and individual interactions, while those using macro-level analysis look at trends among and between large groups and societies. For example, a micro-level study might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups such as among teenagers or business professionals. In contrast, a macro-level analysis might research the ways that language use has changed over time or in social media outlets.

The term culture refers to the group’s shared practices, values, and beliefs. Culture encompasses a group’s way of life, from routine, everyday interactions to the most important parts of group members’ lives. It includes everything produced by a society, including all the social rules.

Sociologists often study culture using the sociological imagination , which pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described as an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choices and perceptions. It’s a way of seeing our own and other people’s behavior in relationship to history and social structure (1959). One illustration of this is a person’s decision to marry. In the United States, this choice is heavily influenced by individual feelings. However, the social acceptability of marriage relative to the person’s circumstances also plays a part.

Remember, though, that culture is a product of the people in a society. Sociologists take care not to treat the concept of “culture” as though it were alive and real. The error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence is known as reification (Sahn, 2013).

Studying Patterns: How Sociologists View Society

All sociologists are interested in the experiences of individuals and how those experiences are shaped by interactions with social groups and society. To a sociologist, the personal decisions an individual makes do not exist in a vacuum. Cultural patterns , social forces and influences put pressure on people to select one choice over another. Sociologists try to identify these general patterns by examining the behavior of large groups of people living in the same society and experiencing the same societal pressures.

Consider the changes in U.S. families. The “typical” family in past decades consisted of married parents living in a home with their unmarried children. Today, the percent of unmarried couples, same-sex couples, single-parent and single-adult households is increasing, as well as is the number of expanded households, in which extended family members such as grandparents, cousins, or adult children live together in the family home. While 15 million mothers still make up the majority of single parents, 3.5 million fathers are also raising their children alone (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Increasingly, single people and cohabitating couples are choosing to raise children outside of marriage through surrogates or adoption.

Some sociologists study social facts —the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and cultural rules that govern social life—that may contribute to these changes in the family. Do people in the United States view marriage and family differently over the years? Do they view them differently than Peruvians? Do employment and economic conditions play a role in families? Other sociologists are studying the consequences of these new patterns, such as the ways children influence and are influenced by them and/or the changing needs for education, housing, and healthcare.

Sociologists identify and study patterns related to all kinds of contemporary social issues. The “Stop and Frisk” policy, the emergence of new political factions, how Twitter influences everyday communication—these are all examples of topics that sociologists might explore.

Studying Part and Whole: How Sociologists View Social Structures

A key component of the sociological perspective is the idea that the individual and society are inseparable. It is impossible to study one without the other. German sociologist Norbert Elias called the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that shapes that behavior figuration .

Consider religion. While people experience religion in a distinctly individual manner, religion exists in a larger social context as a social institution . For instance, an individual’s religious practice may be influenced by what government dictates, holidays, teachers, places of worship, rituals, and so on. These influences underscore the important relationship between individual practices of religion and social pressures that influence that religious experience (Elias, 1978). In simpler terms, figuration means that as one analyzes the social institutions in a society, the individuals using that institution in any fashion need to be ‘figured’ in to the analysis.

Sociology in the Real World

Individual-society connections.

When sociologist Nathan Kierns spoke to his friend Ashley (a pseudonym) about the move she and her partner had made from an urban center to a small Midwestern town, he was curious about how the social pressures placed on a lesbian couple differed from one community to the other. Ashley said that in the city they had been accustomed to getting looks and hearing comments when she and her partner walked hand in hand. Otherwise, she felt that they were at least being tolerated. There had been little to no outright discrimination.

Things changed when they moved to the small town for her partner’s job. For the first time, Ashley found herself experiencing direct discrimination because of her sexual orientation. Some of it was particularly hurtful. Landlords would not rent to them. Ashley, who is a highly trained professional, had a great deal of difficulty finding a new job.

When Nathan asked Ashley if she and her partner became discouraged or bitter about this new situation, Ashley said that rather than letting it get to them, they decided to do something about it. Ashley approached groups at a local college and several churches in the area. Together they decided to form the town's first Gay-Straight Alliance.

The alliance has worked successfully to educate their community about same-sex couples. It also worked to raise awareness about the kinds of discrimination that Ashley and her partner experienced in the town and how those could be eliminated. The alliance has become a strong advocacy group, and it is working to attain equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBTQ individuals.

Kierns observed that this is an excellent example of how negative social forces can result in a positive response from individuals to bring about social change (Kierns, 2011).

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How to Write a Sociology Assignment – Explained With Examples

What is a sociology assignment?

A sociology assignment is a task to find out the answer to unknown questions in society. It contributes to understanding, analyze as well to comparing, and contrasting the past, present as well as future. It helps the readers to understand society and its institutions.

As a university student, the most critical skill to learn is how to write an assignment. More than half of a student’s life goes into writing and submitting assignments. Without learning this skill, one cannot simply graduate from a university. However, we call this a skill because it has to be cultivated and learned. Therefore, to write a sociology assignment, one must learn specific skills. It is not simply writing an essay; it takes a deeper understanding and hard work to write an academic assignment. Today in this article, we will discuss how you can write a sociology assignment and ace it! 

The article will be divided into the following sections:

• Understanding the Question asked 
• Selecting the resources to add to the assignment 

To make this article more understandable, we will take a running example. Through the help of the example, we hope to provide an A to Z guidance about writing a sociology assignment. 

Understanding the Sociology Assignment Question 

The first and essential part of any assignment is to make sure that you understand the question well. Students very often lose out on marks because they fail to understand the question asked. Understanding the question in the beginning itself leaves almost no margin for silly mistakes. 

For example

The assignment given by the teacher asks you to review the following work: The viewer society. Michel Foucault’s ‘Panopticon’ revisited”, written by Thomas Mathiesen 

This question is pretty straightforward, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll be easy. The one thing you can always count on in sociology is to offer simple questions with critical answers. For the question asked above, what needs to be done is to read the mentioned article critically and then reflect on it. 

from the choices offered and read it in such a manner that you can answer all the sub-questions asked. 

Selecting the Resources 

Once you’ve understood the question, the next step is to search for resources. Your resources cannot be vague. They have to be directly related to the question that has been asked to you. Two conditions can emerge when it comes to resource research. The first condition can be that you have the exact material needed to complete the assignment. The second condition can be when you have been given a question and now have to gather material yourself. It is the second condition that is more tricky. To accumulate study material, you can refer to the following websites that are tried and tested by numerous students and scholars:

• Google Scholar
• Shodhganga 

For example: 

In our case, we already know the exact article that needs to be read in order to complete the review or reflexive assignment. 

You will read the article thoroughly and in its entirety. Since the professor has asked for a review of the paper, we will focus on targeted reading. Follow the pointers mentioned below to make the most out of your reading. 

• While you read the article, underline or highlight the important lines. You can even color-code your highlighting by using different ink colors to distinguish between arguments and examples. 
• Once you have read the article fully, write down what is the main argument of the text according to you. The main argument is that one recurring question or theme is being discussed throughout the article. 
• While reading or after reading, make a note of how and why you agree or disagree with the author. It is always recommended to judge an article by evaluating its pros and cons . 
• While reading if any new ideas or examples emerge in your mind make sure to make a note of them. This personal contribution adds to the quality of an answer. 

At this point, you are now clear with your question, and you have done the necessary reading to draft your assignment. The next step is to plan your answer. This planning happens before you sit to write your assignment. Before you attempt to write, make a rough outline. This rough outline should briefly mention what you plan to write in which section and in which order. The plan you create will only be a basic map that will guide you to write in detail. 

For example:

In this assignment, your task is to review it. You have read the article and made notes by now. Now it is your turn to form a rough template determining how you wish to proceed with your answer. You can create a template similar to this one:

• Introduction – 1 paragraph 
• The main argument made by the author along with examples offered by you to relate the writing with the reality – 4 or more paragraphs 
• Conclusion – 1 paragraph 

The planning stage can also include a timeline. You can generate a timeline for yourself where you self-appoint deadlines. When you manage your time systematically, you write better. The work done with ease and time always has more quality than the work completed at the last moment. 

Writing Sociology Assignment

All the efforts and the hard work you have done will now be applied. What is an assignment if not to convey what you have in your mind to the reader? A sociology assignment should be written in a concise and factually correct manner. Keep in mind that sociology is the scientific study of human society, and statements cannot be made lightly in passing. At this moment, you know what the question has asked. You also have designated a plan to complete the assignment. All that needs to be done now is to put all that background research into words. 

Introduction 

Start your review by giving a brief summary of what the paper really talks about. Give the reader a very broad idea about what this reading is about. In the introductory paragraph, you can leave out the finer details and focus on the main theme running across the piece of writing. Additionally, you can also provide an overview to the reader telling them what and how you plan to tackle this review. Inform the reader what to expect from this assignment. 

For example, you could write something like this:

The article by Thomas Mathiesen is a critique of Foucault’s concept of the “Panopticon”. The concept and idea of the Panopticon which Foucault borrowed from Jeremy Bentham is one of the most important concepts included in his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Through the medium of this article, Mathiesen has shown how Panopticon is present in today’s society. He shows that Panopticon is not the only reality of the modern state like Foucault suggested, but it has grown alongside another phenomenon of “Synopticon”. The paper throughout its length aims to exhibit the developmental parallels and relationships between Panopticon and Synopticon, as well as their reciprocal functions. 

Main Body (the arguments presented by the author and the examples offered by you)

This will be the largest and the most significant portion of your answer. In this section, you have to now dwell on finer details and curate an answer that flows naturally discussing all the aspects that Mathiesen pointed out. Here you critically reflect back on what the author had to say and agree or disagree with them by providing examples from contemporary scenarios. Make sure that you divide your arguments in different paragraphs. Ideally, the Sociology Group recommends that you allocate two paragraphs to explain one argument. The first paragraph should give the summary of what the author said and the following paragraph should reflect your view of things. 

Arguments made by Mathiesen:- 

Thomas Mathiesen talks about another concept that is leading society today, Synopticism. This is also a critique of Panopticism. Mathiesen suggests that unlike what Foucault said, today we are living in a ‘viewer society’, where the many see a few. This is possible because of the ever-growing prevalence of mass media. He asserts that while talking about Panopticism, Foucault completely omitted to mention mass media even when both these functions were growing simultaneously. The reason for this, Mathiesen states, can be because if Foucault did include mass media in the analysis, then his entire argument of Panopticon would have changed (Mathiesen, 1997, 219). 

Your reflection and examples put forth:-

Today we do live in a society that is guided by surveillance. Wherever we go we are faced with different forms of surveillance, the most common of which is the use of CCTV cameras. If I talk about myself and my daily routine, it is filled with me being captured in a CCTV camera. A camera which I do not know who has access to, or who watches me. I live in a big colony which is filled with cameras. The floor on which I live has two CCTVs, there’s one in the lift, then there are cameras all over the society and even in the market area. Outside, the dominant mode of travel is the metro, which again has CCTV cameras installed after every ten steps. Foucault through his work also suggests that it is this invisible surveillance that controls our body by controlling the soul. I think this is true to a lot of extents as well. In many public places, people only subject themselves to discipline because of the threat of “being seen”. CCTVs are the biggest reason for this.

Conclusion 

This will be the final section of your assignment. A conclusion is an important section that summarizes all that you’ve written. It is similar to writing an introduction. You must include an abbreviated version of the numerous arguments and points that you have mentioned in detail above. As a result, a conclusion is a section in which you have one last chance to inform your reader of what you’ve said in your piece.

Also Check: Compare and Contrast Essay – Guide

In conclusion, I would say that this was a fairly well-written article, but it did have its own shortcomings. First of all, the concept of the Panopticon used by Foucault could have been explained in a more detailed way. For the people who do not know this theory, it gets a little generic and vague to understand what Panopticon is and how it is related to surveillance and discipline. Secondly, the section written on the use of the Internet and its significance in the Synoptic system was described very poorly. It is not justified, and its placement in the article broke the flow. Lastly, I would reiterate that this article was easy to understand for those who know what Panopticon means in the Foucauldian sense. And it was interesting to see how both the systems of Panopticon and Synopticon operate simultaneously and shape the society we live in today. 

Academic writing is impossible to complete in a single sitting. You should revise, rewrite, and reread your material several times. Do not revise your essay immediately after completing the first draft. Allow for a period of time, at least four hours. Then go back over your essay and make changes based on three criteria. The first thing you should look for is any grammatical or spelling errors. The second criterion is to examine the arguments you’ve made and whether or not the examples you’ve provided are related. The third criterion is to read the article objectively and as a reader. The more you modify, the better your results will be. However, the Sociology Group believes that your third iteration is the most important. Draft 1 is a raw version, Draft 2 is an updated version, and Draft 3 is the final version.

When you are done writing and reviewing the assignment, make sure that you add proper citations and references to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism should be avoided in any academic article. However, how can one avoid plagiarism when their essay is based on research conducted by others? Giving acknowledgment to the original author for their work is the solution. This is accomplished in academics through the Citation and Referencing processes (sometimes also called Bibliography).

There are many different styles of citations and you can determine which you want to follow. Some of the most common styles of citation and referencing are MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. If you are working on Google Docs or Word then the application makes your work easier because they help you curate your citations. 

How to add citations in Google Doc: Tools → Citation

How to add citations in Word Document: References → Insert Citations 

But for those who want to cite manually, this is the basic format to follow:

• Author’s Name with Surname mentioned first, then initials 
• Article’s Title in single or double quotes
• Journal Title in Italics 
• Volume, issue number 
• Year of Publication

Example: Syrkin, A. 1984. “Notes on the Buddha’s Threats in the Dīgha Nikāya ”, Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies , vol. 7(1), pp.147-58.

Also Read: Meet the Professor – An Insightful Interview Series

Hello! Eiti is a budding sociologist whose passion lies in reading, researching, and writing. She thrives on coffee, to-do lists, deadlines, and organization. Eiti's primary interest areas encompass food, gender, and academia.

Culture and Identity

Culture and Identity Basics

Culture is a shared system of beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artefacts that members of a society use to cope with the world and each other.

Identity refers to our concept of self and how we perceive ourselves. It’s influenced by various factors, such as social class, gender, ethnicity, age, and disability.

Culture is a central influence in shaping an individual’s identity.

Elements of Culture

Material culture includes physical objects or goods, such as the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, the technology we use.

Non-material culture refers to intangible elements such as customs, traditions, norms, rules, laws, languages, knowledge, beliefs, and values.

Symbols are a vital part of non-material culture. They are things that stand for or represent something else.

Cultural diversity and variation

Individual cultures vary greatly across the world, but all share some basic elements. This is known as cross-cultural variation .

Subcultures refer to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population.

Multiculturalism is a societal approach or policy that embraces, respects and is tolerant of cultural diversity.

Cultural Norms and Values

Norms are informal understandings that govern individuals’ behaviour within a society, while laws are formally written and enforced rules.

Values define what is considered good or bad, desirable or undesirable within a culture.

Theories of Identity

Social Identity Theory suggests that people identify and categorize themselves and others.

Symbolic Interactionism posits that identity is created and shaped through social interactions.

The Looking Glass Self Theory proposes that our self-image is shaped by how we think others perceive us.

Identity Variables

Social Class often shapes a person’s identity by determining the opportunities and resources available to them.

Ethnicity and race influence identity as they often link to a shared language, religion, and customs.

Gender plays a critical role in shaping our identity and influences the norms, roles, and expectations for individuals based on their perceived sex.

Age and Generation can affect identity by grouping individuals with shared experiences and social trends.

Disability and physical impairment can have a profound impact on people’s identity, as society often treats disabled people differently.

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SOC 100 | Intro to Sociology | OER Course Hub

A collection of open teaching and learning materials curated by BMCC faculty

Category: Assignments

Children’s books as agents of socialization activity.

This is a fun in-class activity in which small groups of students analyze children’s books as agents of socialization. You can do this by bringing books into class or possibly by having students visit the library and find a children’s book there.

Sociological Methods Exercise

This is a useful low-stakes small group exercise that can help students learn how to formulate research questions and how different sociological research methods might be used. You can give students any manageable research “topic” but I find something related to college/higher education to work well.

Sinking Ship Exercise

This is a fun, low-stakes exercise that helps students understand Moore and Davis’s functionalist theory of social stratification. For in-person classes, I put students into groups of 3-5 and ask them to together “save” 6 people; for online synchronous classes, I create a Google Form and ask students to individually select their 6 people and then we look together at who the class has “saved.”

Rich and Poor (low-stakes writing assignment)

Faculty: This is a quick writing exercise that can get students thinking about social class divisions. I like to use this as a way into discussing sociological theories of social class division (Marx, Weber, and Moore and Davis’s functionalist theory). For in person classes, students can free write on paper; for online synchronous classes students can put their responses into a Google Doc or Google form.

Instructions for students: Free write for five minutes a response to this question.

Why are some people rich and some people poor?

Sociological Imagination Essay

This is an essay that I assign early in the semester to encourage students to start to use their sociological imagination by thinking about how a daily activity they do is influenced by society and history. The questions/prompts below the assignment can also be adapted for an in-class exercise for students to do in small groups.

Ice Breaker Bingo

This is a fun ice breaker I do with all my SOC 100 students on the first day of class. Each student must try to complete the bingo sheet by speaking to people in class. Students should find someone who fits the category, introduce themselves, and write their name in the square. They have to fill the whole board. The professor also plays the game. The first student to fill in the entire board wins a KitKat bar. I insist that all the students get up from their chairs and walk around the room to interact with their classmates.

The bingo game gently touches on many of the key themes of the course, such as race, class, gender, religion, the media, politics, economics, culture, family, criminal justice, and the environment. I have found that this bingo game is terrific in breaking the ice and helps establish a sense of connection and fun in the class on the very first day.

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Higher Psychology - assignment

Assignment 2022   (all links open as pdf files), complete assignments, usage of technology and its effect on sleep.

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The impact of false high estimates on the participants estimated guess of sweets in the jar

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Please view these materials in conjunction with the higher Psychology webinar recording from April 2021 , available within the 2021 section of the Webinars page.

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Investigating how age affects conformity, how does prelim stress correlate with winter illnesses.

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Conformity Study - Sweets in a Jar

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Correlation between screen time and quantity/quality of sleep gained

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