Countermovement Examples

Racism is belief that humans are subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as superior or inferior (p.250). Racism can be expressed at the personal level through individuals attitudes and behavior, at the cultural level in language and collective ideologies, and at the macrostructural level in the everyday workings of social institutions (p. 231). This is all racism that is discovered in all societies. Personal racism is the expression of racist attitudes or behaviors by individual people. Such as, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, colorism, and even racial transparency. A stereotype is an overgeneralized belief that a certain trait behavior, or attitude characterizes
A reform movement attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not seek to alter or replace major social institutions. An example would be the U.S. civil rights movement which was in the 1960s (p. 306). Countermovements are designed to prevent or reverse the changes sought or accomplished by an earlier movement. A countermovement is most likely to emerge when the reform movement against which it is reacting becomes large and effective in pursuing its goals and therefore comes to be seen as a threat to personal and social interests (p. 307). An example of this would be the emergence in the 1980s-1990s of a conservative social countermovements also known as the religious right, evangelicals, and even Christian right. Revolutionary movements attempt to overthrow the entire system itself, whether it is the government or the existing social structure, in order to replace it with another. The American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 is an example of this (p. 308). A recent social movement in America would be the gay rights movement. The people leaning towards the liberal side of the political spectrum argue that gay people should have the right to do what they want and that they should be able to get married, have families, and do any other things that their hearts desire. The people on the conservative
There are many factors that come into play like our family and peers help influence us to be who we are. Then there is our religion that which sets certain boundaries and rules to follow. Circumstances affect you, what class you are and where exactly you grew up at. Like in Africa and other countries many of them do not have clean water which this affects their lifestyle completely. Come to find out, everything in our lives affects us and our lifestyles are based on the things that are in our lives even if we don’t realize it or not. Personally, I have came to the conclusion that sociology is how society affects a person. This includes everything I already listed with family, ethnicity, peers, class, education, and government. Everyone is affected by these but not all in the same way as others. Sociology is the study of a person in their life; it’s by seeing how all of these things have impacted them, and still seeing the current impacts; and even trying to predict future ones. Sociology is the systematic study of human societies; it’s not quite a study but an observation. A compiling of much data, and while there is so much we have discovered, there is still so much we do not yet know. It is a study of causes and effects, actions and reactions; in some ways it is even