Final Reflection for Sociology

For this final reflection for Intro to Sociology, I will cover several topics that I learned throughout the course of this class. I will cover topics that I can relate to as well as those that I can’t. Part of the reason this class is so important for students to take is so that we can take the outlook of others and allow it to possibly change the views that we have on certain topics. Topics such as culture, race and ethnicity, gender stratification, and education are a part of our daily life, but we get in such a rut of living day to day life without taking in the opinion and outlook of others that we don’t know what we truly feel because we are only one sided. By learning these different ideas and beliefs, we may not feel the way that we thought we felt all along.
Culture is the way of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together forma people’s way of life. (Macionis 38) When people go outside of their normal every day way of living, they tend to experience culture shock; they are disorientated with the different way of life. It is very important to understand different cultures because the different ways that people live will express their beliefs and values. Something as simple as language says so much about you. It lets those around you know immediately whether you are from their area or not. Even speaking the same language, yet having a different accent will state whether you are a local or not. The very act of Chinese eating with chopsticks rather than forks and knives states that they are different than we are, but this is their norm and eating with forks and knives would be a culture shock to them. A norm is rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members (Macionis 46). Technology plays a part in culture as well. Technology is knowledge that people use to make a way of life in their surroundings. Gerhardt Lenski stated that a society’s level of technology is crucial in determining what