Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Reflections on the Sociology Course
Learning theoretical sociology perspectives in this course gave me significant social and individual insights. The functionalist perspective enabled me to understand the role of a person or a group to the society (Lawler, 2008). That way, I learned how to person view myself as a person with a responsibility and work towards achieving my goals in life. It makes someone responsible and cautious of their actions. The social interactionist view made me non-judgmental as they seek to understand other people’s intentions and to understand their intentions. Since each action is attached to meaning, there is a desire to know the doer’s intentions. The conflict view gave me an insight of understanding the need for power in the society, and how conflicts arise as each guard their interests.
The interactionist perspective primarily challenged my view that social meaning can be universal, meaning that something can have the same meaning within any social integration. The perspective holds on to the fact that meaning is accurate, depending on social interaction. The meaning of a speech or action wholly depends on the speaker or the doer and the recipient should seek to understand what the speaker means (Gewirtz & Cribb, 2009). That way, the listener or recipient does not rely on universal meaning. The understanding on the political basis of the conflict perspective is an area of global awareness. The fact that each person wants power should not lead to conflicts. Therefore, nations should seek to settle the political issues of power without conflicts.
In regard to the global awareness, this sociology course has helped me to understand the society and the social relations better. However, I would like to learn more about the reason why things are the way they are and the fact that the wrong things can be corrected. I would also like to learn more about the duties of the small social groups that the society has formed through the process of socialization. The challenge lies in knowing how to determine the roles that these units should do and also how to foresee that the duties are actually worked out to enhance harmony.
References
Lawler, S. (2008). Identity: Sociological perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Gewirtz, S., & Cribb, A. (2009). Understanding education: A sociological perspective. Cambridge, UK: Polity.