1960s

Discussion Question #1:   Choose any current social problem that interests you and explain it from each of the sociological perspectives as explained in the two part presentation and the assigned article. In today’s society we are faced with many social problems, such as: Poverty Healthcare Education Domestic Violence Substance Abuse and Addiction Parenting Peer pressure global warming broken family’s homelessness Children are our future, it’s very important to take care of them and provide them with the knowledge to deal with situations such as peer pressure. The Kaiser Foundation reports that about 50% of teenagers feel pressured with regard to sex in relationships. According to the symbolic people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation especially evident. The words have a certain meaning for the “ sender, ” and, during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the “ receiver. ” For some teenagers they may feel as though they have to have sex with their boyfriend in order to show them that they love them. This is a norm that has developed over the years. In functional theory, each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society’s functioning as a whole. It has become more and more exactable for people to have sex before marriage and in many cases before a meaningful relationship. This creates more and more broken homes. The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marx’s writings on class struggles, presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic interactions perspectives. Adolescents may respond to such pressures directly or by internalizing norms or preferences for conduct. http://www. answers. com/topic/peer-pressure Colomy, P. (n. d.). Three Sociological Perspectives. Preschoolers will go out of their way to think and act like their friends, even though they know it may go against what they have been taught by their parents. At the ages of three and four, children start to see there are other values, opinions, and rules besides those set by their parents. They may demand to do things that their parents do not allow, such as watching television beyond a certain time or time limit, eating junk food, and playing with toys their parents do not deem appropriate, such as toy guns, simply because their friends do so. http://www. healthofchildren. com/P/Peer-Pressure. html Discussion Question # 2:   Choose any event from the 1960 Timeline under the Reading tab. Explain how you think that event influenced our lives in today’s global society. During the 1950s and 1960s, increasing numbers of married women entered the labor force but in 1963 the average working woman earned only 63 percent of what a man made. This event affects every woman’s life. The women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s drew inspiration from the civil rights movement. Due to this event women are now able to work any job with equal pay. http://www. usnews. com/news/articles/2010/03/12/the-1960s-a-decade-of-change-for-women