Example of essay on sociological analysis

The aim of this essay is to present you with a sociological analysis of a widely shared assumption. The conventional wisdom which is widely shared on behalf of the majority of the American society is the fact that ‘ girls seem to perform better at school than boys’. This widely shared social belief depicts the ideology and mentality of a multi-cultural society which seems to criticize people according to their gender. The specific belief which is to be presented in this paper is a belief closely related to the educational field. There have been more than once instances when the educational community has admitted openly through presentations, publications and research papers to the superiority of girls in comparison to boys, in terms of their performance in school. There have been numerous psychological, sociological, anthropological and educational explanations why there seems to be such a great difference in school performance in terms of both sexes. This essay will focus on the sociological aspect of this belief and will present you with the aspects of the American society which contribute to the formation and existence of such a belief.
There has always been lots of skepticism when it comes to what the differences between the two sexes are. There has been lots of heated debate and the American Society seems to have been divided in two parts. The first part seems to hold the belief that since both sexes are equal and their equality is beyond any disbelief, then there are no differences between men and women. Both men and women react the same since they share equal needs, rights and duties. On the other hand, there are those who seem to believe that women are superior in some fields and men are superior in some other fields. That does not mean that they do not believe in the equality of both sexes. But although they believe in the equality of both sexes, they also believe that equality does not signify similarity. This part of the society seems to share the common belief that people are equal but they do not share the same way they deal with any kind of situations and events. As a result, people believe that there are lots of differences in terms of the way each sex reacts and deals with life’s situations and events. This is why the whole society treats both sexes in a totally different way. There are different advertisements and informative sources and books when it comes to informing people how boys and girls are to be brought up with. All the American Society deals the process of bringing up children in a totally and radically different way, based on whether the children are boys or girls. Consequently, the educational system is built in such a way that the reception and treatment of both sexes in schools is quite different. There are differentiations in the ways girls are treated and boys are treated. Both boys and girls are treated as equal members but there are different expectations on behalf of the teachers themselves and the educational field. These expectations are subconscious since the society is brought up in such a way that they are all taught the equality of both sexes. Nevertheless, the social status – quo expects women to be more obedient and easier to obey to rules, whereas men are considered to be the rebellious spirits and the ones who have always been the pioneers in a variety of social fields. Furthermore, girls are considered to be better and more absorbed by reading whereas men are supposed to be looking for adventure and excitement from a very young age. As a result, girls are treated within the borders of a class as the more diligent ones, whereas boys are treated with greater suspicion. Therefore, it is true that girls are performing better in class performance and in test writing and presentations, since boys are naturally attracted to subjects which are closely bonded to experiments, practice and less theoretical studying.
Once more the social structure and the ways social life is organized prove that although people have come a long way since the first time they looked towards progress, there are still lots of social beliefs which go back in time and cannot easily change.