DISCUSSION BOARD UNIT 2.LIFE CHANCES
Yazmin Grey PhD
uniiiit_2.docxRunning head: SOCIOLOGY
LIFE CHANCES
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Unit 2
Required Discussion Board assignment.
· Explain how an individual's ascribed social class position at birth may affect what Max Weber called life chances, or the ability of an individual to attain the following "good things" that a society values:
Good health care
People who belong to the lower social class tend to have limited access to health care. The amount of money one has determines the kind of health service you are to receive in a class system whether you are an African or any other origin.
Longevity
People in high class enjoy the best health care and the best luxuries. Poor families have little to spend hence feast on poor diet leading to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. These diseases are killing thousands and this will mean more people in the lower class are likely to live shorter compared to a well to do class.
A good job
Social classes into which a child is born gives him the opportunity to become what he/she wishes to be. People born in a farming family will work hard to own their own farms and those born in celebrity families will work hard to become award winning actors .the poor back ground hinders people from accessing information and hindrance from connections with those top in the society.(In Carlson, & In England, 2011).
Security
Poor families are mostly found either in the countryside or around major cities where the live in shanty homes. These areas are known to have insecurity due to the high unemployment rate that lead people into ways such as drug trafficking and robbery. Those of high class live in the best homes with adequate security thus living in harmony
Status
The Americans have social status which determines ones social class on birth. This class proves how people will view one in a given class. Those born in high profile class are treated with awe and regarded as celebrities. They may have done nothing of recognition but their being born in a high class family brings them celebrity status. Children born in low class people are never recognized. They depend on the upper class individuals to get a position in threat status. Doing unique deeds may steer these low status individuals to celebrity status. (Sternheimer, 2011).
Wealth
Child born in wealthy families are seen as lucky and of high class in the society. Children born in poor families (low class) face hardships and there are little chances that they will make to earn wealth in the future. Only when opportunities strike and they use them to the maximum they can manage to accumulate wealth. (In Carlson, & In England, 2011).
Power
High social class individuals are viewed as powerful and this gives children born in these classes hold powerful positions in the society. Those born in lower class never have the opportunity to earn positions in society. The well to do child has financial support needed to steer him to these powerful positions. These positions help them acquire more wealth or protect the already inherited wealth. Those in low class have nothing to support them thus remain low in society. Prestige
The position one holds in society determines their prestige. High class children enjoy the best luxuries things there are in that state. They drive or driven in the best cars, eat the best foods, live in the most luxuries home. Those low in society have nothing of prestige. The only pride they have is when they acquire little things in their life. The high in society have access to these prestigious commodities which the low class can’t acquire. . (Sternheimer, 2011). Describe how life chances may affect an individual's life goals (positive or negative).
Life chances may impact an individual’s life positively or negatively. These chances can impact positive goals in that if one is able to attain what he/she has been aspiring to get motivates him to live the life of his dream. People low in the society may work their way out of low class by working hard in their studies. This can make them competitive in high profile jobs making them acquire the best jobs and their talent and skill put into use. High profile individuals may use their power and finances to get to whichever position they want for them to live the kind of life they aspire to live. They can add more wealth and become even more powerful than their predecessors. (Fabian, 2005).
These chances can also impact negatively on an individual’s life. People in poverty stricken family may never get the best education needed to compete for top jobs in the society and this leaves him with no other opportunity but to work on the low jibs that fetch low hence remaining in the poverty class all his lifetime. Some high profile families may have no worries in carrying on with their lives, spending as much as they wish and in the long run end up bankrupt. This is due to lack of goals in life and a way of acquiring more to keep the image of that family. (Dahrendorf, 1979).
In what ways may life chances be irrelevant?
Life chances tend to be irrelevant in the case where caste or class system never plays a role in people’s lives. This gives members of the society equal opportunities in the assessment of the available recourses and from them they can change their lives. The opportunities stricken and the accumulated benefits are then shared among the members of that community.( (Fabian, 2005).
Give examples of how the concept of life chances operates in the following systems:
· A caste system
Educational backward members in a caste community or concentrated at the lower end of a job is as a result of the system (caste system) denies members from acquiring education. These groups are very important to the high ranked in the society as they provide economic advantage to them. Even when these people acquire the same education and are ranked well in the occupational hierarchy, life chances at most times are not level as those high in the society.
· A class system
United States system allows for social class where people of certain class live in different areas. Chances are there (not like the caste system) for one to better his life from a low ranked class to join the high class members of the society. This only requires effort and how one utilizes the opportunities that are available. Better education is known to have changed the lives of so many individuals from low class to high class on landing big jobs. Talent (in music or sports) too is another factor that has contributed to people getting from rags to riches thus enjoys high class status. (In Carlson, & In England, 2011).
· A one-party, Communist system (such as China)
In communist system, classes do not exist .Communist system( China) does not allow for classes and this gives all members equal opportunities to better their lives as there are no hindrances as bin the caste system. The China government provides all its citizens with equal opportunities such as health and education.
References.
Dahrendorf, R. (1979). Life chances: Approaches to social and political theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fabian Society (Great Britain). (2005). Why life chances matter. London: Fabian Society.
In Carlson, M. J., & In England, P. (2011). Social class and changing families in an unequal America. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Sternheimer, K. (2011). Celebrity culture and the American dream: Stardom and social mobility. New York: Routledge.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2013/10/11-improving-childrens-life-chances-sawhill-grannis
http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_socialprob_sprsite_1/49/12567/3217238.cw/content/index.html
http://www.brooklynsoc.org/courses/43.1/weber.html
SOCIOLOGY
NAME:
COURSE:
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Unit 4
Required Discussion Board assignment.
For assistance with your assignment, please use your text, Web resources, and all course materials. Please refer to the following multimedia course material(s):
Answer the following questions regarding social change:
· How do you think life in the United States will change in the next 10 years?
· How might the Internet be involved in the changes?
· How do you think sociologists might use the Internet to study life in the United States? Name 3 specific ways.
The next ten years in the United States will be marked with dramatic changes which would be faster than the previous years. The population is expected to rise with the percentage of the older people expected to go up this may force some people to work at a late age as 65 years or even 70years.Immigration in the US is also expected to go up which will affect sectors such as social security and health care creating a “huge cleavage”. (Butler, Grossman, & Oberlink, 1999)
The economy is also expected to face some new challenges as there is an expectation of job growth weakening as more of the jobs will be automated and more jobs moved overseas. Manufacturing jobs will be lost but newer jobs are expected to be created. Consumer spending is also focused to increase yearly. Inadequate jobs would put the population into negative activities such as drug trafficking, robbery and other activities that will dent the society.( (Butler, Grossman, & Oberlink, 1999)
Education is changing at a fast rate and students will be taking their studies online, this will enable students to get more content from the different libraries. Assessment and testing will be more sophisticated as systems that can detect the knowledge and skills of individual students are under development. This will erase the mode of learning where students are in direct contact with the teacher. Direct relationship between teachers and student enables teachers to correct and inflict social morals as the teacher spends more time with a student noting the weaknesses in terms of academics and social life as most American parents spend most of their time at work.
Robots will be serving as humans taking all the house hold chores and other activities. This would make more lazy generation hence diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension will be prevalent in the large population. (Diseases associated mostly with less physical activity). This would give the young generation more time to be on the internet and TVs. The internet is known to have lots of explicit materials and this could damage the society if there are no checks on the different explicit sites. (Epstein, & Kalleberg, 2004).
The next ten years will see the use of the internet as a platform of communication by use of social networks and emails that offer less friction in their creation, enhancement, and rediscovering the social ties making changes in people lives. The use of the internet will lower traditional communication barriers of time, cost, and geography and with its openness; it will allow people to share more bringing people together. This will help unite the Americans more. (Sutherland, & Feltey, 2010).
Some of the methods a sociologist can use the internet to study the social life of the Americans can be the use of online questionnaires, through network analysis and through statistical demographics.
References
Butler, R. N., Grossman, L. K., & Oberlink, M. R. (1999). Life in an older America. New York: Century Foundation.
Epstein, C. F., & Kalleberg, A. L. (2004). Fighting for time: Shifting boundaries of work and social life. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Sutherland, J.-A., & Feltey, K. (2010). Cinematic sociology: Social life in film. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
http://www.futurecommunities.net/socialdesign/191/opportunities-build-social-networks
