Synopticon

Synopticon is concept that opposed to panopticon. Panopticon means few powers overlook the people. But synopticon means the people overlook powers. It can be possible cause of developing of media.

Through the development of information society, panopticon turns to synopticon. Internet locates in important position of synopticon. Internet make people communicate with unspecific, complain illegality and corruption, and combine opinion about major social issues. In internet world, we are so anonymous that do not study the pleasure of powers. If we are not anonymous in internet, synopticon will be panopticon.

Another cause is the position of the people in internet. Few decades ago, people are consumer of data. Only media tell us social issues and we just accept that data. But media could be controlled by powers, so people hardly keep an eye on them. But, nowadays, we can easily make data and share that. SNS such as Facebook or Tweeter is example.

If there is a demonstration and powers make media silence, we can get information about that on media. But If someone post on Facebook and people share them, powers can't silence people.

The Function of Sports

Sports have many function. Not only development of physical, but social function. The function is divided into two view point-functionalism and conflict theory.

View point of Functionalism
Few days ago, Brazil world-cup was opened. When world-cup is started, the people has integrated. For example, in 2002 World-cup, We cheer for their national teams and celebrated victory and nobody care about stranger. In this period, we were just same soccer fan.

And in world-cup, All country become equal. every country get same chance, play on same ground and rules. Also It doesn't matter the international problem between tow country such as North Korea and South Korea. We don't consider about player's ethnic, nationality or even whether he is Gay or not. Think about these effect, we can regard sports as medium of peace.

View point of Conflict theory
In this view point, the role of sports is anesthetic. As mass media emphasize the exciting effect, we are insensible about social issues. For example, during the 2002 world-cup, there was as engagement which outbreak between South and North Korea in Yellow Sea. Six soldiers was killed in action. But at that time, we are watching world-cup game which determine third or fourth place. Most of all don't care about Yellow Sea and the victim to his post of duty has been forgotten.
Not only this example, many leadership class abuse sports.

Demography

Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It includes the study of the size, structure, and distributions of different populations and changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death. It also includes the analysis of the relationships between economic, social, cultural, and biological process influencing a population.

Examples of topics studied include trends in population growth and how it is shaped by the components of fertility, mortality, and migration

Demography is widely used for various purposes and can encompass small, targeted populations or mass populations. Governments use demography for political observations, scientists use demography for research purposes, and businesses use demography for the purpose of advertising.

Actuarial science refers to the unique blend of several different fields of study; it serves the purpose of providing quantifiable guidelines for business decisions involving risk evaluation.

[Extra Credit]Global Warming

Climate change affect society, health and communities in diverse ways. Scientists warn that if we do not aggressively curb climate change now, the results will likely be disastrous.

Climate change is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance. Carbon dioxide and other gasses or decreasing ozone layer is cause of global warming. But each year scientists learn more about how climate change is affecting the planet and our communities, and most agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue.

In addition to impacting our water resources, energy supply, transportation, agriculture, and ecosystems, the many scientists concludes that climate change also poses unique challenges to human health

Global warming evoke natural disaster like super hurricane, or flood e.t.c. Not only that, but global bring huge swarm of mosquitoes or other insect. Through the deteriorating of global warming, air is polluted and ozone layer is seriously destroyed. It can bring allergy or other a respiratory disease.

Here's the good news. Technologies exist today to make cars that run cleaner and burn less gas, modernize power plants and generate electricity from nonpolluting sources, and cut our electricity use through energy efficiency. The challenge is to be sure these solutions are put to use.

SNS

With the huge number of people who are involved nowadays with social networks, it is very interesting to note how they are influenced by each other in many different ways. Human beings need to network. It is one of the major sources of happiness and fulfillment and the more they interact, the more satisfied they are going to feel.

When people engage in social networking, there is no doubt that they start to have a tremendous impact on each other and the discussions that come out of the networking experiences very often affect the decisions that they make in life and in business. It is very important for people to recognize and appreciate how much other people influence them and how much that enriches their own experience. It has been proven that conscious and subconscious behaviors dramatically increase when people are involved thorugh social networking.
Because humans are emotionally dependent on each other, many people will share qualities, both positive and negative.

There are often times that one wonders how social media became so popular and why so many people have shown such an interest in it. First of all, it is critical to understand that human relationships are at the heart of social media’s success. By no means does this discount how important the technological aspect is. Without technology, there would be no social media to begin with. One of the biggest reasons for the success of social media is accessibility to people at incredible speeds.

The interactivity of social media is what relates to human nature. The sociological characteristics of social media can be credited with its own progress. Human beings' influence on each other is a part of the phenomenon that is inevitable. People make choices in life in large part due to what other people do and say.

[Extra Credit] Election

Electon is a way to make a decision of masses or select representatives in modern democracies. Most election is go through the vote.  As the elections were considered an oligarchic institution and most political offices were filled using sortition, also known as allotment, by which officeholders were chosen by lot.

Elections were used as early in history as ancient Greece and ancient Rome, and throughout the Medieval period to select rulers such as the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope. After 17C, Election was taken for granteed by appearance of representative

We have several rule for fair electoins.

a universal suffrage
Universal suffrage means "Everyone has the right to vote in a certain age."

a equal election
Equal election means "Every vote has same value."
Regardless of anything, our vote can get equal worth.

a direct election
Direct election means "We should vote by ourselves."
Nobody can exert vote of other suffrage. And nobody can interpretate meaning of vote.

secret voting
Secret voting ensures that all votes are cast in secret

[Extra Credit] Mass Media

Mass media is a significant force in modern culture, particularly in America. Sociologists refer to this as a mediated culture where media reflects and creates the culture.

Communities and individuals are bombarded constantly with messages from a multitude of sources including TV, billboards, and magazines, to name a few. These messages promote not only products, but moods, attitudes, and a sense of what is and is not important.

Mass media makes possible the concept of celebrity: without the ability of movies, magazines, and news media to reach across thousands of miles, people could not become famous.

In fact, only political and business leaders, as well as the few notorious outlaws, were famous in the past. Only in recent times have actors, singers, and other social elites become celebrities or “stars.”

Legislatures, media executives, local school officials, and sociologists have all debated this controversial question. While opinions vary as to the extent and type of influence the mass media wields, all sides agree that mass media is a permanent part of modern culture. Three main sociological perspectives on the role of media exist: the limited‐effects theory, the class‐dominant theory, and the culturalist theory.

[EXTRA CREDIT] WELLFARE

welfare, sociology of welfare Welfare is the state or condition of doing or being well. The term is primarily invoked when some action is considered necessary in order to enhance individual or group welfare—that is when welfare is in some way in doubt. It is, consequently, a term employed first and foremost in the arena of policy, and is intimately linked to the concept of needs, since it is by meeting needs that welfare is enhanced: welfare policies are policies designed to meet individual or group needs. The needs at issue are not merely those necessary for survival, but those necessary for a reasonable or adequate life within the society.

They include not only a minimum level of income for food and clothing, but also adequate housing, education, health care, and opportunities for employment (though this is not always included). Precisely how and to what extent these needs are met clearly varies from society to society.

During the twentieth century, the role of the state in meeting welfare needs in advanced industrial societies has typically increased. However, over the past decade or more there has been some retrenchment in state welfare in a range of Western societies, with an increasing privatization of welfare services, and support for private provision dependent on the ability to pay, rather than upon need.

Family

Marriage

The married couple produces children. Some sociologists now dispute the degree to which this idealized arrangement has and does reflect the true structure of families in American society. Some sociologists now dispute the degree to which this idealized arrangement has and does reflect the true structure of families.

Yet Coontz argues in Marriage, recently, marriages have become increasingly unstable in the United States as individuals have begun to seek unions for the ideals of love and affection rather than social or economic expediency. This transition has blurred the division of labor within the breadwinner-homemaker model, such that maintenance of the household and childcare, called the “second shift,” are now topics for debate between marital partners.

Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in The Second Shift that despite changes in perceptions of the purpose of marriage and the economic foundations for marriage, women continue to do the bulk of care work to the detriment of the American family.

Hochschild illustrates the ways in which an unequal division of the second shift undermines family welfare by reducing marital equality and spousal satisfaction.

Social Movements

Social movements are a type of group action. While technology,environment factors, racial inequality and many social component can prompt social change. Only when members of a society organize into social movements does true social change occur. The phrase social movements refers to collective activities designed to bring about or resist primary changes in an existing society or group.

Relative deprivation theory

When members of a society become dissatisfied or frustrated with their social, economic, and political situation, they yearn for changes. Social scientists have long noted that the actual conditions that people live under may not be at fault, but people's perceptions of their conditions are. Relative deprivation refers to the negative perception that differences exist between wants and actualities. In other words, people may not actually be deprived when they believe they are. A relatively deprived group is disgruntled because they feel less entitled or privileged than a particular reference group. For example, a middle class family may feel relatively deprived when they compare their house to that of their upper class physician.

The relative deprivation theory takes criticism for several reason. First, some sociologists say that feelings of deprivation do not necessarily prompt people into acting. Nor must people feel deprived before acting. Second, this theory does not address why perceptions of personal or group deprivation cause some people to reform society, and why other perceptions do not.

Social Theory/Conflict Theory

Conflict Theory

Proponents of conflict theory argue that society is unstable cause of tension and conflicts. So, they take a serious view of fluctuation. Conflict Theory came from refutation of functional theory which think each parts of society have each fuctions. They criticize that functonal theory view the society too idealistic.

Proponents of conflict theory take conflict for granted. Furdermore, coflicts are regarded as important component of society. They think that sociey always has conflict, and we can advance through that.

According to this theory, uppers of society monopolize power and oppress the masses. Social problem caused by oppress and exploit of uppers. Each parts of society are competitive rather than cooperative.

There are two famous conflict theorist Ralf Dahrendorf and Lewis Coser. Dahrendorf think society always has conflict, and this conflict derive social change. Conflict between group formed by the authority relationship is the basic cause of social problem.

Coser explain conflict in structural functionalism. He argue that conflict in society reunite social structure. Finally, social inequality is solved and restore social order

However, conflict theory has been criticized because they can't watch society at large. And they can't suggest solutions which can solve social social conflict

Introduction to Sociology/Gender

Gender vs. Sex

Gender and Sex has similar meaning. But There is subtle distinction between two word. While sex has biological meaning, gender has social meaning. This difference prevent confuse which are between social and biological aspect. Sex can be defined by chromosomes. And gender are constructed by inner feeling or social concept.

Sex

Many species of living things are divided into male and female. In this sentence, male and female have biological meaning. We can call these sex.
Male has XY chromosomes and female has XX chromosomes. The goal of sex is sexual reproduction for life cycle. For survival of species, living things want to pass down dominant genetic trait. That is role of sex.

Gender

Gender is constructed meaning. In society, people think about component of human sexuality. As the think become fixed idea, they construct gender. If father and mother give birth to baby, that has sexual meaning. If father earn money and mother take care of household affairs, that has gender meaning. These called gender role. Traditionally, feminine characteristic is regarded as submissive, dependent, emotional, receptive, intuitive, timid, passive and sensitive. The other way, masculine characteristic is regarded as dominant, independent, rational, assertive, analytic, brave, active, insensitive. Many people expect male or female to act through gender role or gender characteristics.

I think gender role or gender characteristics can be component of discrimination. For example, when people think about nurse, it come as feminine job. More over, traditionally, female has restriction in political world. According to old saying, it goes ill with the house where the hen sings and the cock is silent. Or It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock. That means female should not attend politics or female should obey to male. It can show traditional gender suppression.

Nowadays, male can be female through surgery. It called transgender.
Can we accept them as female in gender meaning?

Introduction to Sociology/Stratification

Intersections of Class, Race, and Gender

Summary

Economic class has a strong influence on privileges, opportunities, and the inequalities. We can watch these from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Though the storm hit all class equally, all were affected unequally. While lower class suffer shortage and heavy damage, upper class has credit card and bank accounts for emergency hotels and supplies. They can get insurance policies for rebuilding.

In statistics data from Titanic accident in 1912 show this tendency, too. 60% of first class passengers survived and only one child was dead. Contrastively, 24% of third class passengers survived and 49 children were dead. The lower class in U.S. and world are vulnerable to disease.

My opinion

Under capitalism,  money has strong influence through the world at large. So, Someone's wealth show his power and importance for world. I think the wealth get many opportunity or guarantee is natural in capitalism. But genuine  capitalism has many problem. Every human has human rights, and capitalism can ignore this rights,  So government should protect  people from disease and guarantee  the life of minimum as human. 

These two should be in harmony.

Introduction to Sociology/Deviance

Introduction_to_Sociology/Deviance

Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms. There is formal and informal deviance. Formal deviance is against the law and informal deviance is against custom. Informal deviance can be various depending on culture. There is an example. One Korean new recruit work overtime at night in France company. His boss stop from working, and he said our company derive benefit. His boss argue that he spoil the company's atmosphere. In North Korea, The man is good worker. But, In France, he is a nuisance.

In sociology, there is many theory that explain deviance, and I have interesting in Labeling Theory. Labeling Theory need two factor.

1. A deviant label is applied to them
2. They adopt the label by exhibiting the behaviors, actions, and attitudes associated with the label

Labeling can be positive and negative, and Deviance labels are negative things, like liar or offender.

If someone is labeled, two phenomena has occurred. First is re-casting of past behavior. An offender who leave school is re-caste as problem child. On the other way, A succeeded man who leave school like Thomas Edison in re-caste as extraordinary child.

The other phenomena is stigma. If someone is socially labeled once, he prone to be appraised by label regardless of current behavior. For example, once Idol group evoke criticism, they hardly become popular again.

Introduction to Sociology/Socialization

Socialization is kind of education which make human adapt to society.

In this process, human learn function for social life.

According to Arnett, socialization has three goals.

First, learning self-control. To living in society, human should have

thoughtful. If people can't control impulse, they can't mingle each

other. So, to keep social stability, human need socialization.

Second, learning the role. Member of society has role of each part.

Depending on position, people have multiple role. For example, Obama has

role as father, husband, president of U.S.A and more.

Third, learning judgment. If Social member can't judge what is the more

important between two opposing value, society become disarray. If some

businessman think his profit is more important than environment, his

company may main cause of environmental disruption.

Socialization is different depending on culture. But this doesn't mean

socialization of some culture is right and some socialization is wrong

or some is better than other. As previously stated, socialization is

depending on culture. To adapt to culture, each socialization is

suitable for each culture. For instance, in almost country, spitting

other's face is offensive action. Constructively, In Masai, spitting

means expressing of delight.

There is gap between biologically determined VS learned behavior. Human

can socialize like 'defying one's elder rudely is bad.' And 'don't be

bad boy' is innate factor. Difference between innate and socialized

factor is vague. So belief which some factor is innate can reverse.

There is interesting study which show good example of reversibility.

Some sociologist argue that cooperation is biologically determined

behavior. Cooperation make group more safe and profitable to survive. So

, evolutionary, human has instinct to co-operate with other people.

Introduction to Sociology/Politics

Power, Authority, and Violence

Power

Power has several meaning. In political area power means the rights to distribute public resources, including labor, and wealth. Political power are not only held by head of state, but also other groups like insurgency, terrorist group, or multinational corporation. Societal influence of these groups relates to how much they possesses the power. Then Regardless of whether they have resistance or not, power means the ability to influence behavior of others.

Authority

Authority and power have similar meaning, but there are some differences. The differences are legitimacy, justification and right to exercise power. 'Someone has authority' means 'Someone can let other do something or contribute public resources, and it is accepted by law and public.' For example, armed groups have power, but they don't have authority.

Max Weber identified and distinguished three types of legitimate authority.

The first type is Rational-legal authority. It means constitution guarantee the authority. This type is important in modern society because power of the states come from legal-rational authority.

The second type is Traditional authority. This authority is established by customs, habits and social structures for long time. If power passes down to next generation, the power become traditional authority.

The third type is Charismatic authority. This authority depends on individual's charisma. If someone has leadership and many people follow him, we can say that he has charismatic authority. Many reader of social movement like Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King is an example.

Violence

Someone use violence means he let other follow his purpose by using physical power. Sometimes, citizen refuse dictate of government. Then, they can use violence, basing on rational-legal authority. Police or military is part of government's violence. If governments don't have the right to use violence, their authority can be threaten.

Introduction to Sociology/Economy

Criticisms of Capitalism

Capitalism is economic and social system in which economic and social are become operational by individual. Capitalism is faithful to competition and economic principle and market spontaneously determines most economic factors like cost, demand and supply. So it looks like reasonable.

But, as competition become severe, many side effects has emerged. The emblematic phenomenon is that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger. People who have money get power, and the power make capitalist richer. Consequentially, in capitalism, most part of capital was concentrated in small capitalist. When laissez-faire laws are combined with capitalist private property, oligopolistic is an inevitable consequence.

To solve this contradictions, many sociologist argue that economic system should be controlled through public policy. Cladimir Lenin said that to protect domestic economy, the country can use military power. Branko Horvat said that concentration of capital, employment and power lead to destruction of economic freedom. And many other socialist and economist are cautious about inequalities of economic factors. Some environmentalists worry about consumptive economic growth. Natural resources of the earth is limited. So , someday, they think resources would be run out.

Proponents of capitalism contradict these criticism. They argue that capitalism increases GDP and it leads to improve standards of living.

Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Ethnocentrism and cultural Relativism are perspective to understand own and other culture. The two concept take quite different position in how can we see culture.

Ethnocentrism come from social evolution which some culture have superiority. Who take this attitude have tendency to understand own and other culture in his own cultural context. So they  believe their own culture is more important than others.
The problem of ethnocentrism makes some culture be isolated.In high ethnocentric society, citizen think their culture is so good that they doesn't need to accept other culture. They exclude other culture and there'll be no progress.
The positive aspect of ethnocentrism is making internal comradeship strong. When Korea is under Japanese rule, there are many movement to increase social bond. Literary movement, studying history or Korean language etc. are example of ethnocentric movement. So, more or less, every race or ethnic group has ethnocentrism.

Cultural relativism is attitude that every culture has own values and we never fully translate or understand into other social context or languages. If someone want to get fully comprehend, they should watch the culture or languages into its cultural context where the culture or languages are used.
cultural relativism try to understand other culture and find its own value. So, sometimes, they uncritically evaluate the culture which against humanity. For example, Some culture relativist can argue that cannibalism is just one kind of culture, and it acceptable in its cultural context.

Introduction to Sociology/Sociological Methods

Quantitative and Qualitative

Many sociological investigator can use Quantitative and Qualitative method or both of them. Someone who use quantitative methods split people according to the criteria. (The criteria can be Income, Fame, Authority etc.) And quantitative sociologists collect data from each groups and analyze them.
Example of quantitative methods are experimental designs, surveys, secondary data analysis, and statistical analysis.

One of other way to get data is Qualitative methods. Sociologist who want to get deeper verstehen about social phenomena or relationship between variables use qualitative methods. To reach a depth in analysis, Sociologist often give up on quantitative methods.
Example of qualitative methods is participant observation, interviews, focus groups, content analysis and historical comparison.

There are sociologists who use only one methods, but many sociologists combine both methods. Because quantitative methods is used to get statistical data, and the other is used to get depth understanding about social phenomena. And sociologist need both of them.



Both methods is important but I think data from qualitative methods is more valuable. In science, quantitative methods have exactness. Nature is always show similar result. They are less affected by variables than society. Nowadays, in contrary, society has become more complicated and has too may variables. Also society changes more and more fast. So data gotten by quantitative methods can be meaningless easily.



As noted previously, I think quantitative methods can be affected by variables easily. But, to apply data to studies, sociologist should remove variables. I wonder how they can do that.