Author: Andre Coleman

In early 19th century, number of theories of sociology came forward. There are many known sociologists who established these theories. For the study of social perspective of corruption in the society of Japan, different areas need to be explored, as corruption does not prevail in one area, it covers the masses and continues to grow in the environment when there is existence of social classes. Emergence of corruption in Japan has a great effect from the political, social and economical condition of the society. Corruption in a society prevails by societal culture and structure. Corruption in the form of bribes and power, directly and in directly present in all the departments and area of not only in Japan, but in other developed and developing countries also. It originates due to the self-interest, ravenousness, materialism, egotism, and cruelty among the members of different social classes. For the study and analysis of corruption, the growth of society, type of life, behavior of people, relationships of people in the society, customs and tradition should be considered as the factors. The sociological perspective covers the areas of development of social life, social relationships of individuals, groups and institutions. There are many theories regarding the sociology of the society.

For the study of Corruption through sociological theories two theories by Karl Marx (1818-1883), socialism and conflict theory (Martindale, 1960) and C. Wright Mills (1916-1961), Power Elite Conflict Theory explains the societal corruption (Kendall, 2000).

Karl Marx Theory

One of the classical sociological theorists of the 19th and 20th century was Karl Marx. He explained through his theory that human cultural values are important for a society. He explains that power and money shapes the social structure through developing the struggle among the classes to attain the best. According to his believe the urge of attaining wealth and power not only bring a negative aspect of society but the positive side also emerges only if the class’s difference of upper and lower is put on an end and if there are equality and inclusiveness in the society. He laid importance that the materialism and power make the differences in the society, these differences than come out in the form of urge and availing the right and wrong opportunities by the people. He showed materialistic view of the history that people earn for food, shelter, home, and clothing and works for their living. This struggle shapes up the social structure of the society by creating the labors and owners. These two divisions of people create the differences as the owners gain profit but pay less to the labor than the worth of the work, which leads to exploitation of the society. This exploitation further brings political domination creating classes in power who are economically strong and so gain the power of controlling the country (Campbell, 981).

C. Wright Mills theory

According to the American Sociologist, C Wright Mills, “People who have lots of power, are in position to make decision having major consequences” (Stephens, Leach, Jones & Taggart, 1998). He is considered as the conflict theory founder. According to his theory the social structure, come into form by the negotiation and struggle of people belonging to different areas, thinking, ideas and interest. These people with their power and resources shape up the society. He explains that the personal troubles and issues also have impact on the society structure and economic power is not the only thing, which brings conflict in society. According to him, a good society can come into existence by erasing the difference of power full and powerless people and by bringing equality among the people (Kendall, 2000).

Japan Social Structure

Modern Japan can be distinguished in six social classes. These social classes are, “I. Imperial Family, II. Nobility, III. Upper Middle Class, IV. Lower Middle Class, V. Industrial Proletariat, and VI. Peasants. The Emperors and relatives of them are included in the Imperial Family. The next group nobility can be divided into Kuge, Daimyo and the third one the New Nobility. In the twelfth century, Kuge comprises of the prominent families, hold positions in court, and were considered very respectable. The Damiyo group consists of duke’s descendants and are very powerful than the nobility, and today they are political leaders. The New Nobility is the descendants of Samuri, the warriors of the principality period. Now they are, general, industrialist and statesmen. The next class is Upper Middle class, which is further divided into gentlemen and top civil servants. The other classes after the upper middle class were lower middle class, Proletariat, Peasants lower in ranks and economically not strong as other classes (Levy, 2000).

The presence of social classes in Japan is one of the factors for the existence of corruption. By analyzing the social structure of Japan according to the sociological theories, the division of a society into classes gives origin to bribery, power, and greediness for attaining the best than others. According to UNAFEI, “Japan’s social structure and the environment surrounding government employees contain many factors that could be seen as hotbed for corruption. In Japan, investigating authorities are under great pressure to expose corrupt practices by government employees, especially by office holders in the national government – high-ranking government officials and members of the Diet”.

According to a field report Karan and Gilbreath explain the environment of Japans society as follows, “Airin is one of the highest -crime districts in Japan”. The residents of the district say, “Police are making money off the crimes they are supposed to control”. There is gang crime in different part of the country, which is not controlled by the police, and some of the gang groups do investments in stocks and run companies.

Conclusion

These two sociological theories of Karl and Wills explains that the economic and political conditions are not only the factors which affects the society but the existence of social classes and power distribution among the people in social classes creates and help corruption to grow in a country like Japan.

Dowry has been an integral aspect of traditional arranged Hindu marriage. Over hundreds of years the dowry term has evolved from the ceremonial and voluntary gift giving to the bride’s family in a form of monetary extortion demanded by the groom’s family. Tradition dowry means denoted gifts of kanyatana such as precious itens like expensive cloths give to both the bide and groom’s family during the time of marriage The practice was derived from the high cultural and spiritual merit accorded to gift givers and gift giving in the Vedas and other Hindu literature. Dowry was originally used as a means to both sanctify material wealth and enhance social status in marriage. In modern sense dowry has reflect a change in the system such that the presentation of gifts no longer remains a voluntary process. In Indo pak bride’s families are often compelled to provide dowry in the name of gift giving and evaluated in terms of total cash value.Groom’s family have a high socioeconomic status so they demand the dowry. The modern practice of dowry is characterized by a shift from voluntary to forced gift giving as well as the primary role of the groom’s family in determining the demand for gifts from the bride’s family. It is understood that the term dowry is a broad reference to the totality of assets transferred from the bride’s family to the groom’s at the time of a marriage. The transfers of dowry is characterize by three steps: which is First the property transfer to the bride, Second, there are those gifts that continue to be part of the ceremonial aspect of the marriage and symbolize union between the two families. These would be matched by reciprocal gifts of equal value from the groom’s family. Thirdly there are those assets that can be called “marriage payments” An economically it is this final aspect that constitutes the actual significant economic cost of dowry for a bride’s family, and is perhaps the most costly among the three aspects of the dowry

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is riddled by contrasts in almost every sector. It is characterized by a selective male friendly interpretation of the prominent religion Islam and elitist friendly application of laws. Being a part of the patriarchal belt of South Asia, the culture, family and society is patriarchal. Although recent entry of “elected’ women representatives in the parliament and local bodies are being used as an instrument to make believe that women are empowered in Pakistan, the fact is that empowerment ( social, economic, political and legal) for most of the Pakistani women and disadvantaged communities in Pakistan is yet a distant dream.

However, a number of efforts are underway to promote participation of women in all areas of development. There is also a growing attention by the current government to gender issues including violence that experienced political marginalization in previous democratic as well as military regimes. The visible outcome of such efforts which to date are limited to candid media, generous discourse and ceremonial gestures has yet to come. The country, today, like most other countries round the globe is facing the phenomenon of gender based violence. In the recent years, whenever and wherever, one speaks of gender violence and Pakistan or Pakistani communities outside Pakistan; one cannot recall any other form of violence but Honor Killing or the plight of Mukhtaran Mai. Media, especially western media have created hype on these. The net result of these associations is the convenient forgetfulness, by the Governments, Media, NGOs and other stake holders of the commonest form of gender violence in Pakistani; that is Dowry violence. Dowry violence is a culturally accepted; media generated and legally sanctioned form of violence, yet to be recognized as the most pertinent Pakistani gender issue by development activists in Pakistan. Pakistani Muslims have embraced the dowry system as a tradition and cultural practice due to the Indianization of Islam in the subcontinent. While working with Christian Youth in the slums of Islamabad that there was exposed to the fact that the curse of dowry has plagued this community and class as well and interestingly they owe this influence to their Muslim friends and neighbours.Despite 59 years of independence there is no sign and signal of discarding this system which over the years has graduated from a custom to an institution. Dowry is no longer a set of gift items meant for contributing towards a convenient start of the practical life of a newly married couple. Lavish and loud marriages, designers’ items studded bride, bridegroom and other family members, many course meals etc. all stand for the dowry system .In a country where a vast majority of population lives below poverty line and is devoid of basic human needs like water, sanitation, electricity. Health and education the growing trend of such Exhibiting Marriages is adding to the miseries of the not so privileged and creation of the lesser God. Dowry System causes a number of psychological and emotional traumas and ethical challenges by causing delayed marriages, marriage with inept person/elderly person, threats, taunts and torture of greedy in-laws and husband, and financial crises. In some parts of Pakistan, girls are wed with Quran so that family wealth and property can be safeguarded. It is almost imperative for Pakistani women as sisters to give up their inheritance rights in favor of their brothers. Dowry and expenses on marriage are frequently used explanations for the denial of right of inheritance to women. There are certain tribes and clans in the province of NWFP and Baluchistan where boys have to pay for the bride. If they cannot pay the right Bridal Price they cannot get married. This practice itself qualifies as a separate research entity. On the other hand the Bride who is sold is treated as a property and is entitled to be sold further. An interesting and innovative response to the question of limiting marriage expenses that has come from some welfare oriented Pakistani NGOs and welfare wings of certain Religious groups and public departments in the recent years is the phenomenon of Mass Weddings. There is no doubts in the good faith of the planners and implementers of such weddings It cannot endorse this kind of way out. This solution besides carrying transparency issues (for instance how the eligible couples are selected, what is the actual expense etc.) and compromises on the individual self esteem are in fact endorsing the custom and institution of dowry (Rakhshinda, 2006)

Keeping in mind these points the present study will be conducted to investigate the following objectives.

To check the role of dowry in the success or failure of marital adjustment.
To study the perception of women towards the dowry practices.
To give possible suggestions for the solution of this problem.
V. REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Bloch and Rao (2001) Estimated how domestic violence may be used as an instrument to extract larger transfers from a spouse’s family. It is based on a case-study of three villages in Southern India, that combines qualitative and survey data. Based on the ethnographic evidence, they develop a non-cooperative bargaining and signaling model of dowries and domestic violence. The estimation from these models were tested with survey data. This study showed that women who payed smaller dowries suffer an increased risk of marital violence, as do women who come from richer families.

Maristella and Aloysius(2002) Showed that when married daughters leave their parents home and their married brothers do not, altruistic parents provide dowries for daughters and gifts for sons in order to meet a free riding problem between their married sons and daughters. The study has estimation on the form of the dowry contract, the exclusion of daughters from bequests, and the decline of dowries in previously dowry giving societies. These estimation are consistent with historical evidence from ancient Near Eastern civilizations, ancient Greece, Roman and Byzantine empires, western Europe from 500 to 1500 AD, the Jews from antiquity to the Middle Ages, Arab Islam from 650 AD to modern times, China, Japan, medieval and Renaissance Tuscany, early-modern England, modern Brazil, North America, and contemporary India

Terilt (2002) argued that marriages in traditional societies often include a transfer between the involved parties. In some societies, a transfer is made from the groom to the family of bride (a brideprice), while in others it goes from the bride to the groom (dowry). Researcher investigated whether differences in the type of marriages that are allowed can account for these observations The model has several other interesting implications that are in line with what is san in the data. Pologyny leads to a larger difference in age between husbands and wives, a younger marriage age for women, and higher fertility.

Siwan (2003) concluded that in contrast to most dowry-oriented societies in which payments have declined with modernization, those in India have undergone significant inflation over the last five decades. He explained the difference between these two experiences by focusing on the role played by caste. The theoretical model contrasts caste- and non-caste-based societies: in the former, there exists an inherited component to status (caste) that is independent of wealth, and in the latter, wealth is the primary determinant of caste. Modernization is assumed to involve two components: increasing average wealth and increasing wealth dispersion within caste groups. He further showed that, in caste based societies, the increases in wealth dispersion that accompany modernization necessarily lead to increases in dowry payments, whereas in non-caste-based societies, increased dispersion has no real effect on dowry payments and increasing average wealth causes the payments to decline.

Luciana et al (2004) estimated that in recent years, dowry levels have risen to previously unforeseen levels. Among Hindus in north India dowry can amount to three or four times a family’s total assets. Among Muslims in Bangladesh and Hindus in south India, dowry has become commonplace whereas the practice did not exist a generation ago. The institution of dowry has been widely criticized, socially maligned, and legally banned. Some recent economic writings suggest that dowry functions as a bequest or pre-mortem inheritance, implying it persists because it is “good for the bride.” Using panel data from an adolescent study in rural Bangladesh, he explored the association between dowry and the prevalence of domestic abuse to test the bequest theory of dowry. They found that, contrary to the prediction of the bequest theory, married females who paid dowry at marriage have a higher likelihood of reporting domestic violence compared to those who did not. In addition, the relation between dowry and abuse is highly level-specific: respondents who paid small dowries report much higher levels of abuse than those who paid large dowries. In fact, paying no dowry is just as protective, if not more so, in terms of preventing abuse as the largest dowry payments.

Anderson (2004) concluded that laws restricting dowries have existed in most societies where these transfers have occurred. Central to the policy debates is the actual role of the dowry payment. It is typically believed that intervention is required when dowries serve as a ‘price’ for marriage (“groom price”), but not when dowries are means of endowing daughters with some financial security (“pre-mortem inheritance”). He developed a simple matching model of marriage which integrates the two different roles for dowry. It is demonstrated that when modernization occurs, dowry payments can evolve from a pre-mortem inheritance into a groom price. The model generated implications which empirically distinguish the two different motives. The predictions are tested using recent data from Pakistan, where dowry legislation is currently an active policy issue. This investigation concludes that, in urban areas the payment is serving as a groom price, instead of the traditional pre-mortem inheritance to women. However, his study showed that this is not such a large concern in rural areas.

Geirbo and Imam (2006) concluded that much of what is written about dowry focuses on the harmful aspects. He argued that in order to target dowry as a social problem, we need to know more about why people continue the practice. It gives an overview of the transactions connected to wedding and divorce before it explores the motivations people have for giving and taking dowry. In the end, it is discussed how this rationality meets the rationality of the government and NGOs in the local interpretation and use of legislation and in the use of microcredit. Security is found to be the main motivation for giving dowry. A paid dowry gives a hope that the daughter will be treated well in her in-law’s house. Because dowry is connected to Mohr, it also gives a security in case of divorce. However, a paid dowry does not give women entitlements towards her in-laws, only a hope that they will treat her well. Also, women’s entitlement to Mohr depends on payment of dowry as well as her performance as a wife. Men, on the other hand, are perceived as having unquestioned entitlement to dowry. This imbalance is seen as being connected to a perception of women as being vulnerable to physical and social risk as well as representing a threat to their family and community. In conclusion it is recommended that instead of targeting dowry directly, advocacy efforts would gain from targeting the causes behind the motivations for giving and taking dowry. Reducing the risk factors that make married status and dowry crucial for women is a way to combat the practice. One way to do this is by implementing livelihood programmers for adolescent girls. Apart from this, the prevailing gender ideology has to be challenged systematically among both girls and boys from an early age. The monograph is based on qualitative research in Domar under Nilphamari district in Bangladesh.

Babur (2007) concluded that dowry system is another form of social and traditional practice whose consequences result direct violence of women. There is hardly any family in Pakistan un which this dowry system is not followed. Not a signal day passes without dowry death and torture women. News papers are full of stories torture of women who bring in sufficient dowry. Unable to bear the torched, some brides are forced to commit suicide and some are burnt alive under the cover of stove deaths, which is also called bride burning in which women are burn alive after being covered with kerosene oil.

Afzal (2007) estimated an equation explaining the determinates of dowry they address a very common socio economic problem for subcontinent, the problem of dowry from a social planer’s respective, whom wants to reduce overall dowry transfer, they consider the effect of change in a few relevant parameters like husband height, wife height wet land dry land, year of marriage and years of education, for woman and men on these decision. According to the various studies the dowry phenomenon is exist heavily in rural subcontinent, at the same time research related to the system is very rare. The aim of his study to estimate an equation explaining the determinant of dowry. Several interpretation of dowry is distinguished using a simple theoretical frame work and the prediction of this model are tested. Using the data provide them for this project is tested and reliable so that they will be able to draw their won testable relationships and determinant of dowry. His study suggested even though there are religious and cultural differences, the system of dowry in Pakistan appears to be for the same reason as in India. A theoretical frame work was developed that was inclusive of the required variable by testing through the multiple regression analyses and the experimental findings shows the independent variable use to test have an impact on dowry by applying multiple regression step wise method.

Arunachalamy and Loganz (2008) concluded that dowries have been modeled as pre-mortem bequests to daughters or as groom-prices paid to in-laws. These two classes of models yield mutually exclusive predictions, but empirical tests of these predictions have been mixed. We draw from historical evidence that suggests a bifurcated marriage market, in which some households use dowries as a bequest and others use dowries as a price. The competing theories of dowry allow us to structure an exogenous switching regression that places households in the price or bequest regime. The empirical strategy allows for multiple checks on the validity of regime assignment. Using retrospective marriage data from rural Bangladesh, we evidence of het- erogeneity in dowry motives; that bequest dowries have declined in prevalence and amount over time; and that bequest households are better o_ compared to price households on a variety of welfare measures.

Attila et al (2008) suggested that existing theoretical and empirical research on dowries has difficulty accounting for the large changes in dowry levels observed in many countries over the past few decades. To explain trends in dowry levels in Bangladesh, they draw attention to an institutional feature of marriage contracts previously ignored in the literature: the mehr or traditional Islamic bride price, which functions as a prenuptial agreement in Bangladesh due to the default practice of being only payable upon divorce. We develop a model of marriage contracts in which mehr serves as a barrier to husbands exiting marriage and a component of dowry is an amount that extant compensates the groom for the cost of mehr. The contracts are welfare-improving because they induce husbands to internalize the social costs of divorce for women. We investigate how mehr and dowry respond to exogenous changes in the costs of polygamy and divorce, and show that our model gives a different set of predictions than traditional models of dowry payments without contractible mehr. To test the model’s predictions empirically, we use data collected on marriage contracts between 1956 and 2004 from a large household survey from the Northwest region of the country, and make use of key changes in Muslim Family Law in 1961 and 1974. They showed that major changes in dowry levels took place precisely after the legal changes, corresponding to simultaneous changes in levels of mehr.

Sarwat and Imtiaz (2009) concluded that the focus of this study is to estimate an equation explaining the determinants of dowry. In this paper, they address a very common socio-economic problem for sub-continent, the problem of dowry. From a social planner’s perspective, who wants to reduce overall dowry transfers, they consider the effect of change in a few relevant parameters like husband height, wife height, wet land, dry land, years of marriage and years of education for women & men on these decisions. According to the various studies the dowry phenomenon is exist heavily in rural sub-continent, at the same time research related to this system is very rare. The aim of this study is to estimate an equation explaining the determinants of dowry. Several interpretations for dowry are distinguished using a simple theoretical framework and the predictions of this model are tested. Using the data provided us for this project is tested and reliable so that we will be able to draw our own testable relationships and determinants of dowry. The data will be use in the following sections for further analysis by estimating the determinants of dowry using multiple regression analysis. The study suggests that even though there are religious and cultural differences, the system of dowry in Pakistan appears to be for the same reasons as in India. A theoretical framework was developed that was inclusive of all the required variables by testing through the multiple regression analysis and the experimental findings shows the independent variable used to test have an impact on dowry by applying multiple regression step-wise method.

Laura et al (2009) concluded that significant amounts of wealth have been exchanged as part of marriage settlements throughout history. Although various models have been proposed for interpreting these practices, their development over time has not been investigated systematically. In this study they use a Bayesian MCMC phylogenetic comparative approach to reconstruct the evolution of two forms of wealth transfers at marriage, dowry and bride wealth, for 51 Indo-European cultural groups. Results indicate that dowry is more likely to have been the ancestral practice, and that a minimum of four changes to bride wealth is necessary to explain the observed distribution of the two states across the cultural groups.

Review of literature explained that a large number of women faced many dowry problems including that psychological, social and economical factors common in our society. This is more serious issue in our Pakistan. I am going to explore a sociological study women perception towards dowry in urban areas of Tehsil D.G.Khan.

VII MATERIAL AND METHODS:

The main objective of methodology is to explain various tools and techniques apply for a data collection, data analysis and interpretation of data related to research problem. According to Nachmias and Nachmias (1992) “the scientific methodology is a system of explicit rules and procedures upon which research is based and against which the claims for knowledge are evaluate”. The aim of present study will be to explore the causes of dowry such as social, economical, political , legal and their impact of dowry at marriage in our society.

The universe of study will be Tehsil D.G.Khan (District Dera Ghazi Khan). A sample of one hundred and fifty females will be selected from five urban councils through simple random sampling technique. Respondents will be interviewed by using a well structured questionnaire. Ten respondents will be pre-tested to check and examine the workability of questionnaire. Data will be analyzed through appropriate statistical technique by using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), Univariate and bivariate analysis will be carried out and obtained information will be present in form of M.Sc thesis.

VII. LITERATURE CITED:

Attila. A, Erica. F, Maximo. T.2008. Muslim family law, prenuptial agreements and the

emergence of dowry in Bangladesh,Harvard University.

Arunachalamy.R, Loganz. T.2008.On the Heterogeneity of Dowry Motives. Department of

Economics, The Ohio State University, and National Bureau of Economic Research.

Anderson.S.2004. Should dowries be banned? Department of Economics, University of British

Columbia.

Bloch .F, Rao.V.2001. Terror as a Bargaining Instrument: A Case-Study of Dowry Violence in

Rural India.1-25

Geirbo. H, Imam. N.2006. The Motivations Behind Giving and Taking Dowry. BRAC,Research and evaluation division Dhaka. Bangladesh. Page 1-36

Luciana. S, Sajada. A, Lopita. H, Kobita. C.2004. Does Dowry Improve Life for Brides?

A Test of the Bequest Theory of Dowry in Rural Bangladesh. Population council No.195.

Laura.F, Clare. H, Ruth .M.2009. From bridewealth to dowry? A bayesian estimation of

ancestral states of marriage transfers in indoeuropean groups. Department of anthropology, university college london.1-34

Maristella. B, Aloysius. S. 2002. Why Dowries? Department of Economics, University of

Toronto. Contributed papers 0200,Economic society.Page 1-47

Maristella. B, Aloysius .S.2002. Marriage Markets and Intergenerational Transfers in

Comparative Perspective (Why Dowries?)

Nachmias, C.F. and D. Nachmias. 1992. “Research methods in the social sciences”.

Published by Edwards Arnold. A division of Hodder and Stoughton.London

Rakhshinda, P.2006. Dowry: The most frequently forgotten form of gender violence in Pakistan.

Gender based Violence.

Sarwat ,A, Imtiaz, S; 2009. To estimate an equation explaining the determinants of dowry. Pakistan development review, vol.xii,No.1,48-61.

Siwan. A.2003. Why Dowry Payments Declined with Modernization in Europe but Are Rising in

India. [Journal of Political Economy, 2003, vol. 111, no. 2]. The University of Chicago.

Tonushree, J. 2001. The Economics of Dowry: Causes and Effects of an Indian Tradition, copyright 2001 UAUJE. Htt://www.eco.ilstu/UAUJE.Research monograph series No.28.

Nachmias, C.F. and D. Nachmias. 1992. “Research methods in the social sciences”.

Published by Edwards Arnold. A division of Hodder and Stoughton.London

The aims of the task are to describe the terms health and illness. Too outline biological, and sociological, perceptions of health and illness. Also too describe various patterns of health inequalities within society, and to evaluate the different perspectives of health and illness with in society. The booklet will also provide a brief analysis of two different approaches to the study of mental health and illness within society.

According to the World Health Organisation “health is a complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”(The W.H.O). Illness is poor health resulting from disease of body or mind, sickness or a disease, (www.thefreedictionary.com/illness). Many factors combine together to affect the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Whether people are healthy or not is determined by their circumstances and environment. Factors such as where we live, the environment we live in, genetics, diseases, employment and income, education, and relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health and well-being, whereas the more commonly considered factors such as access and use of health care services often have less of an impact.

Sociologists and specialists in social epidemiology are scientists who study the distribution and incidences of disease and illness within the population. They attempt to explain the link between health and variables such as social class, gender, race, age and geography.

The biomedical model is the most dominant theory in Modern Western medicine of health and illness, held by many official health practitioners such as doctors, consultants, and surgeons has been labelled the ‘biomedical approach model’. The biomedical model presumes that illness is always due to abnormalities in the body’s workings. It is the basis of modern Western medical practice. It works on the theory that if a part of the body goes wrong it should be fixed or replaced, in the same way that a machine would be repaired. It is a reductionist view of illness. This means that it takes the simplest possible cause of the illness and applies the simplest cure. It’s unlike other models such as the social model as that looks to other factors and focuses on them, such as culture, and social aspects. The biomedical model is used, to bring down the number of morbidity and premature mortality deaths. This model is where we look at the parts of the body that might work together to make sure we have good health. This model focuses on the actual person, rather than the social and emotional process of the individual. The aim of it is to identify people who are at risk from a disease. It focuses on the treatment rather than the prevention.http://cnx.org/content/m13589/latest/Graphic1.png

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/trite001/studyinghumananatomyandphysiology/sick.gif

Sociological perception believes that health is a state of complete wellbeing, physical, mental, and emotional. It emphasizes the importance of being more than disease free, and recognises that a healthy body depends upon a healthy environment and a stable mind. This sociological view, points out that society plays a role in sickness and assumes that, a functioning society depends upon healthy people and upon controlling illness. In contrast to the biomedical model, which pictures illness as a mechanical malfunction, Parsons described the sick role as a temporary, medically sanctioned form of deviant behaviour (Parson, 1950). Parsons used ideas from Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, the idea that a sick person has conflicting drives both to recover from the illness and to continue to enjoy the ‘secondary gains’ of attention and to be exempt from normal duties. Parsons also used functionalism to explain the social role of sickness by examining the use of the sick role mechanism. In order to be excused from a person’s usual duties and to be considered not to be responsible for their condition, the sick person is expected to seek professional advice and to adhere to treatments in order to get well.

Marxist, believe doctors act as agents of social control, to keep the workforce healthy, a healthy workforce is a productive workforce. Doctors indirectly work for the capitalists, as their job is to get people back to work as quickly as possible. Ethnic, Materialistic and structural explanation argues, that heart problems amongst minority ethnic groups must be seen as a result of ill-health, caused by low incomes and poor working conditions. Groups from Pakistan and Bangladesh are more likely to live in poorer housing conditions, unlike the Indians and Chinese who are more likely to be middle class, and generally suffer from fewer health problems, than other Asian groups. http://www.sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/maps/nsdivide/north-south_divide_UK_no_labels_blue_red_small.jpg

In the UK the chances of becoming sick or even dying are directly linked to several factors, these include, social class, gender, age and ethnicity. The higher the social class, the healthier a person will be. People with a higher class status are less likely to die of heart disease, stroke or lung cancer. (Acheson report 1998) clearly shows a health gap between classes. People living in the North of the UK are less healthy than those from the South. (Shaw et al) found that the infant mortality rates were twice as high in the North, and also found that four times as many households with children are living in poverty. There are also nearly three times as many people in the North living with long term illnesses than those from the South. This is referred to as the North/South divide, and is linked to such things as social class and ethnicity. The working class and the minority ethnic groups are more likely to live in poorer areas, than the white middle class who live in suburbs and rural areas. People living in these richer areas tend to be healthier due to better air quality, more exercise space and a less hazardous environment.

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Parsons sick role model has been an influential theory, which reveals clearly how an ill person is an integral part of a larger society context. There are however a number of weaknesses that have been collected against it. Some argue that the sick role is unable to capture the experience of illness, and that it cannot be applied globally, for example the sick role theory does not account for instance, when doctors and patients disagree about a diagnosis, or they have conflicting interests. The sick role does not work for people who have suffered with chronic illness and symptoms for years, and have been misdiagnosed repeatedly. These people are denied the sick role until a clear diagnosis of their condition is made. Other factors such as race, class and gender can affect whether the sick role is granted. The realities of health and illness are more complex than the sick role suggests. The sick role is useful in understanding acute illness, but it is less useful however in the case of chronic illness.

Marxism is a structural theory that studies sociology as a whole. Marxists are critical of capitalist societies which they see as a society of two parts. The first component of society is the economic base, (infrastructure). The second component is the superstructure, which includes major agencies of social control such as education, medicine and religion. Marxists theory is concerned with the way in which the dominant economic structure of society determines inequality and power, as well as shaping the relations upon which the major social institutions are built. Medicine is a social institution, and in capitalist societies, it is shaped by the capitalist interests. Navarro (1985) said there are four parts to defining medicine as a capitalist. He believes that medicine has become a market commodity, increasingly specialised and hierarchical. He believes that medicine has now become an extensive wage labour force, increasingly profitable for two dominant capital interests (the financial sector and the corporate sector). The last point states that medicine, is as organised as the national health care system this does not mean it is free from capitalist influence. Marxist claims that health problems are closely tied to unhealthy and stressful work environments. Rather than seeing health problems as the result of individual weakness, they should be seen in terms of the unequal social structure and class disadvantage that are reproduced under capitalism. Patterns of mortality and morbidity are closely related to occupation especially in the case of the industrial working class, for example industrial carcinogens (asbestos, metals and chemicals) are responsible for over 10% of all male cancers. Critics have found weaknesses in the Marxist views, as it focuses more on its inadequacies than its practise of locating medicine firmly within capitalism. The critics believe they should pay more attention to the dynamics of the medical process, the experience of illness and the state of being a patient. http://www.dreamstime.com/medicine-and-health-icons-set-6-part-1–thumb401393.jpg

There are two different approaches regarding mental illness, these are social realism and social construction. Social realism is a term used to describe the approaches of sociologists who, accept there are a distinctive set of abnormal behaviour, which cause distress to individuals and to those around them. These forms of abnormal behaviour are classified as mental illness. Social construction has been very influential in sociological approaches to mental health, and start from the argument that what is considered normal varies, over time and from society to society. For example, over the last two hundred years in Britain, alcohol consumption has been seen variously as normal, as morally wrong and even illegal, as a sign of being mentally ill and as a part of religious rituals.

Labelling theory rests firmly upon a social contructionist definition of mental health. According to Scheff (1966), whether someone becomes labelled or not is determined by the benefits that others might gain by labelling the person “mentally ill”. Those people who become a nuisance, or who prevent other from doing something they want to do, are far more likely to be defined as being mentally ill, than those who pose no threat or inconvenience, and may be ignored. The labelling perspective on mental illness has not gone unchallenged. According to Gove (1982), labelling may help explain some of the responses of others to the mentally ill, but it cannot explain the causes of the illness. http://mental.buu.ac.th/images/logohand_MentalHealth.JPG

Structuralist perspectives on mental health are closely tied to the social realist definition of mental health. These approaches accept the reality of mental health and set out to discover what factors in society might cause illness. There is clear evidence of mental health differences between social groups. When looking at which group is most likely to suffer from high rates of mental illness, the poorest and the most excluded are hugely excessive. A government study (2004) found that children from the poorest backgrounds were three times more likely to have conduct orders than those whose parents were in professional occupations.

Mental illness has been with us since the beginning of time. There are many types of mental illness and they vary in severity and duration. There are also many sociological arguments over the very definition of the term and how to explain the differences in mental illness within society.

Introduction

For the purpose of the assignment title I aim to explain four sociological perspectives of the family and the household. I will also try and evaluate each perspective and give my own opinions of their views. I will then go onto explaining how children’s roles and the roles and relationships have changed within the family over time, and give a brief overview of how the family in today’s society has changed through diversity and multi-cultural structures.

Functionalism

Functionalists view the family as a nuclear family structure, i.e. a mother, father and 1 or 2 children. Murdock surveyed 250 societies from the small hunting tribes to the large industrialised societies. He found that in every society there was some form of a nuclear family, he concluded from this study that the nuclear family was universal. Murdock’s definition of a nuclear family is

The nuclear family is a universal human social grouping. Either as the sole prevailing form of the family or as the basic unit from which more complex forms are compounded. It exists as a distinct and strongly functional group in every known society, (Murdock cited in Haralambos, M. 1985. 326)

Within the framework of the nuclear family, Murdock identified with four family functions which if were ignored, society would not exist. Sexual, Reproduction, Economic and Education were the four functions. Similar to Murdock, Tallcott Parsons another functionalist had his own views of what functions the nuclear family should contribute to society. He believed that there were two important roles within the family – Expressive and Instrumental. The women’s role was the Expressive role as she was the one who raised, nurtured and taught the children the norms and values within the home. The man’s role was the Instrumental role because he went out to work to provide financial security for his family. Parsons also identified the family as being the primary agent of socialisation and came up with the ‘warm bath theory’ – primary socialisation (norms and values) and stabilisation of adult personalities (support and love for the adults within the family.

Criticisms

Functionalist’s view of the family is similar to a fairy tale, because they ignore the family dynamics and in some families the darker side i.e. abuse, neglect and violence through male domination.

Marxism

A Marxist perspective of the family saw the family as a means of production and cheap labour whereby they are influenced by capitalism in a capitalist society. Marxists identified three main functions which they saw as a way for the family to fulfil for capitalism. Inheritance of Property – means that in order for property to be handed down to a legitimate heir, sexual relationships need to be restricted to one person, thus the offspring would be blood related. For this to happen,

The monogamous nuclear family developed with the emergence of private property, in particular the private ownership of the forces of production, and the advent of the state, (cited in Haralambos, M. 1985. 340)

The second function is the Ideological Functions which families need to fulfil by socialising children with the ideas that there will always be bosses and workers within a capitalist society. The last function looks at the Unit of Consumption whereby families work to produce goods, which are bought by the families to enable them to be fed and clothed, which bring greater profit for the capitalists.

Criticisms

Marxists ignore the different structures of families which are found in today’s society and with this the different roles within the family.

Feminism

Feministic views of the family are split into 3 groups, similar to that of the key perspectives. Liberal feminists believe that both the male and the females have equal roles within the family when it comes to the household chores and childcare. Marxist feminists view the women as the producer of future workers and women’s oppression stems from capitalism and not the family. Radical feminist’s view of the family structure is one of patriarchal and that men are seen as the enemy. This type of family within society is also seen by feminists as the key institution in its contribution to maintaining social control

Criticisms

All three branches of feminism view the nuclear family as the most dominant unit within society, as well as believing that all members of the family serve society, performing different functions.

Post Modernist

A post modernistic view of the family is at the opposite ends of the scale to functionalism. Post modernists believe that in most societies there are diverse and multi-cultural types of families where members within these units are free to make their own life choices as to how, what and where they live, work and socialise within society. Post modernists also believe that everyone is entitled to the same opportunities in education, healthcare and family support as in their view, there are no class divisions (working and ruling classes), in most societies. Zietlin et al summarises this view of the world,

The post modern world is shaped by pluralism, democracy, religious freedom, consumerism, mobility and increasing access to news and entertainment, (Zietlin class handout 2009. 92)

Criticisms

Because of their views of equal opportunities and freedom of speech and choices they ignore the fact that some people can and do make wrong choices with regards to ignoring the norms and values which are passed down the generations which inevitably upsets the social control aspects in some societies.

How the roles and relationships of the family have change over time.

Sociologists view childhood as Social Construction because they are biologically distinct from adults, (Harris, M. 2008.44)

For this reason I will explain the question in two parts.

Children

The role of the child within a pre-industrial family (pre 1750), was one of equal standing. As soon as the child could walk and talk they were taught the family trade and were expected to carry on the family tradition. After the industrial revolution came the emergence of the industrial family (1800-1900), when children as young as 6 or 7 were sent to work in factories and down coal mines to bring money into the family home, however this brought about higher mortality rates because children weren’t as strong as adults. The mortality rates went into decline when the modern industrial family emerged (1900-2000), this is because children were starting to be seen as children and not as cheap labour. Experiences of childhood began to emerge for the majority of children within families, however there are still some societies today that still send their children out to work, but this is now not the norm in today’s world.

Gender roles and relationships

During the pre-industrial years both men and women worked together with other family members. However this all changed between 1750 and 1900 when women were expected to stay at home and be responsible for household chores, childcare and producing the future workforce. This type of family structure was very patriarchal – the men had the power so they were the dominators in the family. However this started to change when the modern industrial family emerged between 1900 and 2000, as more women were given the opportunity to become educated, this led to more women in the workforce. This led the family to share the household chores and the childcare and sometimes swap roles within the family if the man became unemployed.

Diversity of the contemporary family structure

What is a family? This question has been raised by many sociologists and the majority of these have all had different opinion. However in answer to this question, a family can be the nuclear or extended type of family, which are 2 or 3 generations living under one roof. This type of family was more common pre-1750 when families worked with and supported each other, and which still does happen in some cultures and societies i.e. Asian families. Other types of family structures which are more common in Britain today are the one parent families, the step families, the divorced families and the gay and lesbian families who have children. Families today are extremely diverse and multi-cultural through social influences from the media, education and global improvements.

Conclusion

Throughout this assignment I have paid particular attention to the different views of Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism and Post Modernism. I have given an evaluation of each perspective and have briefly described the changes in roles, relationships and structures within families. I have concluded in my evaluation that my opinion of families and households is one that in today’s society of choice, freedom, diversity and multi-cultural structures that post modernism is by far the best view and explanation of society today.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Haralambos, M & Heald, R. (1985) Sociology – Themes and Perspectives, (2nd ed), London, Unwin Hyman Limited.
Harris, S (2008) Sociology AS & A2 Revision, (3rd ed) Essex, Pearson Education Limited.
Ritzer, G (1996) Modern Sociological Theory, (4th ed) Singapore, McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Taylor, P. et al (1995) Sociology in Focus, Bath, Bath Press
Zietlin, M. et al (1995) Strengthening the Family Implications for International Development, Tokyo, United Nations University Press
www.sociologyonline.co.uk
www.sociology.org.uk

Society is the subject of the social sciences. Generally Speaking society is that complex social organization of human beings that share an identity inhabiting dynamic relationships and a distinctive culture. Members of a society identify themselves through that society and work together with other members to ensure that the rules generally agreed upon by all members to govern how they relate to each other are in place. Sociological perspectives are viewpoints from which we study and understand society and its varied mechanics and elements. There are varied sociological perspectives available to social scientists for the purpose of study. What sociological perspective is used depends on the theories and purposes of the one undertaking the study.

Functionalism, Conflict theory, and Social Interactionism are sociological perspectives that I believe can be used to study the social unit of the family. Functionalism looks at the family as if it was one mechanical entity with every member of the family taking on a role and a function affecting the whole. For example, the mother is the nurturer, support to the husband in terms of keeping the family together taking on household duties as well as economic duties; the father, traditionally is ‘head’ of the family whose primary function is to provide for the economic and financial needs of his wife and children; the children are dependent on their parents but take on an important role towards each other and to their parents. What these roles are vary according to the age of the children and their stage in life. In the elder years of their parents, the children are expected to become the nurturer and provider for their parents, a role reversal of sorts. Since a functionalist perspectives focuses on roles/functions, when a family is in a state of conflict, the dynamics of family function can be looked at to pinpoint the areas of issue/tension for the purpose of finding solutions. Now, from a functionalist perspective, how can a member of a family view self and society? First off, the self-view will be rooted in function and expectations. The father for example will view himself as one who must provide for and protect his family based on standard expectations of what fathers do and what fatherhood means in the society he belongs to. He will view society as one of function and structure as well where his family makes up a unit integral to the functioning social groups he/his family belongs. Roles then will become part of the expected mental images a functionalist perspective gives in terms of viewing family and society. Thus, the roles of mother, father, daughter, son, aunt, uncle, grandparents, cousins – all these are based on social and cultural standards. This extends out to expected roles & functions of key individuals in society as well as social groups (i.e. Priest, teachers, politicians, employers, church, government, businesses, etc.). In terms of social change, if change is systemic, it will be based on or will have to be rooted in the need to overhaul or effect a particular function for the purpose of adapting to or surviving challenges, conflicts or trends. Take for example the trend of and the established need to adapt to new communication technologies (3G phones, mobile internet). Once families used to ‘not need’ such technologies to keep track of and keep in touch with family members to nurture relationships and fulfil obligations. Now though, parents and children have adapted digital technology in their lives to harness the function of connectivity and communication providing new avenues for family connectedness.

On Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism as a perspective on the other hand looks at the micro relationships between family members – looking at their everyday life and the relationship all members have with each other. It seeks to find out the finer details of social relationships in order to understand why they work/don’t work. It seeks to see whether families attach certain meanings to social stereotypes in relation to their expectations from each other. At the same time it also seeks to understand how each other ‘come to mean’ in the lives, choices and interpretations of each member. It seeks to establish the strength and frailty of familial relationships by providing details. It is different from functionalism in that it focuses on ‘quality & meaning’ of relationships instead of function alone. While functionalism sees the family as an organic entity that follows a unique structure according to role & designation within the family-group, symbolic interactionism gives more weight to the ‘function’ of relationships in the family structure. For example, the importance of family bonds can be measured in the way family members act towards each other. For Herbert Blumer (1986), the originator of the theory, familial relationships are best understood via the discourses and interactions of family members in their relationships towards each other for meaning is created via this, relationships built, conflicts resolved, positions taken. In other words, this sociological perspective is a discursive microscope that can create a genealogy of family relations and provide a picture of shared beliefs and unique family behaviour that contribute (or due to lack of prohibits from creating) towards a shared family culture and identity. What does this mean for members of a family? It is in discourse that meaning is created. Cultures and traditions of families are built over interaction and shared histories. Without interaction, meaning and relationships cannot be built. For individual members of the family then, family is viewed as a dynamic and continual interaction with each other that allow for meanings and symbolisms to be invested and shared by those who interact. For example, a father can only be a father if he interacts with his children to fulfil his own expectations of himself as a father to his children and if the children respond to him in such a way that the interaction establishes a communication exchange, a discourse where father and children find ‘meaning’ in each other. Therefore while the father works to provide for his children, without interaction, this relationship is not socially established in meaning making familial relations between father and children non-existent. Society from this perspective is seen as a massive social structure where truth and structures are established based on discourse; without interaction, without discourse, there is no progress especially in terms of shared cultural practices. A family vested in social interaction sees active relationships as essential in establishing ‘bonds’ and social change, at least within the family will only happen via discourse. For example, a status qou must be arrived at via discourse in which members of the family have come to agree or view a particular position or necessary action similarly to warrant collective shift in approaches or performance of a particular action.

The Conflict Theory

Conflict theory, a perspective rooted in the ideas of Emile Durkheim (social conflict & crime) & Karl Marx (dialectical materialism/Marxism) looks into differentials of power – how power, influence and authority influences the distribution of access to resources, for example, in a particular social group. Hence, it is a good perspective in the study of criminology for it can be used to pinpoint the source/forces behind criminality due to access/lack of access to power & economic resources. As a perspective in understanding the social unit of the family however, conflict theory can be used to understand the power relations in the family – the hierarchy of family authority and control. Thus the use of conflict theory in the study of the family unit can be said to focus on the negative aspects of family structure and relations; at the same time however such a focus can it also bring out the relations of gender, of power and of control. Eventually, it is easy enough to identify who controls what and which in the family in order to assign responsibility and correct social and relationship conflict. Conflict theory is a tool used in identifying family issues in order to find ways to fix them. For instance, if a teen is having issues with his/her parents, conflict theory can be used to analyze and pinpoint the source of friction in order to ascertain remedies in fixing parent and child relations. In the case of extended families that are so typical in parts of Asia (i.e. Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam) wherein extended families allow economic and social support for members of the ‘clan’ that cannot otherwise support themselves, their children and their needs, conflict theory is perfect in unravelling the relations of power and control including identifying factions, matriarchy & patriarchy patterns and areas of resolution (especially if the conflict theory is taken on to resolve a familial issue). Members of a family using the conflict theory can be viewed as social agents differentiated by their access to power and resources. Hence, they are essentially competing with each other. A family member can look into one’s position in the family to assess his or her access to influence, power and resources to determine his/her position in the family. If parents, for example are fair, and if the mother and the father see each other as equals then in the decisions that they make, this is reflected. But if this is not the case, if the father has more ‘say’ in family matters including economic issues, then there is a differential between husband and wife in terms of familial authority. If all children in the family are treated the same and given similar opportunities, then one can say that access to resources and authority is fair; but if one is treated better than the other then there is definitely a differential in terms of access to power and resources between children. Members of families who view their primary grouping as one of competition for resources (i.e. one of conflict) sees society as a bigger representation of their own issues to resources and authority within their families. They will view society as an intensely competitive social arena where to survive; one must be adept in working towards more power and access to resources via structures like schools, government and civilian organizations (businesses, NGOs, private firms). Social change is inevitable for status qou will change dependent on the sway of power at any given time. From this perspective, society is continually changing and power changes hands regularly due to competition.

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The first sociological perspective that I will use to try to explain the Bertram family scenario is the functionalist perspective. The functionalist perspective evolved from the work of Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), though it was shaped by Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons during the mid-20th century. Functionalism can be summed up simply: ‘the world is a system of interrelated parts, and each part makes a necessary contribution to the vitality of the system’ (Bohm, 1997: 82). Functionalism examines society through a functional framework which stresses that everything, no matter how seemingly strange, out of place, or harmful, serves a purpose. A useful analogy to use would be all the different parts of the body and how they function to keep the human body alive. All organs in the human body depend on each other and each is vital, performing an overall ‘function’. Social systems work in much the same way as an organic system. Societies have established structures within which are established beliefs and practices. All members of society are expected to conform and behave acceptably. The institutional arrangements, for example, political or religious arrangements, exist in society not by choice of its citizens but because they perform a specific ‘function’ for the social structure as a whole. People within these social structures know and agree on how to behave, ‘living their lives in the right ways – from which society benefits’ (Jones 2003:39). Functionalism holds that everyone and everything in society, no matter how strange it may seem, serves a purpose. Crime, for example, is viewed almost universally as a nuisance. Functionalists, however, point out that crime serves several purposes. Durkheim concluded that crime and deviance serve three major functions for society: deviance clarifies or reaffirms societal norms, it promotes social unity, and it challenges the status quo. Deviance can bring into question the status quo, forcing society to rethink previously held norms. For example, acts perceived as criminal or deviant were critical in shaping the rights movements for African Americans, women, and homosexuals in the United States. Without questioning the traditional way of treating disadvantaged groups, the norms of discrimination and prejudice could not be broken. Criticisms of functionalism focus on its acceptance and rationalization of social inequality and societal evils. Since functionalism holds that all aspects of society are necessary, human rights issues like poverty, hunger, slavery, and genocide must be accounted for. Critics suggest that functionalism can be used as a rationalization of such issues. The perspective is also criticized for its lack of testability, which is critical for upholding any social science theory. Several questions stand against its reliability. Still, it has its strong points, such as its ability to explain crime and deviance. Functionalism essentially serves as the most traditionalist of the sociological schools of thought.

As with all the other different parts of society family has a role to play in the functioning of society and each family member has a role to play. Mrs Bertram is no longer able to perform the social roles that society expects of her (for example, mother and wife). In the scenario of the Bertram family, Mrs Bertram could be seen to have taken on the ‘sick role’. The functionalist perspective of illness is that it disrupts society; it too is a form of ‘deviance’. A functionalist perspective would suggest that social services would need to control the deviance by either putting Mrs Bertram into residential care or by providing services for her at home, in order to bring her back in line with society’s expectation of her. Similarly the social worker would also expect Mr Bertram’s deviant behaviour to be dealt with. The fact that he is leaving his wife alone for extended periods of time and is generally not caring for her as would be expected of a husband could be viewed as deviant behaviour. The Bertrams are from a generation where gender roles were very specific and Mr Bertram is probably struggling with the role reversal, so would need support with this. Mr Bertram’s possible alcoholism could also be viewed as a form of deviance that would need to be brought under control by perhaps providing him with support to overcome it.

Feminist theory became established in the 1960s. What defines feminism is the view that ‘women’s relative subordination must be questioned and challenged’ (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005:16). The feministic view is that women are oppressed and their freedom to act and express themselves is limited by the relative power of men, as they tend to possess more economic, cultural and social resources than women. There is a wide range of feminist views due to the failure to agree on ways to explain subordination of women or how women can be liberated or what actually constitutes oppression (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005). As a result there are many varying feminist perspectives drawing on a wide range of disciplines. According to Abbott Wallace and Tyler (2005) early feminists have focussed on issues relating to questions of power, knowledge and subjectivity. Liberal feminism ‘sees gender prejudice as a matter of individual ignorance’ (Jones 2003:91). Liberal feminists believe inequalities can be eradicated by putting in place anti-discrimination laws and by promoting non-sexist attitudes. Marxist feminists believe that ‘women’s subordination serves the needs of capitalism’ (Jones 2003:92). Marxist feminists argue that subordination of women in capitalist societies is best explained by understanding the economic disadvantages that they face. Radical feminism sometimes referred to as gynocentrism affirms that ‘patriarchy is the key to understanding social structures and patriarchal relations are universal and elemental’ (Jones, 2003:94). The term patriarch is used widely to refer to ‘a society based on universal male supremacy and female subordination’ (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005:33). This perspective is concerned with women’s rights rather than gender equality and it emphasises the difference between men and women. Within radical feminism the family is seen as a key instrument of women’s oppression through sexual and maternal obligation. Feminists who adopt this perspective are concerned with the way women perpetuate men’s control when they become so oppressed by patriarchal ideologies. Feminist theories of social work have been criticised recently for treating women generically and displaying insufficient sensitivity to the complex ways in which other social divisions such as race, age, disability, etc impact on gender relations. (Dominelli 2002)

Mrs Bertram could be seen by feminists to be suffering at the hands of a patriarchal society. She has been lured into dependency by Mr Bertram’s ‘charming’ ways. It could be argued that Mrs Bertram found the prospect of marrying into a higher social class rather appealing. Radical feminists argue that ‘all relationships between men and women are institutionalised relationships of power’ (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005:35). Mrs Bertram does not appear to be an equal in the marriage and her illness has further exacerbated her powerlessness. Mr Bertram has all control of the finances and probably all major decisions affecting Mrs Bertram, especially as she now lacks capacity, further reinforcing her subordination. It is unclear whether Mrs Bertram has ever worked, if she has not Marxist feminists would argue that this was to the benefit of a capitalist society as she provided, when she was able, free domestic services to sustain her husband. Mrs Bertram’s reasons for wanting to stay with her husband may be due to her ideological view of marriage. Feminists argue that married women do not have an identity separate to their husbands (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005) and she may be trying to hold on to what little she has left of her identity as she is slowly losing her faculties due to the Alzheimer’s. Her ideological view masks the real subordination she faces at the hands of her husband. This is further reinforced by his neglect of her needs and failure to care for his wife as a husband would be expected to.

The psychodynamic theory was pioneered by Freud and later developed by a number of writers. Freud argued that there were various levels of conscious and unconscious thought. The ‘id’ which is the source of basic urges and the drive to survive. The superego is the conscious, ‘public’ expression that seeks to convey that we are doing what is acceptable to society. The ego is the part of the unconscious that attempts to mediate between the id and superego. Individuals may not be aware of the interactions within themselves and engage in behaviours that are expressions of their deep unconscious, seeking to rationalise them through the ego and superego. ‘The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning as based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious conflict between the different structures of the personality’ (Baker, 2003:39). The psychodynamic approach attempts to explain the motivation of behaviour. The basic assumptions of the psychodynamic theory are that behaviour is motivated by conscious and unconscious mental processes, and that behaviour reflects current motivation and past experience (Glassman and Hadad, 2009). The approach claims that early negative experiences may become buried in the unconscious and manifest themselves in how an individual behaves in relationships with people later in life. Bion (1962) cited in Maclean and Harrison (2009) believes that the quality of childhood relationships in early life shapes the development of personality and character. According to Freud various defence mechanisms are developed by people to cope with difficult emotional situations. These defences include denial, repression, projection and displacement. Freud was of the opinion that people could overcome their problems by making conscious those thoughts and motivations hidden in the unconscious. He used several methods to gain access to the unconscious, such as free association which involved allowing the individual to say whatever came into their mind and if the client became ‘blocked’ talking about something this signified something deeper was occurring in their unconscious. Freud also use dream analysis as he believed that unconscious thoughts were revealed in dreams and could be interpreted. Transference was another method used as clients projected and displaced their own thoughts and feelings onto their therapist. The psychodynamic approach is criticised for its subjectivity and gender, cultural and historical bias (Barker, 2003).

The psychodynamic approach could be used to better understand Mr Bertram. Problems that are identifiable in the case scenario are his poor management of money, his neglect of his wife and his suspected alcoholism. His behaviour could possibly be a result of what is happening in his unconscious mind due to a negative experience in early childhood. The amount of time he spends at the golf club away from his wife could be explained as him using denial as a defence mechanism against painful emotions. He may have experienced painful losses in the past and this may have affected his unconscious mind. It is possibly too painful for him to accept his wife’s illness and his coping strategy is to refuse to accept what is happening. His suspected alcoholism may be due to him regressing to an earlier stage of development where he felt safe or comfortable, possibly the oral stage when developing children focus on oral pleasures such as feeding. It is possible that the stress of his wife’s illness has triggered the regression and he may not even be aware of how his unconscious is leading him to use alcohol to cope. His use of alcoholism could also be explained as fixated behaviour, if Mr Bertram experienced trauma when he was at the oral stage (stage where according to Freud child gains satisfaction from sucking, eating, etc) in his development it is possible that he then became confined to this particular stage. His conscious choice to drink alcohol ‘has its origins in the repressed depths of the unconscious mind’ (Ingleby 2006:8). His use of alcohol as a way of managing a difficult situation is inappropriate behaviour and generating its own set of problems as he is neglecting his wife and the home is in an awful state. A social worker using this approach would have to proceed with caution as behaviours may not be the result of unconscious assumptions.

Behaviourism rose in prominence in the early 20th century through the ideas of thinkers such as Pavlov and Watson. The behaviourist approach lays emphasis on the role of environmental stimuli in determining the way that we act. A key idea in behaviourism is that all individuals enter the world as a ‘clean slate’ (Ingleby, 2006:5). Social factors are then responsible for shaping the individual. The basic assumption is that humans learn behaviour by learned relationships between stimulus (excites the sense organs) and a response (reaction to stimulus). The main behaviourist theories of learning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. ‘Classical conditioning occurs when we make an association between a neutral stimulus that reliably produces a response, so that the neutral stimulus comes to produce the same response’ (Baker, 2003:43). It is most well known through Pavlov’s experiment where dogs were given food at the same time as a bell was rung. The result was that the dogs would salivate when the bell was rung even if no food was presented. Pairing of an unconditioned stimulus led to an unconditioned response and when the unconditioned response was paired with another stimulus, the stimulus eventually produced a response on its own. Operant conditioning has had a considerable influence on psychology and is used regularly in social care (Maclean and Harrison, 2009). Operant conditioning recognises that the environment effects behaviour. Much behaviour occurs randomly and whether we repeat it or not depends on the response we get. For example, if a person says they want to kill themselves, they may not know how or fully understand what they are saying but whether or not they say it again may depend on the response of those around them. The behaviourist approach is criticised for be oversimplified as it ignores mental processes and limited as not everything can be accounted for by simple learning (Barker, 2003).

It is possible that Mr Bertram has learned behaviours over the years due to the responses he has received. As he is from a white upper class background he has led a fairly privileged life. Even though his financial status is now in question he has learned over the years that his ‘exceedingly charming manners’ are able to get him what he wants. He was able to use his ‘charm to sweep Mrs Bertram off her feet and so far has managed to use this same charm offensive to keep the landlord and social services at bay. If we apply the principle of operant conditioning to the situation we can see that Mr Bertram’s behaviour has been shaped by the way that those he has come into contact with have responded by conceding to his charming ways. The consequence has been that he continually uses this behaviour to mask the problems he and his wife are experiencing.

I was born and raised in Zimbabwe just before independence and I am the second child of a nurse and a self-made business man. Education was very important in my family and although it went unsaid there was always an expectation that we would be successful in life. The culture I was raised in had a very patriarchal framework and this extended to state policies and procedures. For example, in order for me to obtain a passport or national identity card I had to either go to government offices with my father or a male relative with the same surname or produce my father’s identification documents. My mother’s presence or her documents would not have been acceptable. If I view this from a feminist perspective, women in my culture were placed in a position of subordination because of economic dependency and because generally they were ‘constructed as socially inferior’ (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler, 2005: 28). Despite the fact that my mother worked all financial decisions were made by my father. Marxist feminist would argue that subordination of women in Zimbabwe served and continues to serve to enhance capitalist interests. My mother tended to my father’s every need so that he could go out and be productive at work. Education was a very important part of my life. Emphasis was always placed on the fact that I needed a good education in order to succeed in life. I remember getting very good reports at school while my sister got the opposite. My parents would sit her down every time her report card came home. If I apply the behaviourist principle of operant conditioning to my situation I learned that if I came home with a good report card my parents’ response would be a positive one. I therefore endeavoured to always have a good report so that that positive response from my parents would be repeated.

My background will provide me with insight on how women can feel oppressed even in environments that they are supposed to feel safe, so that I can effectively challenge oppressive practices. My background also helps me understand how responses I may have as a social worker will shape future behaviours of service users to other social workers or professionals. It is clearly important to have an understanding of sociological and psychological perspectives in social work as both make a significant contribution to understanding different service user needs.

The institution of religion can be evaluated by varies sociological theories because the institution of religion has been part of every society. With society it possible to find some sort of religion. Among these theories functionalism, conflict and interactions will be use to assess the impact each theory has on the religion institution. “Sociologist tends to be interested in the social impact of religion on individuals and the institution.” (Schaefer, 2009, p.323) They are not attempting to authenticate to the truth of the religion institutions merely probing how institution such as religions influences on individuals in society. Religion has been part of society foundation since the beginning of human existence. It has been the central part of other institution as well and have had a profound impact on the choices taken by other institutions. It is clear that Religion influence has extended widely through society.

However, one must ask what religion is. Emile Durkheim defines “religion as a unified system of beliefs and practice relative to sacred things.” (Schaefer, 2009, p. 323) Sociological theorists also have differing views about how religion serves society. Some view it from a functionalist perspective while other sociologist take the conflict outlook and other the interactions view. The Functionalism Perspective is a sociological approach that highlights the process which society is organized to ensure stability.

When looking at religion, one might attempt to discover how religion contribute to the stability of a societies Emile Durkheim, “recognized the importance of religion in human societies.” (Schaefer, 2009, p.323)

He believed that religion brought about stability in society. Durkheim believed religion to be an influential force in society. Durkheim sought to answer a puzzling question, “How can human societies be held together when they are usually composed of individuals and social groups with diverse interests and aspirations.” (Schaefer, 2009, p. 327) Durkheim believe this was possible through what is called the “societal glue,” that is religion is source to keep society together and meaning and purpose in people in life. (p.327)

In a functionalist point of view, the institution religion gives humanity a moral compass and a place to belong and reinforces social norms. Places of worship have become more than worship site it is also a place to socialize or fellowship. Furthermore, religion give different groups a certain sense of connection to others they might be of different faith they still find themselves bound to others who have a similar belief system. Institutions such as education and families are essential in relaying morals as the social norm, but religion may well be the institution that holds all of those to a higher standard.

Religion provides support during some of life struggle and changes by applying morals in the early in a child life. Changes can be overwhelming, however with a strong religious tradition one can find meaning and direction in all of life’s tough times.

Conflict Theory

In the process of talking about religion the focus is mainly on the positive aspects however one can also find negative aspects in religion institution as well. Religions from the beginning of has been the reason behind many conflict in the world. Even today society conflict occur due to religion. For example in the United States religion is used as a weapon by social conservatives. They use religion to push their social agenda such as the issue of abortion, same sex marriage, and stem cell research. Religion has also been the source of conflicts between different types of religion such as Christian and Muslims. While in other countries the dysfunction of religion has made citizens turn on their fellow citizens. For example, in Iraqi the Sunnis and the Shiites have fought civil wars because of religion. In Europe the protestants and catholic have battled for years over different ideology.

“The conflict theorists believes that religion is a potential obstacle to a structural social change but also can be a source for cultural change through liberation theology” (Schaefer, 2009, p.330) Dysfunction of religion is common ground for the functionalist and conflict theorists. The dysfunction of religion proves many theories with the conflict theory itself. Conflict theorist would say that religion provides tension between different groups, and societies.

The conflict perspective can simply explained “as a sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood on terms of tension between groups over power, or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation” (Schaefer, 2009, p. 14-15). “Conflict theorists examine the relationship of religion to social inequalities, especially how religion reinforces a society’s stratification system.

Karl Marx stated “religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world It is the opium of the people.” Instead of increasing social solidarity, Marx believed, religion is used to control the working class, to persuade them to accept their lot in life. Far from being a positive force religion provides people the illusory hope that things will get better in the next life and prevents them from seeking a political answer in this”( Marx, K. & Engels, F. 1843).

It has also been said, “Religion legitimizes, reinforces and perpetuates the rule of the ruling class and their interests” (Marx, K. & Engels, F., 1843). Conflict theorists believe that religion itself is used as a means to keep the lower classes working with little or no regard for their status.

The theory provides that religion gives the masses hope when there is none, and therefore keeps them content with their current condition, essentially religion is used as tool for the rich, or dominate classes to subdue the masses. An example of this can be found through the interpretation of a verse in the Bible, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. While this single verse was intended to portray the difficulty of a wealthy person giving up his fortune in order to follow Christ, it also provides a settling truth to the poor; by saying it is easy for the poor or afflicted to enter heaven because they have less to give up.

Additionally, conflict theorist find more evidence to support their ideas within the dominate structure of a society. For example, kings and queens once ruled and were believed to be chosen or directed by God, while other rulers were simply considered gods themselves. This plays directing into the ideology behind the conflict theory, by demonstrating how a ruler can impose his or her rule over a vast amount of people, solely based in the idea that the ruler is somehow empowered by a higher being. Thus underlying classes within the society would follow or work blindly to support the ruler(s), again with little regard to their personal status, or condition. Therefore religion itself can stifle social change, and movement, by controlling the people and impeding change through an organized and overwhelming regime of rituals and beliefs. The last sociological theory that must be discussed is the Interactionist perspective, this theory or perspective notes the generalizations about every day forms of social interaction; in order to explain society as a whole. It primarily focuses on the micro-sociology of a society. In a sense, interactionist look to the little things of society, for example, how people within the society interact with each other in regards to specific institutions such as religion. Such can be seen in ones belief systems, and how the assists us to make sense of the things we experience in our daily lives. Within this theory it has been stated that “religion is seen as a reference group, for many people, religion serves as a reference group to help them define themselves. Religious symbols, for example, have a meaning to large bodies of people (e.g., the Star of David for Jews; the crescent moon and star for Muslims; and the cross for Christians), (Nelson Education, chapter 17). This is where the functionalist and interactionist theory find common ground; both perspectives see religion as a positive force, which provide a stabilizing factor within a society. Both also agree that religion can enrich an individual’s life and enhances an individual’s to deal with some of the difficulties in life. Regardless it is clear through the research of both perspectives that religion brings people within society, together; therefore adding a harmonizing and supportive structure with the society and or culture.

Religion 9

While the three sociological perspectives have differing views on the institution of religion, they also all see religion as a force within society that can motivate and facilitate social change and movement within a society. In example of this is the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. “The U.S. civil rights movement is perhaps the best example of a social movement drawing on religious resources to accomplish its goals. Both religious leaders and laity were active in the civil rights movement. Congregations provided material resources necessary for large-scale political action, acted as conduits for frame dissemination and provided an ideal setting for the micro mobilization process to occur. (Loveland, M. T., Walls, E. N., Myers, D. J. and Sikkink, D., 2003). Another example of religion’s affect on social movements can be found in the debate over abortion. The issue of abortion has strong ties to the institution of religion within the United States. Almost every religious faction found in the U.S. has strong beliefs on whether abortion is immoral or not. “Another notable sociologist Max Weber saw religion as a primary source of social change. He analyzed how Protestantism gave rise to the Protestant ethic, which stimulated what he called the spirit of capitalism. The result was capitalism, which transformed society”. (Henslin J. ch 13)

In closing one can clearly see the differences in the three sociological perspectives in regards to religion. The institution of religion has a profound affect on the society, in which it dwells, adding both positive and possibly negative attributes that add to the stability of that society. Regards a society that uses religion as a cornerstone, will ultimately find that it provides a settling sense over that society. In addition religion will assist in the establishment and maintenance of the social norms and expectation within that culture.

A complete state of ones physical, mental and emotional well being can be defined as health. A healthy environment or society is a factor that determines the healthy of an individual. From a sociological point of view, a functioning society comprises of healthy people and individuals who are able to control diseases (Durkheim, 1982). In view of murder and suicide, this research paper looks into sociological theories and sociological perspective on murder and suicide.

Introduction

There are various sociological perspectives that define how society views different actions taken by an individual. The various sociological perspectives are as a result of either macro sociology or micro sociology. The macro sociology examines and individual behavior; in this note, an individual behavior can thus be as a result of the society he/she has lived in. on the other had, micro sociology defines the way one looks at things. Sociologists have defined suicide as an act done in private and lacking approval from the society. According to the study conducted by Durkheim the level at which individuals may involve themselves with suicide acts is not determined by their level of insanity. In his study, he found out that men were more likely to get into suicide acts than were female. The rates of suicide acts were also in the increase when compared to wealthy and unmarried people. This in other words is to mean that some people are more prone to committing suicide than others. The above noted level of differences in committing suicide corresponds to an individual level of social integration. In simpler terms, individuals with greater social commitment have are less inclined to committing suicide than individuals who had little or no any commitment in the society (Durkheim, 1982).

The sociological perspective: Social factors

Emile Durkheim postulated “that suicide occurs as a result of the kind of “fit” that an individual experiences in his or her society” (Stillion & McDowell, 1996, p. 65). Durckheim (1982) uses integration theory to show how an individual suicide acts relates to his/her involvement in the society. In his elaboration of social integration theory, the author has used two variables, that is, social integration and social regulation. In view to social integration, individuals are susceptible to egoistic suicide.

Social integration variable measures the level of an individual acceptance to the shared beliefs in the society. In this case, there are those individuals who have accepted and those who have not accepted the set social beliefs. The author has distinguished this in terms of altruistic suicide and egoistic suicide. In this case, individuals who have accepted the laid down social beliefs are susceptible to altruistic suicide. Such individuals have a strong bond with the society or are deeply integrated into the society. An individual who happens to be over-integrated into the societal norms may have an ingrained tendency to kill themselves in an effort to abide to the set social imperatives.[1] On the contrary, those individuals who lack a bond between them and the society become distanced from the social life and eventually become a victim of excess individualism leading to egoistic suicide (Stillion & McDowell, 1996). In his explanation of these social factors, Durkheim argued that,

“The suicide rates of his time were higher among Protestants than among Catholics; his explanation was that Catholics received more support from their church while Protestants were left more to their individual devices. At the same time, more single people committed suicide than married people and fewer married women with children committed suicide than unmarried women. Durkheim believed that the incidence of egoistic suicide is inversely related to family density” (Stillion & McDowell, 1996, p. 65).

Social regulation variable “refers to the degree of social control imposed by society on the individual’s motives and feelings” (Cutter, 1998, para. 4). In his explanations, the author has argued that those individuals who have a strong belief in social regulation are prone to fatalistic suicide while those on the contrary are susceptible to anomic suicides. Fatalistic suicide usually comes about when an individual is over-regulated and is oppressed by the society. In most cases, such oppression may be directed to a certain group of people in the society.[2] Individuals who commit anomic suicides usually lack society regulation.[3] The author has also observed that individuals who are at the middle of these two variables or who are neither in the two categories are less prone to suicide. In other words, such individuals tend to die from other causes apart from suicidal mode.

Cutter (1998) in support of social regulation have argued that when the external societal restraints are not accepted or are weak, individual aggression may be directed towards self and as a result, individuals may result into suicidal behaviors/acts. In his explanation, the author quotes the work of Gibbs and Martin (1964) arguing that the rate of suicide “of a population varies with the stability and durability of social relations within that population” (Cutter, 1998, para. 5).

According to Stillion and McDowell (1996), a “suicidal behavior cannot be viewed outside of the context in which it occurs” (Stillion & McDowell, 1996, p. 64). In his explain, the authors point out that individuals in their varying cultures have their unique psychological problems at varying times. An augmented increase in the understanding of how the body functions in relation to the prevailing literature on psychoanalytic literature have resulted to a decreased value in the number of individuals with this artificial physiological problem.

Sociological perspective on murder

Criminological theories may either be classified in the social structure or in social process theory. The social structure theory assumes that some individuals are more susceptible to delinquency and criminality as a result of their status in the society or on the community.[4] According to the social process theory, criminal behavior results from social learning and socialization process. The society in which an individual lives in or has been brought up affects greatly his social understandings or groupings. For instance exposing a child to violent acts in the society may serve as a valuable input to later violence behaviors. In support of this insight, Ronald Holmes and Stephen Holmes argues that “the basic development of the person in society is predicted in no small part on the unique experiences that each person is exposed to in the course of living a normal life” (Holmes & Holmes, 2009, p. 65).

Conclusion

It’s of great value if suicide is viewed from a sociological perspective. This will enable individuals to look at suicide deaths from different cultural environments at varying times in history. Such factors may help the suicidal students to understand their risks and thus offer the necessary advice. One may also observe that the society in which we live in clearly defines our behaviors or the expected behavioral acts in our life.

References

Cutter, F. (1998). “Review of the 20th century theories.” Retrieved on February 23, 2010 from: http://suicidepreventtriangle.org/Suichap3.htm

Durkheim, E.(1982). The Rules of the Sociological Method, (Ed. by Steven Lukes; trans. by W.D. Halls). New York, NY: Free Press, pp. 50-59.

Holmes, R. & Holmes, S. (2009). Serial Murder: the sociological perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Stillion, M. & McDowell, E. (1996). Suicide across the life span: premature exits. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.

Diet is increasingly being viewed as a key component of health, and food and related topics have become of great interest to health professionals and sociologists.Sociological Imagination

What C. Wright Mills called the ‘sociological imagination’ is the recognition that what happens in an individual’s life and may appear purely personal has social consequences that actually reflect much wider public issues. Human behaviour and biography shapes society, and vise-versa and one cannot be properly understood without the other. If a sociologist was trying to understand two friends having coffee for example then they would examine it as social interaction, as acceptable drug taking, and as part of a complex mix of social and economic processes. They might also assess the fact that coffee is produced by the poor but drunk mainly by the better off, they would examine the history of coffee drinking. (Giddens, 2001).

This paper will examine why it may be the case that diet is increasingly being viewed as a key component of health, and food and related topics have become of great interest to health professionals and sociologists. It will begin with a brief explanation of sociology’s interests and will then examine why diet, food and related topics have generated such interest. Finally, the paper will investigate this question through the use of the sociological imagination.

The study of society became an important feature of academic life in the nineteenth century. It is generally acknowledged that the founding fathers of sociology are Marx, Durkheim, and Weber. Auguste Comte was also an important figure and actually coined the term ‘sociology’ Sociologists study people’s lives and try to understand the nature of reality through people.

One of the reasons that diet has become of increasing significance within social science discourse is due to the fact that sociologists regard the ways in which people eat, and also what they eat, as a social practice. Giddens (2001) argues that in all societies eating and drinking are most often accompanied by social interaction, celebrations and rituals and this makes them of interest to sociologists. Recognisable changes in eating habits are also of interest to sociologists because these changes signify other changes in the social structure. Choosing to eat a particular food can play a part in shaping the market for that kind of food. This then affects the lives of those who produce it, some of whom may live on the other side of the world.

Sociologists have long argued that the medical establishment operates on a bio-medical model of health which holds that disease is located in the person and health can be restored through appropriate medical treatment. Sociologists, on the other hand, argue that health and illness are socially and culturally defined and they, along with many health professionals, believe that human beings make choices which affect their health and well-being. Improvements in health during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the result of higher standards of public hygiene. Clean drinking water and the effective disposal of sewage helped reduce the number of deaths from infectious diseases, the infant mortality rate also dropped (Bilton et al, 1996).

The gap between rich and poor, or the connections between social class and other factors such as health have been of sociological concern since Marx’s work on capitalism. Those people who belong to higher social classes tend to have better life chances, be more healthy, and live longer than those lower down the social scale. The better off people are, the more inclined they are to eat well and healthily (Giddens, 2001). In the Third World, vaccination programmes are not as effective as they should be because people do not have enough to eat. Being well fed is the best way of preventing disease that there is and this is one reason why diet is of concern to health professionals and sociologists. Increasingly it has also become a factor in government policy making. The Black Report of 1980 was commissioned by the Conservative Government to investigate class inequalities in health (Townsend et al 1988).. Margaret Thatcher was unhappy with the findings which carried an enormous cost factor for the government (Giddens, 2001). Her Government introduced marketisation into the health service thus producing a model of providers and purchasers of care. During the past twenty years there have been significant changes in policy making because of concerns over the costs of public health. Governments have tended to focus on public health campaigns such as healthy eating programmes in an attempt to get people to take more responsibility for their health and to save public money. Thus some of the focus that health practitioners and sociologists place on diet and food is as a result of, or in response to, changing Government policies and the production of Government White Papers such as the 1992 Health of the Nation paper.

In the nineteenth century a large number of deaths were a result of what has been called ‘the disease of poverty’ (Browne, 1998:443) because most of those who died were poor and badly nourished. In the twentieth century the diseases of poverty have been replaced by what have been called the diseases of affluence, where people eat too much of the wrong things, for example foods that are high in fat and cholesterol, and smoke and drink too much (Browne, 1998). It is linked to over-consumption in other areas because as people earn more money they are able to afford more but these consumption patterns are not only detrimental to individuals but also to our environment. More than two thirds of the world are starving and have a shortfall in their crop supplies and an increasing population. Yet in the Western world where population growth is much slower there are often huge surpluses of grain (Giddens, 2001). Some large companies have seen a market here for genetically modified foods. They say that the introduction of gm foods could transform the world’s food supplies.

Lifestyle choices like exercise and diet are regarded as a key factor in whether a person is ill or healthy. In modern industrialised societies the problem is not caused by too little food, but too much food that is not good for us. So we have new forms of illness such as obesity, stomach ulcers, diabetes and heart disease where more people suffer from chronic illness than they may have done in the past. These diseases are largely preventable but in recent years there has been increased public concern over the food supply. Scares such as CJD and BSE in beef along with a number of outbreaks of food poisoning have caused considerable concern and some health professionals have blamed asthma on poor diet. Cancer has also been linked in a government report (1997) to the type of food that people eat. The branding and marketing of ‘junk’ food has been highly successful. Huge multi-national companies such as MacDonalds are not just selling fast food, they are selling a life-style that is attractive to many young people. Sociologically it’s interesting if only for the resulting standardisation, the recognisable brand. You can find a MacDonalds in almost every country in the world and know, at least to some extent, what you are going to get. In Britain we eat a much more processed diet where food often has colourings flavourings and preservatives that are harmful to health, and produce what has beome a medicalised condition of hyperactivity in children. Although some health professionals recommend a change in diet the medical establishment has tried to ‘cure’ it with a drug called Ritalin rather than drawing attention to the social causes (Giddens, 2001).

Why do we eat unhealthy foods? The foods that are good for us, such as organic fruit and vegetables and wholemeal bread are more expensive than mass produced processed food. Multi-national firms control the food market and they are more concerned with making a profit than anything else. Healthy foods are also a money spinners and the health food industry makes a huge profit on vitamins and food supplements. As Browne (1998) argues health itself has become big business, companies sell it and at the same time they continue to produce the types of food that contribute to health problems, disease, and death.

Conclusion

Through the use of the sociological imagination this paper has investigated why sociologists and health professionals have taken such an interest in diet as a key component of health and in food and related subjects. There appear to be a number of explanations, not least the increasing inequalities in healthcare provision and the continuing differences in life chances between rich and poor. The marketisation of health has also generated a number of government policies that focus on personal responsibility, personal choice, and healthy eating programmes. Sociologists have always been interested in the power differentials at work in society. Bilton et al (1996) contend that the medical profession have had considerable power in controlling definitions of health and illness. Public concern with health, diet, and debates about food will continue to be of interest to sociologists because they argue that these things are socially and culturally produced and it is becoming increasingly more evident that these discourses are closely allied with major economic and political interests.

The social facts surround us everywhere and affect our lives. To begin with, the social fact is a single, socially significant event or a set of homogeneous events that are typical for some areas of social life, or specific to certain social processes. The main attributes of the social facts are their independence, objective existence, and their coercive nature, i.e. an ability to exert the external pressure on the individual. It is a collective representation of the facts or a collective consciousness. The social facts are a course of actions, ways of thinking and feeling that exist outside the individual (i.e. objectively). These factors possess the normative coercive power in relation to him/her. Into the acknowledgement of the above stated information about social facts it is necessary to add that according to Faraganis (2000), “by a social fact, Durkheim (as a person who defined the social fact in sociology) is referring to facts, concepts, expectations that come not from individual responses and preferences, but that come from the social community which socializes each of its members. Although we might embrace the normative community behavior and share its values, we are constrained by its very existence.”

The main purpose of this work is to reveal a sociological explanation about a social fact. Among different social facts, it is possible to emphasize the pathological social fact associated with the social problems, which is called suicide. The term suicide is related to the social fact because it is a single public event, typically for one or another sphere of real life. The suicide rate is one of the most important sociological exponents of the society’s well-being. Global science has been already established that the act of suicide accumulated a number of the factors: social, economic, political, philosophical, psychological, and religious.

The rate of suicide in Canada is historically similar to or slightly higher than in the USA. Around 3800 suicides occur in Canada each year.

Suicide is a deliberate act of removal from life under the influence of acute traumatic situations in which life itself loses its meaning for humans. Suicidal can be called any external or internal activity, sent by a desire to take his/her own life. People who commit suicide usually suffer from a severe mental pain or are under stress and a sense of inability to cope with their problems. They often suffer from mental illness, especially major depression, and look ahead without any hope.

Suicidal behavior is the suicidal activity’s manifestation that includes the suicide attacks, attempts and manifestations.

Thus, a situation when death is caused by people who may not be aware of their actions or control them, and as a result of a person’s negligence are not related to suicide, but to the accidents.

There are three main types of suicidal behavior: true suicide, demonstrative suicide and hidden suicide.

The true suicide is never spontaneous, though sometimes it looks quite unexpected. Such a suicide is always preceded by depressed mood, depression, or just thinking about leaving this life. Sometimes, even the closest people do not notice this person’s condition (especially if you frankly do not want it). It is obvious that in many cases true suicide is a result of prolonged depression. And any depression is characterized by a focus on past, not the future. The man on the verge of true suicide somehow appeals to the past, clinging to it, but cannot find the picture of own future. Therefore, the “risk group” for suicides includes teenagers and old people.

The main part of the suicides is nothing but an attempt to engage in dialogue: only, of course, that’s so unique and totally unsuitable for this method. Most suicides usually do not want to die, but they kill themselves only in order to reach out to someone, pay attention to their problems, to call for help. The psychiatrists often call this phenomenon “demonstrative suicide.” Researchers stated that propensity to demonstrative suicide sometimes seen as a specific way of manipulation.

The hidden suicide is the destiny of those who understand that suicide is not the most dignified way to solve the problem, but nevertheless other way again cannot be found. These people do not choose an open withdrawal from life on their own, but they choose so-called “due to suicidal behavior.” For example, this is risky driving behaviors, exercises in extreme sports or dangerous business, and volunteer trips to hot spots, and even drug addiction.

Among the major problems of modern Suicidology, the most relevant problems are the features of suicidal behavior associated with alcohol and drugs, the role of family and loneliness factors in the genesis of suicidal behavior and the problem of mental disease and suicide. In any suicide situation, there are usually two operating entities: the person who is thinking about suicide and his/her surroundings, or a specific person with whom he or she somehow tries to establish a dialogue. The increased suicide risk factors can be divided into extra-and intrapersonal. Extra personal suicide risk factors include: psychosis and borderline mental disorders; suicidal statements, repeated suicidal acts; post suicide; adolescence; extreme, especially so-called marginal living conditions; loss of prestige; conflict traumatic situation; drunkenness, drug use. Intrapersonal suicide risk factors can be identified: idiosyncrasies; reduced tolerance to emotional stress and frustrating factors; inadequacy of communication systems; inadequate (overstated, understated or unstable) self-esteem; lack or loss of targets or values underlying the basis of life, etc.

There are the features of suicide, which include: the desire to be alone is natural and normal for every person. But beware, when closed, the isolation become deep and long, when a person withdraws into himself, eschews the former friends and allies. Each of us is naughty from time to time. This condition can be caused by weather, well-being, fatigue, office or family problems, etc. But when a person’s mood almost every day varies between the excitation and decay, there is cause for alarm. There are strong evidences that these emotional fluctuations are the harbingers of death. Depression is a deep emotional decline, which is showed in everyone differently. Some people become isolated, but at the same time, they disguise their feelings so well that it is impossible to notice the changes in their behavior. The only way in such cases is a direct and open conversation with a man. This is a proven fact that a lot of acts of suicide are caused by anger, rage, and cruelty to others. An absence or, conversely, abnormally increased appetite are closely linked to self-destruction thoughts and should always be considered to be a criterion for the potential hazards. In addition to the above-mentioned information, it is necessary to add that “aˆ¦ alcohol and drug use disorders have been found to be strongly related to suicide risk” (Ilgen, et. al, 2011).

People, who plan their suicide, hand out their own things to family, friends, or relatives. As experience shows, this sinister campaign is a direct forerunner of a coming disaster. In each case, it is recommended to have a serious and frank conversation with that person in order to clarify the intentions of potential suicides.

The reasons for suicide are complex and numerous. The reasons can be sought in biological, genetic, psychological and social spheres of a person. Despite the fact that people usually commit suicide in extreme situations, such as divorce, loss of work or study, most experts suggest that it is rather a reason to commit suicide than its cause.

Most people who kill themselves suffer from depression, which often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Since depression often underlies suicide, the study of the causes of depression can help scientists to understand the causes of suicide. “About 90% of suicides occur in persons with a clinically diagnosable psychiatric disorder” (Tondo, et. al., 2011).

Despite the fact that some studies suggest that suicides of famous people can play an exemplary role model, especially among teenagers, this point of view is not fully proven. However, there is some evidence that the famous people’s suicides can be a powerful incentive to others’ suicides, especially among those in the range of 13 to 19 years. In addition, the causes of teen suicides are poverty, family relationships and with their peers, alcohol and drugs, unrequited love, experienced in childhood abuse, social isolation, mental disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and so on. The number of suicides among young people has increased over the last decade. It is not superfluous to mention that early marriages do not save young people (aged 15-19) from the risk of suicide. This is primarily due to the fact that “young” marriages are more likely an attempt, not always successful, to solve some other, unrelated to marriage problems, for example, get rid of the unbearable situation in family.

Taking everything into account, it is possible to conclude that suicide is the result of the personality’s social – psychological disadaptation in modern society. Psychological crises arise as a result of the intimate, family and personal, social and creative conflicts. In order to avoid the manifestation of suicidal behavior, it is necessary to provide people, especially teenagers with social support by including family, school, friends, etc. It is useful to carry out socio-psychological training issues, provide individual and group lessons to raise self-esteem, development of an adequate relationship to self, empathy, to increase self-control, replacement of “significant others”, to develop the motivation in order to achieve success. It can be based on the behavioral skills’ trainings.