Individuals who never come into contact with other societies may live their entire lives without the slightest idea that other societies exist, much less that other social norms and practices besides the ones to which they are accustomed as their reality are possible.
This element of human reality is also responsible for some of the worst recorded human behavior. On one hand, certain parts of human moral thinking is inherent as a natural part of us (Kluger 2007). On the other hand, so much of human morality is determined by subjective social constructs, that practically anything is acceptable to us, even to those of us who are inherently inclined to be good people.
History has shown many times that if the social construct within a given society presents cannibalism, or slavery, or the sacrifice of virgins to volcanoes, or even the systematic mechanized mass-murder of millions as acceptable, few individuals will have the capacity to consider those norms objectively, or from outside of the social constructs of their society. In that regard, the eminent 20th century scientist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein made the following eloquent observation in a 1946 essay about American Slavery and the 20th century racial prejudices and inequality of black Americans:
large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition - besides inherited aptitudes and qualities - which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our conduct and convictions." (Einstein 1946)
It is precisely that phenomenon that explains how the learned men who drafted the United States Constitution could have included a specific provision detailing the rights of slave owners...
In those cases, "deviance" from socially accepted values would be considered a positive response rather than "delinquency" in an objective sense. Alternate ideas, such as differential association formulated by Sutherland (Pfohl 1994), in particular, demonstrate that even in contemporary American society, social values are extremely subjective and that specific populations - most notably, incarcerated prisoners - form their own societal norms and shared values that contradict those of larger society and
Take as an example McDonald's venture to extend its business operations in countries within the Asian region. Through globalization, the company has learned to adapt to the culture of the country it invests in. Examples of such adjustments are the introduction of rice in most of the meal offerings of McDonald's in the Philippines, inclusion of spicy foods in McDonald's menus in India, and the establishment of large McDonald's buildings
Sociology/Social Work Questions Explain why children in the early-school-aged period may be especially vulnerable to fluctuations in self-esteem and feelings of "worthlessness." Young children, in the early school aged years are in a developmental stage that is focused on feelings of identity and self-esteem (Nutbrown & Clough, 2009, p 191). It is during the early years of school that children begin to form concepts of identity through a sense of belonging as
In its current form in the U.S., prostitution is associated with high rates of criminality, but that is likely a function of its illegal status more than of anything inherent in prostitution. Prostitution is also associated with high risks of STDs, but a closer examination of the specific factors to which that is attributable strongly suggest that legalizing prostitution can effectively eliminate that negative element. Ultimately, prevailing negative attitudes
In terms of the plainness of gendered inequalities in the health and longevity of women, compared with men, the majority world demands our notice. The world-wide toll in terms of women's raised levels of mortality and morbidity corroborates that limited or negligible access to political power, land-ownership, education, sexual self-determination and earning ability has detrimental bodily effects (Bradby, 2009). While sociologists have long studied the aspect of illness, it has
According to NIDA (2007), tobacco use resulted in the death of approximately 100 million people in the twentieth century, with a projected total approaching 1 billion by the end of this century at the current rate of usage. Nevertheless, NIDA still currently considers "drug" addiction as a disease, despite its contradictory failure to ascribe the same characterization to nicotine addiction. In justifying its position that addiction is a "disease of the
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