The sociology interview involved Professor Davis Owen and Agatha Miles, two individuals from different social classes, concerning their personal and social life in consideration of their position in society. Professor Davis Owen is a 6ft5 White American who works as a part-time lecturer in about four universities and a consultant on biochemical sciences. Professor Owen belongs to the high class in the society as he owns several estates and has a garage of high-end cars. On the other hand, Agatha Miles is an African American lady who works as a part-time chef and a gardener. Agatha belongs to the lower class in society as she just gets enough to settle her bills with nothing much to save or invest. However, she intends to expand her garden to meet the growing demand for fresh fruits from a neighboring high-end estate.
Professor Davis was born into a wealthy family and attended some of the best schools in the country. After school, he was designated as an interim manager in one of his families' milk processing firms, where he worked for five years. Owen's father was running a state corporation, and he managed to secure a departmental manager's position for Owen in another federal corporation managed by one of his friends. Since the corporation where Owen was posted had predominantly African American employees, very few questioned his ascension to power regardless of being new in the industry. Also, most of the employees in the corporation were women who had more than ten years of experience in the industry. From these stratifies, Professor Davis is a beneficiary of the high social class that offered the privilege of good education and employment through social connections. Besides, Davis's gender and race helped him ascend to leadership at the expense of other more experienced black women.
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On the contrary, Agatha was born to a single mother in one of the suburbs of California. When Agatha was five, her mother was arrested for alleged drug trafficking and jailed for 18 years. Agatha was sponsored by a well-wisher and did a bachelor's degree in computer engineering. However, she failed to secure employment regardless of sending countless applications to almost every organization and company she knew. According to these stratifies, Agatha is a victim of racism and gender discrimination in employment which occurs when employers prefer a specific race and gender regardless of the other being equally or more qualified. Also, Agatha lacks the social advantage to have people who can assist her secure employment since she is from a poor background.
Professor Owen's life follows the functionalist perspective. According to Kendall (2013), the functionalist perspective assumes that society is stable and has a consensus on values, beliefs, and behavioral practices. I chose the functionalist perspective since it explains the interconnectedness of the society regardless of the differences in social status. The functionalist perspective gives the impression of people who are satisfied with their positions and status in society. Professor Owen portrays the functionalist perspective since he belongs to the high class in the society that has the privilege of having the best in the society and leading the others. Owen's race, gender, and social influence enable him to secure employment and become a departmental head without significant opposition. The functionalist society has a consensus that positions whites, males, and wealthy individuals in higher positions than the rest of the society. Owen shows the dysfunction in the society that operates depending on pre-determined systems that have evolved to be the norm and culture.
Agatha fits the conflict perspective of sociology as she represents the disadvantaged people in society. The conflict perspective claims that different groups in society are in continuous struggles for power and control over the available scarce resources (Kendall, 2013). The conflict perspective extends Marx’s theory that the different groups in society must compete since only the strongest survive. Marx’s theory explains the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class in an attempt to create power and prestige (Kendall, 2013). The conflict perspective explains my perception of the life of Agatha in relation to her environment in California and, generally, the United States. The conflict theory explains Agatha's unemployment since she is a black woman from the low class in society. Agatha could not be employed as the people in the high class of life intends to maintain the social gap since it preserves their power and control. Also, male employers were unwilling to employ Agatha on the basis of sex since society is a patriarch and opposed to female empowerment. Engineering courses are often associated with men, and therefore, incorporating a woman would bridge the social gap that patriarch men intend to keep to maintain their control over women. Therefore, Agatha decided to engage in low-earning jobs, which seemed more acceptable to many in her social class. As Kendall (2009) notes, the conflict perspective in social classes makes people from low-income societies believe they are powerless.
Interviews as a Research Methodology
Interviews form a critical part of research as they provide valid and reliable data. They have high return rates as the interviewee provides instant answers to the interviewer, thus minimizing cases of unreturned research equipment. The high return rate also includes fewer incomplete responses and higher accuracy, making the collected data more significant. In interviews, the interviewee can request clarifications for questions that would otherwise be left unanswered (Alshenqeeti, 2014). Interviews are more accurate since a researcher does not have to reconstruct how a participant might have understood the question to provide a particular answer. Besides, interviews create a mutual understanding that uncovers information inaccessible through other methodologies such as questionnaires. Lastly, interviews are relatively cheap since they require fewer resources, especially if minimal movement is involved. Researchers have options of choosing between writing the responses and recoding the interview for further analysis.
However, interviews are disadvantageous since they are expensive and limited to small-scale studies. Interviews that involve a lot of movement and a large sample size may be time-consuming and unsuitable for studies with a short timeframe. Therefore, interviews are only suitable for small-scale studies within a limited geographical space beyond which they might be more expensive or impractical. Moreover, interviews are not certainly anonymous and can include bias and inconsistency (Alshenqeeti, 2014). Interviews leave room for subjectivity and perceptions that can alter how and what information is collected. Also, it is difficult for interviewers to be consistent in how they conduct the interviews, especially if the study has a large sample size.
Culture and Social Position
Owen's portrayed a culture of success and social connection that related to his high-class position in society. According to Miyamoto (2017), people from high social classes show higher self-esteem and more control over situations. Though with the help of his family, Owen upheld his family’s culture of success and excelled to become a professor. On the other hand, Agatha depicts the psychological manifestation of inferiority that positions her among the lower class in society. Agatha was unable to overcome the cultural beliefs of African Americans and women being weaker and less competitive than men and whites. Regardless of holding a degree in engineering, the cultural aspects of feminism, racism, and poverty confined her to low-paying jobs and lower classes of society.
References
Alshenqeeti, H. (2014). Interviewing as a Data Collection Method: A Critical Review. English Linguistics Research , 3 (1), 39-45. https://doi.org/10.5430/elr.v3n1p39
Kendall, D. (2013). Sociology in Our Times. Independence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing.
Miyamoto Y. (2017). Culture and social class. Current Opinion in Psychology , 18 , 67–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.07.042
