Nossiter, Adams. (2019). Yet Another Unsolved Murder Stirs Corsica Against Its ‘Mafia.’ Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/world/europe/corsica-unsolved-murders-mafia.html?searchResultPosition=1
In this article, Nossiter (2019) examines the cases of unresolved murders that are conducted by criminal gangs engaged in both trade and killings for anyone who dares to expose them. The author analyzes the murder by the sea in Corsica, France. In this place, many cases of crimes occur with unresolved shootings taking place along the isolated villages along the mountain and island. The description of uncontrolled crimes in the capital of France represents the sociological theory of crime and deviance in society and the concept of social control. The high rates of crimes in society can be attributed to weak social control that is based on lack of strong social norms and values that guide society towards moral values and respect.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In sociology, deviance and crimes are considered to be behaviors and actions that are against the norms of the society. Social control refers to the regulations of the set norms and values that restrain the behavior of people. Social control is a necessary part of society to regulate unrequired behaviors such as crime. Because social control exists in place to help control unrequired human behaviors, the existence of crime and deviant behaviors can be attributed to weak social control in society. In sociology, crime is viewed as deviant behavior that violates the required norms and cultural standards set by society. Social control uses various strategies to control crimes and deviant behaviors in society. The first social control system used to control crime is the informal control, which is mainly based on the conformity to the norms and values of the society through the process of socialization. This is majorly enforced by the family members and peers. On the other hand, formal social control is based on the use of police and government agencies to ensure there is social order. Those who fail to conform to the required standards are taken through disciplinary actions based on the laws of the land. When both the formal and informal social control gets weak, people begin to violate the norms and laws, engage in criminal activities, and deviant behaviors.
The existence of criminal activities such as murder, as presented in the article is an indication of weak informal and formal social controls. The sociological causes of crime can also be examined in the article. The high rates of crimes in Corsica can be related to the sociological theory of social learning, peer influence, and external influences. One of the major causes of crimes in society has been examined through social disorganization theory. This theory explains the causes of crimes in society based on cultural and ecological differences that are shaped by the existence nature of the social order. Social disorganization theory emerges from the idea that society lacks self-regulatory methods for governing the moral values in the society. This can further be related to weak social control, which allows people to develop deviant behaviors.
This article, therefore, relates to the sociological theory of crime, deviance and social control. This is because it examines the existence of uncontrolled crimes in a society which leads to increased murders and trade in illegal drugs. Murder is a crime in every community, and engaging in any murder and robbery amounts to deviation from the norms and values, an indication of weak social control. Both the society and the government have failed to instill the required moral values and norms that can restore the social order and tame deviance.
Stevenson, Alexandra, and Chen, Elsie. (2019). In China, Working Mothers Say They are Fired or Sidelined. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/business/china-mothers-discrimination-working-.html?searchResultPosition=1
This article presents the sidelining and discrimination of women in society. It shows how Chinese women get mistreated and denied their rights to fair employment and equity in their engagement with employers (Stevenson and Chen, 2019). The issue of gender inequality and discrimination has existed in many societies for long. This article is a representation of gender inequality and unequal treatment of men and women in societies. Sociologists study the persistence of gender inequality and discrimination based on the feminism theory. The rise of women suffrage and activists for the rights of women in society has made great achievements towards the realization of equality in society.
The feminism perspective in sociology examines the gender stratification that is achieved through gender stratification where the rights of men and women are not equal. Feminism theory uses the conflict approach to analyze the inequalities and gender roles as well as the means that are used to maintain inequality against women. While feminist theory focuses on understanding the social roles of women, it also examines the issue of gender inequality and the interests of women in society. The unequal treatment of women at the workplace, as presented in the article represents gender inequality that exists in society. The unequal treatment of men and women in society can be examined in the perspectives of social stratification, which entails dividing the members of the society based on social class and gender. Despite working in the same organization with same qualifications as men, women continue to experience unequal treatment and privileges. This can be seen in the discriminatory application of law, pay variation and unfair job distributions. The outcome of this is a long series of inequality and difference in the income gap that persists for years within the community.
The sideling of women and unfair firing from the job have been studied by many sociologists. Even though employment laws are there to apply for both men and women, women tend to fall many victims than men. The authors of the article present information about the unfair firing of Chinese women from employment. This shows the extent of gender inequality and stereotypes that continue to dominate society despite the calls for gender equality. By studying the existence of gender inequality in society using feminist theory, sociologists can provide solutions to achieving a fair and equal society where people are not given unequal treatment due to their gender. Sociology is concerned with the study of the patterns of relationships through social interactions, which include the gender roles, equality, and rights of both men and women. By portraying the existence of women mistreatment in job market, the authors of the article present a sociological aspect of gender and gender equality as well as rights of women in society.
Crawford, T., and Babwin, D. (2019). “ I was Appalled”: Black Customers Recount Alleged Racist Request at Buffalo Wild Wings near Chicago. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/11/05/buffalo-wild-wings-racism-complaint-illinois-incident/4174651002/
According to Crawford and Babwin (2019), a group of black customers was allegedly asked to change tables at Buffalo Wild Wings due to their color. According to one of the people present at the restaurant, he walked into the restaurant with a group of 20 people, including children under the age of 5. But on arrival, one of the hosts inquired about their race, arguing that there is a regular customer who does not like sitting around black people. The information presented in this article represents racial discrimination and inequality based on the ethnicity of an individual. The sociology of racism refers to the study of the relationships between racism, racial discrimination and the existence of racial inequality. The ideology of racial discrimination is based on the presumed cultural or biological superiority of particular racial groups over the other and which is used to justify the inferiority of treatment or the social position of other groups. The whole process of racialization, where people are grouped in society based on their physical appearances such as skin color constitute a race and creates a social valuation of the racial groups. In sociology, the social construction of race forms a major area of inquiry of racism in society. Racism is a social construction of race where one group seeks superiority over the other and uses race as a justification for unequal treatment of others in society.
The major element of discrimination is racial prejudice, which is a formed attitude by one group against the other through constructed racial stereotypes, all which combine to form racial disadvantage to the other group. Racial inequality in society occurs when one particular ethnic group is denied some privilege or is discriminated from getting into a particular place due to their color. The case in the article presents a clear occurrence of racial discrimination and racial prejudice, where one ethnic group is disadvantaged due to their color in society. The major goal of racial inequality is to portray dominance by one group over the other in what creates conflict in a social setting. Different social groups seek dominance over each other, and one group, the dominant one, will utilize racial prejudice as a tool to express their dominance over the weaker group. As a result, the process continues to become a society-wide accepted issue.
Sociologists also study racial discrimination at the institutional levels, which represents a wide shift from the individual beliefs and attitudes towards race, and to the social processes within the institutions as reflected in the policies, norms, and organizations. The case in the article is both individual and institutional levels of racial discrimination. Institutional racism can include a firm’s policies that restrict particular races from getting into the organization and is different from individual racism, which represents personal attitudes and beliefs about a particular racial group. The sociologist has examined various types of racism in the society to help understand how the social construct of race leads to unequal treatment by one group over the other. An example of racism is avoidance, where people choose the comfort of one’s racial group rather than the interaction with an out-group. In such a case, people avoid interactions with people of other racial groups and instead prefer to socialize with own group. The racial discrimination about the people of color as described in the article represents how people exclude other groups from their social interactions due to differences in color and ethnicity. Such acts create racial prejudice and stereotypes and spread through social interactions s one group seeks dominance over the other. The outcome is usually negative to the out-group, who may experience inequality in a wide range of areas within the society.
Hauck G. and Ortiz, Jorge L. (2019). Chicago teenager accused of shooting a 7-year old Girl on Halloween Faces Court Hearing Monday. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/03/halloween-shooting-chicago-teen-suspect-faces-court-hearing/4149838002/
In this article, a 15-year-old boy faces attempted murder charges in connection to the shooting a Chicago girl. The 7-year old girl sustained serious injuries in the chest and neck (Hauck and Ortiz, 2019). The article reports the case of juvenile crimes and violent acts that have continued to rise in society. Many cases of minors engaging in acts of gun violence and crimes continue to raise major concerns for society as a whole. What remains to be examined is the factors pushing the teens into aggression and acts of violent crimes. Both the parents and the society as a whole plays a major role in influencing the behaviors of teens. The environment in which a child is brought up and the parenting style, as well as social learning and interaction all, play major roles in determining the behavior of teens.
Sociologists use social learning theory to determine the causes of teen crimes and violence in the community. According to social learning theory, people teens tend to engage in crimes and violent acts due to their social interactions with other people. Social learning is the process by which people acquire, develop and practice new behaviors through the process of socialization. A child who belongs to a group of criminals is more likely to engage in crime as a result of social learning. Similarly, a child who watches a parent hit another person is more likely to engage in violent acts due to social learning through observations. Learning a deviant behavior is done through the association or exposure to others. An association with delinquent friends is more likely to increase delinquent behavior amongst teens. Social learning theory, therefore, asserts that the individuals learn to engage in certain deviant behaviors due to their association with others, and learning is enhanced when there is some reinforcement.
At the same time, social learning and modeling can be associated with learned aggression that makes children violent. Aggressive acts are learned through modeling the violence that is witnessed in the surrounding environment. Children are more likely to learn aggressive behaviors by observing people engage in aggressive acts. A child who grows up in an environment where there is a lot of observable violence and crimes is more likely to get reinforcement to engage in such aggressive acts. As in the case of the article, the violent acts demonstrated by the 15-year old boy can be explained with reference to social learning and modeling theory, which asserts that teens learn by observing what happens in their social environment and then go ahead to imitate the behavior if they find it rewarding. This, therefore, calls for the need to raise children in a conducive environment in which they learn positive acts in their social interactions.
The role of parenting in the aggressive acts of children cannot be ignored. This area brings in nature versus nurture debate, which disagrees on whether behaviors are inborn or learn from the social environment. Nurture holds that behaviors are learned from the environment through social interaction and observation, and therefore the environment that a child is raised has an impact on the behaviors. Those raised in a violent environment are more likely to become aggressive in the future. Even though some small portion of human attributes can be genetic, majority of behaviors are learned in a social setting through the process of social interactions. The way a parent raises a child is, therefore, important in determining their behaviors and how they relate with others in society. Both the social learning theory and modeling, as well as nature versus nurture debates, remain important in explaining the existence of deviant behaviors in society. The article, therefore, relates to the sociological theory of social learning and modeling in acquiring new behaviors in society.
Sweet, P. L. (2019). The Sociology of Gaslighting. American Sociological Review , 84 (5), 851-875.
Gaslighting refers to a “type of psychological abuse aimed at making victims seem or feel “crazy, creating a surreal interpersonal environment—has captured public attention” ( Sweet, 2019 ). Even though this area has been considered a psychological aspect, there is a growing study that links it to sociology, with its major elements being rooted in the social inequalities such as gender and intimate power relations. The perpetrators usually utilize the gender-based stereotypes as well as the institutional inequalities to manipulate the victims against their true realities. Based on the aspects of domestic violence, these articles explore the sociological concepts of gender stereotyping, “structural vulnerabilities related to race, nationality, and sexuality; and institutional inequalities against victims to erode their realities” ( Sweet, 2019 ). Gender-based stereotyping is one of the major social inequalities that exist in society and which aims to deny women equal rights as men. The perpetrators of gaslighting aim at mobilizing the existing structural inequalities to achieve their goal.
On the aspects of domestic violence, gaslighting can be used to prevent women from acquiring resources in society. Gender inequalities and domestic violence remain one of the major social issues affecting society. Sociologists define gender –stereotypes as the variation in the expectations of each gender based on some societal matters ( Sweet, 2019 ). It comes when certain gender is restricted from various roles and activities in society. Limiting the role of women in society has been studied from pre-colonial times and continues to be an area of concern for the sociologists. The sociological understanding of gaslighting needs the examination of the cultural as well as structural contexts in society. The existence of gender inequality in gaslighting has a key role in the deprivation of the women of their social powers in society. While both men and women are at risk of abuse, the existing inequality makes women at a higher risk than men to fall victim of gaslighting.
The ever-rising intimate violence in society requires a focus on the structure of gender in the community. The gender stereotypes and structural exclusion of women have made women more vulnerable to violence due to reduced social power. Most of the perpetrators of violence utilize feminism to execute the kinds of violence that they use to gain control over the victims. Gaining control over the victims through limitation of social control is used to ensure that they remain within these stereotypes boundaries. Violence is a form of social problem that not only occurs to women but also men. The perpetrators usually utilize a variety of means to control the victims, with social inequality has remained one of the structural factors that have been using especially in cases where women are the victims. The male perpetrators have been identified to use the traditional gender role and ideologies which tend to limit the social control of women.
This article presents sociological aspects and theories by focusing on gendered roles, gender inequalities, and feminism theory. It presents the different roles of women in society and the creation of gender stereotypes that are used to have control and limit the social participation of women. At the same time, it gives sociological aspects of gaslighting as it takes a wider view of the issue through domestic violence and the impact it has on the victims. Focusing on a wider societal view, gaslighting represents the use of gender stereotypes and the use of institutional structures to limit the role of women in society.
