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Essay / The Ohio State University - Mansfield
Sociology is presented to us throughout our lives, even before we realize the meaning of sociology itself. Sociology studies how we, as human beings, develop and how society shapes who we are. Sociology shapes us on a daily basis, it is not something that stops; we change without even realizing it. Auguste Comte, “The Father of Sociology,” referred to sociology as the study of society and wanted to reform society through observation. Sociologists study social and societal behavior to better understand why something happens, why certain things happen to a certain social group, and predict what might happen in the future, such as actions and behaviors. **In our childhood, the shows and movies we watched back then even contained sociology. That being said, this has been demonstrated to us in our childhood, youth, adolescence, young adulthood, etc. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essaySociology shapes us daily, it is not something that stops; we change without even realizing it. When I was younger, before I even knew what sociology was, when I watched “The Breakfast Club”; I knew that society had shaped the opinions the five children had about each other. I watched it again when I decided it was the film I wanted to use that showed a good amount of sociological concepts. Seeing it now with what I have learned so far in this course, I have seen many concepts and things that I would not have before. “The Breakfast Club” is a film about an eight-hour Saturday detention meeting with five children. Their principle asked them to write a thousand-word article to describe who they are. He added that they actually “get to know something about themselves.” “These five children all belonged to different social groups, which is an example of the status a person can be in on a societal level. The “scale” that would be labeled as assigned, achieved, or master status. They each had a different label: "the mastermind, the locker, the princess, the criminal and the athlete." At first, I noticed a lot of stereotypes, from what other people wore to what they brought food for lunch. Two of the detainees recognized that they had the same social status and sat at the same table. While the three other students were each at their table without recognizing each other. Of course, they would never admit it, but they were all the same. I realized this over time throughout their detention together. At first, none of the students (apart from those of the same social class) had any intention of socializing with each other, nor were they happy with each other's company. This is an example of class conflict, it is one of the three main theories of Karl Marx. Marx believed that class conflict was the root of all bad things that happen in society. Class conflict is seen as a conflict between capitalists and the working class. Throughout the film, there are many different examples of class conflict involved, due to the different social groups and the labels they have assigned to each other. Since the detention lasted five hours, the high school students had no choice but to listen to each other's stories and enjoy each other's company. These children were all different and had their own.