This essay will reflect on the key concepts I have learned to date through Explorations in Sociology. My learning will be demonstrated by defining key concepts and relating them first to personal experience and then to recent media articles. I will reveal how my thinking has changed when I look at the world through my "sociological glasses" by highlighting the questions I have asked and how I have attempted to answer them through sociological concepts and theories. I will follow the learning as it is approached chronologically: social structures and social interactions focusing on roles and status, culture and socialization and class and social stratification. The media articles I chose to aid my learning include: an investigation into child abuse by Catholic clergy, a documentary called Miss Representation, and a social scientist's perspective on a course in Australia. By examining each topic, this essay will demonstrate my understanding of key sociological concepts and how they have affected my perspective when confronted with issues through media articles. The second week covered the two levels of analysis generally used in sociology; macrosociology which explores the social structures of society and microsociology which studies social interactions and the way people behave towards each other (Henslin, Possamai & Possamai-Inesedy 2011). It was through this week's reading that my thoughts on how society affects individuals were challenged, as I became aware of the impact of social structures such as culture, roles and social institutions on identity. The concept of roles and statuses from a sociological perspective caught my interest and I began to think about how my own identity has been shaped by the many statuses I occupy and the subsequent roles I assumes...... middle of paper..... .ss is not based on cultural activities or training. These questions would not have been asked just a few weeks ago, I now have the ability to evaluate social issues and draw my own conclusions based on my understanding of the concepts learned so far in this unit. Throughout this essay, I have reflected on three sociological concepts of social structures and social interaction - focusing on roles and status, culture and socialization, and social and class stratification. By defining each concept, I have demonstrated my understanding of these key sociological components. In addition to this, I further demonstrated my learning by relating these key concepts to my personal experience and recent media articles. I also offered some opinions on the concepts and identified changes in my thinking as a result of my newly acquired sociological knowledge..