BCA1211 INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY

Social conditioning of symbols compels us to STOP at the sign and we expect others to abide too Human culture is theoretically a collection of symbols to which we assign shared meaning. This shared meaning allows our brains to efficiently categorize information, and enables us to work together as groups that make up society. Symbolic Interactionism is the sociological school of thought that focuses on the micro-level view of society, and seeks to rationalize how humans assign subjective meaning to symbols, people, events, place and supernatural phenomena etc through social experience. It is as George Herbert Mead posited—our sense of self  ("I" and "Me") is constructed by how others react to our person and behavior. Ubiquitous symbols in our daily lives are of course traffic signs, especially red ones such as STOP, YIELD or NO TRESPASSING that forewarn us of danger if we do not obey them. The scientific explanation for them being red is the color has ...

The cynical view of police as protectors of the elites has spurred PR campaigns to flip the public perception The police as the civilian law enforcement arm of the state always seems to take a bad rap. While its fundamental function does not change in either democracies or dictatorships, the scope of policing powers can be expanded or retracted based on how the government perceives the state of order in the country. In societies where the general public attitude toward police officers is mistrustful, such as in Malaysia, the government seeks to rehabilitate their image through positive PR messages, such as the cheery female cartoon police officer in the above picture. In the broader sense, functionalists view police as crucial to the smooth functioning of society. Yet whereas crime is dysfunctional, a limited amount is necessary and even a good thing. Conflict theorists conversely view crime as the societal manifestation of the wealth gap between the haves and have-nots, and furth...

Old Towns and Nasi Kandars help stratify society based on earning power  “Nasi Kandar” restaurants under various franchise names and Old Town White Coffee shops are everywhere in Ipoh. Though their clientele can cross-pollinate, the fact that Old Town food items are priced at least twice that of Nasi Kandars means they are manifest examples of social stratification in the food and beverage industry. The difference in price is visibly reflected in the style of décor and quality of service. Moreover, you can sometimes see scruffy looking and shabbily dressed patrons at Nasi Kandars, but Old Town’s have a distinctly middle-class feel and hence appropriately dressed customer. The root cause of social stratification is earning potential born of demographic markers like education level, gender, racial identity and family background among others. Naturally, functionalists and social conflict theorists view stratification in vastly different terms. Functional theorists bel...

Thai-themed massage shops in Ipoh are often fronts for prostitution The so-called “Thai Reflexology” massage shops that pepper Ipoh are in fact fronts for prostitution. Prostitution is often called the oldest profession in the world, yet is among the least acceptable to society. The stigmas attached to sex workers in conservative countries especially rival those of murderers and pedophiles. Poll the people around you on their gut reaction to prostitution, and rarely will a positive description make it to the top ten by popularity.  Structural Functionalism and Social Conflict approaches to sociology, as you can imagine, diverge wildly in how they rationalize prostitution. Functionalism believes prostitution exists because it fulfills at least two roles in societies. One, it is an avenue of income for impoverished women who would otherwise be pushed on to the streets and be at the mercy of criminal gangs and inclement weather. Think single mothers who are struggling t...