Sociology Are People Just Puppets Essay - 922 Words

Are people puppets of society? Do we control the social system or does it control us? Society is said to mould individuals, but to what extent? Questions no one can properly answer, although different sociologists have different perspectives. We could argue `Yes, we are puppets of society or `No, we have free will and can make our own decisions Although the most preferred theory is that `We are influenced by society but our fate is not determined by it. All three argue whether we are puppets of society or not? (Social structure -Education) Many sociologists believe that we are controlled by society; they claim that social institutions, such as work, religion, the law, media, education, and family life, determine our behaviour.†¦show more content†¦A particular example of this was three years ago on the 11th of September; commercial planes that had been hijacked were flown into the World Trade Centre in New York killing thousands of people. Now, because the hijackers were revealed as being Muslims, often people show hate towards this religion. The terrorists were portrayed as being horrible, evil people and even today Muslims are being punished through abuse as people have the opinion that they are all malicious people. Another example is our opinion of Gays. Due to the rise in comedies and dramas containing gay people society has become a lot more accepting of them were as before, many people were homophobic and now people find it easier to explain that they are gay. Although it is not only our opinions that a re formed by media, our fashion sense is too. Whatever the best fashion designers are making and celebrities are wearing people want to copy and as soon as these fashions change people go out and buy the new style so that they can be seen as fashionable too. (Traffic Light Theory) Sociologists have created a good theory which helps show how the social structure theory controls our behaviour. It is known as the traffic light theory. We can tell people are robots because when we come to traffic lightsShow MoreRelatedEssay about Human Beings as the Puppets of Society1779 Words   |  8 PagesHuman Beings as the Puppets of Society Sociologists have long argued about whether or not we are controlled by the structure of the society in which we live, in other words, are we or are we not ‘puppets of society’. Social structure theorists such as Functionalists and conflict theorists like Marxists, believe that we are ‘puppets’ and that our behaviour is controlled by the structure of the society in which we live. Both theories suggest that people are controlled byRead MoreA Critical outline of the main features of Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism And Marxism1376 Words   |  6 PagesSociology, the study of society; has been adapted by many sociologists so as to put across their own theories. 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