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Access to expanded opportunities motivates the individual to break his or her existing social ties.
A third and final sociological concept manifested in the McMinden example is seen in the prevalence of drug addiction in the town. As noted by Manuel Mendoza, a Hispanic police officer who has made some inroads into the once almost entirely white town's law enforcement hierarchy, drug use crosses all racial divides, as the town's economic condition has worsened, so has the prevalence of addiction. Individuals who feel they have been denied the opportunity to fully enjoy the American Dream, particularly when confronted with increasingly unrealistic expectations of material success in the media, often experience what Robert K. Merton called anomie, or alienation. One of the ways individuals cope with a failure to achieve goals of success is "innovation. This response rejects normative means of achieving success and turns to deviant means, crimes in particular...while others use 'retreatism'" or dropping out through drug use (Deviance, 2010, Sociology Guide). While many biological or sociological factors may predispose an individual to use drugs more than other citizens, the example of McMinden underlines the fact...
There is a wide discrepancy in America that exists between what is considered 'normal' levels of social success, and what is really achievable by most, and when this gap is not met, individuals feel angry, frustrated, and seek out negative coping mechanisms like drugs. This alienation can be seen today, given the downturn in the economy, as many young people are 'dropping out' -- either through drugs, or sometimes less overtly by giving up looking for work, moving home with parents, and falling into depression. The sense that certain groups have been harder-hit by the recession has resulted in greater inner as well as outer suffering amongst the afflicted.
References
Deviance. (2010). Sociology Guide. Retrieved November 25, 2010 at http://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Deviance.php
Ethnocentrism. (2010). Sociology Guide. Retrieved November 25, 2010 at http://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Ethnocentrism.php
Urban sociological theory. (2010). Sociology Guide. Retrieved November 25, 2010 at http://www.sociologyguide.com/industrial-and-urban-society/Urban-sociological-theories.php
Borderless World Kenichi Ohmae is a business consultant and the author of various books including The Borderless World- Power and Strategy in the interlinked economy, which appeared in 1990, and deals with nature of business and economy in this era of rapid globalization. The main purpose of the book according to Ohmae is to illustrate the benefits of globalization by highlighting the role played by multi-nationals in creating and distributing
Sociology: Marx, Weber and Research Approach When Karl Marx observed how the Industrial Revolution, with its new capitalist economic system, was affecting society and social life, he was especially concerned with the division industrialization brought into society. In his view, this new revolution polarized society into the bourgeoisie (those who own the means of production, the factories and the land) and the much larger proletariat (the working class who actually perform
Sociology: Changing Societies in a Diverse World (Fourth Edition) George J. Bryjak & Michael P. Soroka Chapter One Summary of Key Concepts Sociology is the field of study which seeks to "describe, explain, and predict human social patterns" from a scientific perspective. And though Sociology is part of the social sciences (such as psychology and anthropology), it is quite set apart from the other disciplines in social science; that is because it emphasizes
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Take as an example McDonald's venture to extend its business operations in countries within the Asian region. Through globalization, the company has learned to adapt to the culture of the country it invests in. Examples of such adjustments are the introduction of rice in most of the meal offerings of McDonald's in the Philippines, inclusion of spicy foods in McDonald's menus in India, and the establishment of large McDonald's buildings
Sociology Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions is a sociological discourse that centers on the phenomenon of new technology, popularly termed as the technological revolution of human civilization. Veblen discusses the relationship between new technologies (particularly technologies in communication) and how these (technologies) affect the degree of social interaction and shaping society and its culture. He introduces the technological theory of history, where he