Sociology for Macionis and Plummer Claim- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theSociology for Macionis and Plummer Claim. Answer: Merton has always viewed society as an organism with various parts with each part accomplishing a specific function, thereby integrating and sustaining the society. Merton has expanded this view in three ways. First of all, Merton distinguishes between the obvious and not so much obvious functions of the society. The manifest functions are the obvious, conscious and deliberate functions that which an individual performs keeping the consequence in mind, such as going to college to get a job, while the latent functions are the unintended, unconscious functions where the individual is not aware of the consequence of the action, such as boosting the economy by getting a job. The third concept is of dysfunction where the functions of a social component will have a negative impact on the society in an intended or unintended way. For example, celebration of festivals may have a negative impact on the society in the form of disruptions of transportation and excessive production. Macionis and Plummer claim that globalization is highly beneficial to human society and should be encouraged because through the increasing connectedness of societies globalization helps in bringing progress for making, both economically as well as socio-culturally. Since the forces of creativity and entrepreneurship are no longer confined to political boundaries, everyone is able to enjoy access to an enriched life. This also created tolerance and harmony. However, they also stated why globalization is critiqued as well, and points out that peasants and small shopkeepers will fail to survive in a competitive, global market. The unprecedented mobility of capital, goods, and services in a globalized market can impede the growth of local markets. Stanley Cohen has introduced the concept of moral panic. According to Cohen, moral panic is defined as a fear usually aroused by the mass media and moral entrepreneurs among the public that some sort of evil power is threatening the well-being of the society. According to Cohen, the situation of moral panic arises when an individual or his actions directly challenge and threaten the societal values and interests. According to Cohen, once the social threat is identified, and gets reported among the public, it generates fear, ultimately resulting in huge social changes within the community. Social Epidemiology is a specific branch of epidemiology that primarily concerns itself with the study of the impact of socio-cultural factors on the states of health. Thus, the scope of this branch of epidemiology is to critically discuss and evaluate the societal conditions which can affect the distribution of health in a particular society. As a branch of knowledge, the scope of Social epidemiology is found to overlap with that of Medical Sociology and Medical Geography. However, unlike these disciplines, Social Epidemiology aims to identify and explain various social concepts to comprehend the specific patterns of health in a given population. This branch of study intends to analyze the inherent relation between social class and health resource distribution, or how income is an important determinant of social health. Absolute poverty is a situation where the people are unable to get the minimal needs required for survival. For example, a man may not be able to meet his both ends meet and eat at least a single nutritious meal a day. On the other hand, relative poverty is a situation when an individual is not so poor that he can afford the basic means of subsistence, and yet he is economically challenged in comparison with the people living in his locality. Although both the concepts are valid concepts, absolute poverty implies actual poverty that deserves immediate attention. On the other hand, relative poverty will always refer to a standard which is defined in terms of the society in which an individual lives and which therefore differs between countries and over time. Environmental racism is a term used to imply a sense of environmental injustice whereby a certain group of people, usually the minority group, has been subject to disproportionate exposure of pollutants or are compelled to stay in an environmentally hazardous place. These people are deprived of any sort of ecological benefits such as clean water, fresh air and abundance of natural resources, which other people living in other part of the state can gain access to.