Socialization is an ever-changing process. No one is the exact same person they were at 5 years old at 15 or for that matter, at 85. You are assigned or acquire a variety of social statuses, starting from birth, that describe who you are within your society. These statuses come with sets of expectations or social roles. Over the years, you adapt, accept, or disregard beliefs and values in order to fulfill new social roles.
Has there been any major change in your life recently or in the past that you have initiated? If not, you can probably think of an ascribed social status that you left behind to move into a new one. What were the steps you had to take in order to move into the new status and fulfill the expectations that come with it? In this Discussion assignment, you will analyze and describe the process of one such exiting a role in your life.
To prepare for this Discussion:
Review pages 109 - 111 in your course textbook on social roles and role exit.
Consider society's expectations of you and how they have changed throughout your life.
Reflect on the four stages of role exit in Ebaugh's model and how they apply to your experiences.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 3 a description of a role that you exited at some point in your life. Using the appropriate sociological terms, describe the role and how you exited it.
Be sure to support your ideas by connecting them to the week's Learning Resources, or something you have read, heard, seen, or experienced.
ASSIGNMENT
Application
Social Institutions
Social institutions are organized patterns of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs. Family, education, religion, government and health care systems are all examples of social institutions in your society. What role do social institutions play in your life? In society as a whole? In this Application Assignment, you will first evaluate each of the three theoretical perspectives on social institutions and then decide which perspective you relate to the most and why.
To prepare for this Application:
Review pages 116 - 122 in your course textbook on social institutions.
Recall your second Application Assignment from Week 1 where you were asked to analyze a topic of interest from the three major theoretical perspectives. Consider if there was one topic that easily aligned with your point of view on the subject and if it was difficult to write about the other topics.
Reflect on your relationship to each of the major social institutions and how that might affect your perspective on them.
The assignment:
Compose a one to two page essay in which you compare and contrast each of the major sociological orientations' view of social institutions AND answer the following questions:
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective of those institutions?
With which perspective do you most closely align and why?