SOCIOLOGY

sociology

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_evolution

August Comte, known as father of sociology, formulated the law of three stages: human development progresses from the theological stage, in which nature was mythically conceived and man sought the explanation of natural phenomena from supernatural beings, through metaphysical stage in which nature was conceived of as a result of obscure forces and man sought the explanation of natural phenomena from them until the final positive stage in which all abstract and obscure forces are discarded, and natural phenomena are explained by their constant relationship. This progress is forced through the development of human mind, and increasing application of thought, reasoning and logic to the understanding of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

Ferdinand Tönnies describes the evolution as the development from informal society, where people have many liberties and there are few laws and obligations, to modern, formal rational society, dominated by traditions and laws and are restricted from acting as they wish. He also notes that there is a tendency of standardisation and unification, when all smaller societies are absorbed into the single, large, modern society. Thus Tönnies can be said to describe part of the process known today as the globalization. Tönnies was also one of the first sociologists to claim that the evolution of society is not necessarily going in the right direction, that the social progress is not perfect, and it can even be called a regress as the newer, more evolved societies are obtained only after paying a high cost, resulting in decreasing satisfaction of individuals making up that society. Tönnies' work became the foundation of neoevolutionism.

ETHICS AND MORALITY

Discovering a better socio/economic model for us to live by should certainly be something we should have our best minds working on.

In my limited experience with thinking or working with this theme I found little opportunity for any significant change from the status quo.

Yet recently, when I found the work of Kohlberg, I felt there was real hope for new dynamics. Morality can be taught and developed. Kohlberg describes levels of morality. If you can test for morality then maybe we could have grades for it and tutors parallel with standard education.

Kohlberg not only describes morality as a learned behavior but says you can test for it. He also shows that moral rectitude is not natural, you need to be conditioned to moral principals.

MICRO-SOCIETIES

In my opinion only through small social groups can we gain the a balanced benefit of economics, and our social needs.

Past community based social systems range from peasant/landlord, Monasteries, to small towns in America. The economics of these communities have been well tested and serve as a basis for micro-societies.

Today, a large variety of religion based groups prosper. Christianity, Scientology, Mormonism, all offer community and an established social environment to learn morals that in turn improve the society. These social communities would be more effective if they had an economic base to provide work and living opportunities.

Imagine the Amish communities with a more forward mind on education and quality of life. Imagine alternative communities of all types, with progressive self sustaining economic systems.

The possibility of good results that would come from experimenting with concepts of social organization is uniquely opportune today. Given all the new information we have from other disciplines and technologies, efficient models for social development can now be designed and built that could be the growth industry of this century.

^{This I Believe}

Admittance to a Better Life

by Michael Oatman

Audio for this story will be available at approx. 12:00 p.m. ET

Michael Oatman is a playwright, producer and director living in Cleveland. He has been a newspaper reporter and columnist as well as a child-care worker with at-risk youths. Oatman will receive his Master of Fine Arts degree from Cleveland State University this summer.

“It's odd to educate oneself away from one's past. As an African-American male, I now find myself in a foreign world.”

Weekend Edition Sunday, June 10, 2007 · I believe that education has the power to transform a person's life.

For me, education was the rabbit hole through which I escaped the underclass. I squeezed my 300-pound frame through that hole expecting others to follow, and instead I find myself in a strange new land, mostly alone, and wondering at this new life.

For instance, these days for me, dramatic plays at local arts centers have replaced strip pole dancing at the local sleaze huts. I haven't fondled a stripper in years because now I see the stripper through eyes informed by feminist theory. It's hard to get excited when you're pondering issues of exploitation.

I still wonder what happened to that happy-go-lucky semi-thug who used to hang out with drug dealers on dimly-lit street corners. Well, I'm in the library parsing a Jane Austen novel looking for dramatic irony, while many of my old friends are dead or in jail.

I was lucky because I didn't get caught or killed doing something stupid. When I was on the streets, I never felt I was good at anything, but I wrote this poem about a girl who didn't care about me, and it got published. I knew nothing about grammar or syntax, so I went back to school to learn that stuff, and one thing led to another.

It's odd to educate oneself away from one's past. As an African-American male, I now find myself in a foreign world. Like steam off of a concrete sidewalk, my street cred is evaporating away, but I don't fight it anymore. Letting go of the survival tools I needed on the street was a necessary transaction for admittance to a better life.

I am still fighting, but in different ways. I've learned the benefit of research and reading, of debate and listening. My new battlefields are affirmative action, illegal immigration and institutional racism.

I believe I am the living embodiment of the power of education to change a man. One day soon, a crop of fresh-faced college students will call me professor. I may even be the only black face in the room, the only representative of the underclass. I may feel the slight sting of isolation, but I'll fight it off because I believe in the changes that my education has allowed me to make.

Independently produced for Weekend Edition Sunday by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman with Viki Merrick.