An Increased Awareness of the Inequalities/Inequities That Affect Various Groups in Our Society, Essay Example

In completing this course you should have acquired an increased awareness of the inequalities/inequities that affect various groups in our society. Use your sociological imagination to critically examine your individual situation and explain how you are influenced by social differences created by the structural forces of class, race, gender, and sexual identity. What social problems have affected you (or have you avoided) because of your position within these specific identities? How has social structure affected how you experience these? Please discuss the significance of the “sociological imagination” to your understanding of your experiences –and provide real life examples. Think critically!

Poverty is one of the main social problems in the world. Poverty in the society is the main cause of many other social problems. It leads to poor education, environmental degradation and a whole lot of other social problems. According to the structural perspective, society is viewed as a complex system of structures that interact in order to perform various necessary functions. Change is generally viewed as gradual and disruptive. In this respect, we can say that poverty occurs due to many different factors that are unlikely to change easily.

On the other hand, according to the conflict theory, change is inevitable and often beneficial. This theory views society as a struggle for resources and power and inequality is universal. In this respect, poverty can be justified as a form of inequality in society. But it can be repaired by changing some factor of the society.

According to the symbolic iteractionism, humans are social animals and require interaction with one another. It studies social interactions between individuals and small groups and how humans interpret these interactions. In this respect, poverty can be eliminated by interaction with the right people in society. Poverty leads to most social problems in society but can be evaded or corrected with the correct perspective.