Good Example Of Applying Sociology Fire In The Ashes Essay

Question 1: Application of Definition Sociology perhaps is a somewhat new entrant in the family of sociological sciences. Sociology majorly deals with social relationships, social problems, and social interactions that have seen an increased study of the subject. Reasonably, it has developed in terms of scope, methodology, and approach and contemporary researchers are making attempts to investigate every social problem objectively and scientifically. Sociology, according to Macionis (2007), references the systemic study of social behaviour and human groups. Primarily, it underscores the influence of social relationships based on the behaviour and attitudes of individuals and the mechanism of establishment and change of society.
Kozol’s Fire and Ashes represents a powerful and culminating literature discussing groups of city children. Therefore, the book is based on the social justice of the children in the inner city. The fact that Kozal advocates for equality for equal opportunity and safety makes the book sociological. The problem of inequality and equality is central to sociological philosophy. Essentially, in sociology, the study of the causes and consequences of inequality mentions class, gender, power, knowledge, income, wealth, and race. With respect to the book, Kozol examines inequalities and the long-term effects. Further, Kozol looks at intervening and helping the children who become young successful adults. The homelessness of the inner city children makes the book sociological. Homelessness, according to Macionis (2007), presents a societal problem in the contemporary society that constitutes the main themes of sociology. Kozol’s “Fire and Ashes” is based on a revisit of the families updating the readers on their troubled lives. The problems of the children denote the social injustices caused by the consequences of low income, lower class, and lack of power.
Question 2: Marx Weber Marx Weber was a prominent German social scientist that promoted a lot of changes in the study of sociology. Weber observed that sociology was the scientific study of human social action. According to him, social action mentions any action oriented to influence or gets influenced by another person. The concept derived from Weber emphasizes on the interpretive comprehension of human social action as well as the meaning of people attached to their own actions and other people’s behaviours (Dillon, 2010). According to Weber, economic forces promote social changes in the society. He argues that people cannot understand human behaviour by simply observing at statistics. Too, Weber agrees that given the economic interpretation of social changes, the changes in the economy changes the structure and functioning of the society. The economic variations in the society, therefore, affect mortality, health, crime, immigration, and suicide (Dillon, 2010). With respect to Kozol’s “Fire in the Ashes”, the economic changes in the society lead to extreme poverty among the inner-city children and their families. Kozol shows the life of poor children economically struggling in the poorest neighborhoods in the South Bronx. The book invests in a compelling case and severe consequences of failing to embrace educational opportunities required to overcome the poverty challenges. A good example if the horrific conditions he uses to describe Alice Washington. According to him, Alice Washington was a humorous lady that lacked economic support. She worked in a hotel in New York where he later succumbs to HIV. Also, Eric was reported to have died from self-inflicted gun wounds. All these kids are homeless and have spent a lot of time in homeless shelters leading to more problems in their life. Clearly, homelessness is a direct consequence of economic effects on social and cultural changes in the society. Drug abuse among children relates to the lack of good parenting and other functionalities in the society such as education, religion, and political good will.Question 3: Sociological ConceptsInequality Societal Inequality remarks elements of ethnicity, race, and social stratification. Dillon, (2010) writes that social stratification is the division of people socio-economically into strata. Social stratification emphasizes on the unequal positions occupied by individuals in the society. In the book “Fire in the Ashes,” the children are referenced as homeless, unemployment, drug addicts, and prone to diseases. This highlights the concept of social strata effects where there are economic and social injustices due to inequality. The big theme the author expresses is educational inequality that entrenches racism and classism in the society. Racism, Dillon (2010) documents, is a group of human that defines it or by other groups as different by virtue of immutable and innate physical characteristics. The educational inequality that deepens into racism led to the struggling of the students that makes them fall below the grade level that discourages children and turn to crime (Kozol, 2012).
Social Structure Structures are the pattern within organization and culture through which social action occurs in organizations, arrangements of roles, cultural symbols, and institutions (Dillon, 2010). Social structures allow and constrain the possibilities of social life that often goes unnoticed and changing almost invisibly. The literature on Fire in the Ashes” provides the patterned arrangements of status-sets, role status, and status sequences that in overall compromises the social structures. The children interacting with Kozol evidences the character of informal ways of schemas, assumptions, and metaphors that affects their ability to exploit resources. The social injustices have reduced the children such that they are less recognized by the organizations, institutions, and lack of cultural identity. Homelessness is a social injustice that promotes depreciation of cultural identity among the children. For instance, Kozol notes that the life of Alice Washington if full of absurdities and she is a “rejected victimhood” and cannot rise above the bitterness surrounding her (Kozol, 2012).Social Organization Dillon, (2010) defines social organization as the arrangement of parts that forms the society, distribution of people within the social positions. Having been reduced to homelessness, the kids that Kozol meets are characterized by poverty and consequently hopelessness. Their roles in the society are less recognized and their cluster of expected duties and behaviours that accounts for their bad behaviours.Question 4: Research The Economic Costs of Poverty among ChildrenIntroduction A significant number of children are living in poverty in U.S, and the trend is continuing upward. Child poverty merits additional research attention because a previous study links poverty with lower levels of child well-being. In comparison to children from affluent homes, poverty stricken children are more likely to experience a range of socio-economic challenges such as poor health, dropping out of school, emotional, and behavioural challenges.
Statement of Problem The main issue that leads to poverty among children references the economic difficulties experienced by these children. For instance, the reports by Kozol (2012) in his book “Fire in the Ashes” depict the economic consequences children undergo. Poverty has reduced the children into homeless people, drug addicts, poor health, and lack of education and other social support. Pineapple tells Kozol that her suit was too warned out, and she requires a new one. This shows the level of poverty that has economically disabled the children to satisfy their basic needs. Research Method The research on economic costs of poverty would employ the use of a descriptive survey of children to study the socioeconomic costs of poverty. Surveys are important for collecting of data and use a population sample. The use of open-ended questionnaires allowed in survey research would also provide a wide range of response from the subjects of the study (Lavrakas, 2008). Survey research would be significant for providing information that describes the current status of poverty while explaining and exploring the existing status of the children living in poverty.HypothesisH01: there are no significant socioeconomic costs of poverty to children in U.SH 1: poverty leads to socioeconomic problems experienced by children in low-income families in the U.S.VariablesDependent VariablesHousehold characteristics (income, family size, living environment)Family characteristics, (black, age, marital status)Child characteristics (age, gender, race, ethnicity)Dependent VariablesSocioeconomic status

References

Dillon, M. (2010). Introduction to sociological theory: Theorists, concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-first century. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kozol, J. (2012). Fire in the ashes: Twenty-five years among the poorest children in America. New York: Crown Publishers.
Lavrakas, P. (2008). Encyclopedia of survey research methods vol. 1 & 2. Sage Publications, Los Angeles, United States of America.
Macionis, J. J. (2007). Sociology. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.