Arden University: Introduction to Sociology Assignment Analysis

This sociology assignment delves into critical sociological concepts. Part A explores the distinctions between Psychology as a natural science and Sociology as a social science, and analyzes the impact of the Frankfurt School's theories on sociological perceptions, highlighting key contributors like Marcuse, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Fromm. Part B examines the challenges feminism faces in contemporary society, particularly in challenging patriarchal structures and the inequalities women continue to experience. The assignment provides a detailed analysis of these theories and their relevance to understanding societal dynamics and gender inequality.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO SCOIOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part A
Answer to Question 1
The discussion of the difference between Psychology as a natural science and Sociology
as a social science should be started with by briefing the primary differences between
Psychology and Sociology. The difference could be stated as follows:
Psychology takes a micro approach into the study of brains and its behaviours and how it
is reflected in the human behaviour. Whereas, Sociology is a macro approach where a broad area
of society, culture and norms and regulations are studied. Here the study of the basic guidelines
that are being followed by the people and their surroundings is done. Thus this fact can be
inferred as psychology is an approach to the natural science as it studies the occurrences that
takes place naturally. However, sociology is still being considered as a branch of social science
as this branch studies the cultural and societal regulations that are being followed by the humans
and their surroundings. Such activities do not occur naturally, rather the occurrences are
practised and varies with time and changes in the social members.
The above ideology if being discussed in detail then by definition, Psychology has been
considered as a natural science. The term natural science refers to the branch of science that
deals with the occurrence of phenomena that occurs naturally. Primarily natural science
describes, predicts and helps in the understanding of the occurrences that exists in the nature
(Van Manen, 2016). Hence, speaking of the same ideology, psychology can be considered as a
branch of natural science as it deals with the human behaviour and that entirely depends on the
functionalities of human mind or in other words human brain. The study of the functions of the

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human brain mandatorily has to be considered under the section of natural science. All of the
human behaviours are entirely related to the brain functionalities. Hence, to study human
behaviour, studying the human brain is necessary. Therefore, though being considered as a social
science subject at former times, psychology today is referred as one of the branches of natural
science (Brennan and Houde, 2017).
On the other hand, sociology is being referred to as a branch of social science as it is
entirely related to the study of society and its elements for human beings. Society is made up of
various traits and characters and the study is conducted on the society based on all these
varieties. Hence, it can be said that, sociology deals with a collection of naturally occurring
phenomena and then analyse the data that will produce the desired outcome. Besides, the
perception of different people is different or could be same at some instances. Hence, the
analysis cannot be done based on a standardised parameter. Though there are certain standards
that has been formulated for standard results but differences in the analysis do occur and
different perspectives are presented for which different angles of the solution get revealed.
Therefore, the social monitoring does not follow the boundaries or limitations always. They tend
to fluctuate and are dependent on the entire collection of social outcomes. As sociology deals
with the social elements and its functionalities hence not every situation will follow the process
of natural occurrences. There will be certainly a different angle of monitoring every time the
situation is analysed. Hence, sociology with all its parameters and aspects falls under the
category of social science.
Answer to Question 2
Established in 1930s, Frankfurt School started its way from the time when the dominancy
of monopoly capitalism prevailed (Fuchs, 2017). Control by large organisations was witnessed

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by this time period. Fordism prevailed at this period that witnessed production at mass rate and
the beliefs and behaviours that used to be prevailing at that point of time are intended to be
absorbed by every member present in the society (Makhulu, 2016). This mass following of
similar kinds of beliefs and adopting similar behaviours created to the production of mass society
and due to that the society thus formed comprised of needs that are homogenous in nature.
Therefore similar needs are served throughout the society leading to a mass culture and the
communication is also done at a mass rate and the trend of the individuality was ended. The time
appeared when an individual did not determined the progress of the society but some powerful
organisations became sole responsible for the determination of the society.
Hence, the time period that Frankfurt school and the fellow members of the society
witnessed has a great impact over the critical theory that eminent authors from there presented.
The critical theories play a key role in the changing the traditional perceptions of the sociologists
worldwide. As the authors who contributed into their theories in altering, the traditional
perceptions are vital because of the transition period that the authors along with the association
went through. They witnessed the advent of mass culture, mass beliefs and resulting in the
creation mass society where all of the members of the society accepted the society based on a
single ideology and the dominancy of an individual for the determination of the progress of the
society was also diminished. The critical theorists were the first to discuss the mass culture
effects on the society and especially on the consumer section of the society (Mill, Allen and
Morrow, 2016). They were the first to determine the use of technology over the construction of
the social organisation and control over the society.

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Therefore, the Frankfurt school were able to alter the perceptions of the sociologists
worldwide in a fundamental manner with their theories that were relevant to the core with the
advent of the mass society along with mass culture and beliefs.
The theories that were contributed by the Frankfurt School that were termed as the
critical theories served a key role in order to create the alterations in the perceptions of the
sociologists that prevailed fundamentally on a global scale. Among the eminent authors, few had
a major contribution to the theories that were presented by the Frankfurt School. They are
Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, T.W. Adorno and Erich Fromm.
Herbet Marcuse, born in 1898, was a German-American philosopher, a political theorist
and a sociologist forwarded his theory of False needs, the disappearance of class and the
dimensionless world (Heins, 2017). His theory stated that the acceptance of establishment ideas
and integration of worker community took place due to capitalism. The worker lost their identity
as groups and being promoted as individuals which resulted into the loss of freedom for the
worker community and dominated by the organisations in the name of democracy. The
organisations used to manipulate them as per their requirement and it was completely unknown
to the workers. This approach has resulted into making all the sections of people belong to the
same level and serve a single interest thus making them formulating their own ideals and beliefs
within their circle and abiding by it, while being trapped inside the circle of the state
administration. All of these happened for a single phenomenon known as mass communication.
The second theory that was proposed by Max Horkheimer and T.W. Adorno in a
collaborative project starts with the advent of a new form of media culture that comprised of
film, music, television and radio and all of such media centres were being controlled by

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organisations that are big in nature (Müller-Doohm, 2015). The prime arguments that Max and
Adorno presented were that the production in culture is boosted by the use of films, radios,
television and media like these. The basic form of using these medias is for advertisements and
commercialisation of the products and ideas. As much promotion the ideas or products receive
from the market, more the product is being preferred by the society and such instances are briefly
described by Max and Adorno in their research. The tradition of enlightenment was then referred
to as means of control and domination. It also showed the ability of an individual to possess
autonomous functionality which got replaced by a consumer culture where a new concept was
introduced of having some never-ending needs for consumption.
The final among the mentions is the work of Erich Fromm. In the book Fear of freedom,
that was published first in the year 1942, Erich presented his arguments where he stated that
freedom does not depend on self-realisation (Wilde, 2016). He provided a concept where he
contradicts the concept of freedom. Erich stated that, though independence is achieved through
freedom, but with independence, there prevails a sense of isolation and powerlessness. It is
obvious that when there are some dependencies then based on that comes the sense of being
associated with something and the limit to which one can extend themselves. There are certain
regulations that one has to follow when they are under some rule or reign. However, with the
extinction of such control, ultimately, the boundary becomes limitless and one would have no
idea about what they should do or should not. In his paper, Erich gave the concluding statement
that when one spends a long period with isolation, then that individual is compelled to look for
other dependencies on whom they can rely upon and can abide by the regulations formulated by
that particular organisation or controlling authority. Either the individual has a choice of
acceptance of the society of which that individual is a part of or they had to look for assistance

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and security from the respective dependencies. The final statement of Erich in his paper gave an
ideology that it does not matter which option do the individual of the society choose but both of
the options would result into loss in freedom for the individual ultimately.
These theories are considered as important for the study of sociology because of their
ability to make people understand different perspectives of different social characters and
members. These theories did looked upon some crucial aspects of a society and its characteristics
and defined the way one affects another. Hence, the theories selected obviously puts light on the
prime social changes that took place at that particular time.
Part B
Answer to Question 2
Reaching century’s turn, feminism seems to be at a standstill. As per the research done by
Hirsch and Keller (2015), young women acknowledge that women have equal rights to pay and
should be treated equally in the workplace but many argue that they are not feminists. Women
have been in the forefront in many spheres such as education and as workers during the ongoing
feminist movement, the progress advancing at a snail’s pace. Most of the women still continue to
do the household chores and also have been working for wages. The men in the society are well
aware of the second shift of women and related unfairness but ignore this and are reluctant to
change. The existing social structures and the individuals who are a part of these societies are
responsible for creating and reproducing inequalities that are linked to ethnicity, class, sex, race
and religion with added differences. There have been differences in the levels of domination but
still the wider aspects have remained unchanged that is men are still in control and the nature of
control differs. There is a need to get a better understanding of the societal system that provides

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the women with the power of dominance and subordination and to untangle its way of workings
for the purpose of betterment of women in an organized and systematic process (Mellor, 2018).
In the present era where women have almost shown their skills in every sphere, patriarchy serves
as the hurdle. The secondary status of women can be attributed to the patriarchal institutions and
the prevailing social relations. The patriarchal society provides absolute priority to the men in the
society and can be considered as limitations to the human rights of the women.
Patriarchy in the society refers to the domination of the male in both the public and the
private arenas. Feminists make use of this particular term patriarchy in order to define the
relationship of power that exists in between the men and the women at the same time using it to
find out the primary cause of the women subordination in the societal structure. The victory of
women in all spheres have proved that they are no less than men but the patriarchal society still
puts a demarcation between the powers of men and women. Shildrick (2015) argues that those
people who have a conception that power is a resource well understand that the same to be a
positive social good that at present is not divided equally in between the women and the men.
The feminists who think this way mainly aim to redistribute the resources of power in order to
have equal power as that of men. As per the research done by Naffine (2018), there is an
assumption related to power that it is a kind of asset that is certainly possessed by the individuals
in somewhat greater and lesser amounts. The conception that power serves as a resource is found
in the literary works of some of the liberal feminists. As per example, in Justice, Gender, and the
Family the author Susan Moller Okin is of the viewpoint that the prevalent contemporary gender-
structured family distributes the various benefits and the burdens of the familial life amidst the
ladies and gents in an unjust manner. The author is of the opinion that power is a part of her
benefit list that she terms “critical social goods.” The list clearly shows that there exists a

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difference in between the various concepts such as the prestige, opportunities, power and self-
esteem in case of self-development and in the context of both economic and physical security
considering the men and the women. The challenges that feminism is posing in this patriarchal
society is that it is continuously working towards establishing a proper redistribution of power in
between the men and the women.
Feminism is considered a counterpart of resistance against all the forms of the patriarchal
domination when all the aspects of life are taken into account. It can be said that feminism
targets to end the different existing forms of the sexist oppression. The concept of feminism has
strong political and social implications as this has the potential to raise questions that deal with
the equality and the justice in the human societies that mostly follow the traditional patriarchal
pattern. It has become a prevalent concept that women are a subordinate to men and there are
many such religious traditions that provide with the appropriate theological justifications to the
subordination and associated discrimination. As per the research done by Segal (2015),
philosophical traditions are found to promote male domination and at present feminism a
presenting a challenge to this male domination. History is a proof that there have been many
thinkers according to whom women are inferior to men. Feminism in this scenario emerging as a
political, intellectual and ideological movement was well aware of this and thus since then it has
been trying to posit counterarguments through the medium of theoretical frameworks that have
been proposed of supporting the gender justice and equality. As per the research done by Von
Flotow (2016), feminism can be related to the various movements of political activism that
originated in different places of the world aiming to gain equal rights and justice for the women.
In the late 19th century and the early 20th century there were women suffrage movements in the
Europe and US and these movements demanded equal power in case of legal rights and

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participation in politics. Feminism provides its own definition to be a positive movement which
focuses to establish justice and equal rights in the human society that constitute various forms of
hierarchies. Thus the different forms of feminism are not just anti-male or political initiatives
seeking gender equality. As per the research done by Broude (2018), the feminists generally
consider the point of gender equality as the key point and envisage in order to create justice in
case of gender and ensure that the women are given equal rights in the societal framework. In the
present scenario it is said that feminists are made and are not born and this specific insight play a
vital role in order to get an understanding of feminism. There are many researches stating how
the societies today are patriarchal and how in a society both the women and the men are equal
contributors to sustenance of status.
Feminism has begun by the women changing themselves rather than just sitting back and
expecting that the men will change their attitudes toward them. Feminism has been like a hurdle
for the historical patriarchal society as it is challenging the society by showing its power in
almost all spheres and proving that in case of power women are no less than men. As per
research done by Hines (2015), feminism has been successful in bringing changes in the concept
that confined women to household chores as of now women have proved their skills being
sportsperson, entrepreneurs, leaders and many more. With every passing day, feminism is
emerging as more and more women making themselves capable of existing independently
without the support of men. Feminism has spread its roots in every relation especially love
relationships were both the partners know that they have equal rights and gone are the days when
the men dominated in a relationship Policastro (2015). However the domestic violence statistics
all over the world contradicts the fact. WHO states in their recent report that 35% that is 1 out of
3 women have experienced physical or/and sexual domestic violence from their partners or non-

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partners (Berhanie et al., 2019). In case of leadership to achieve rights of women is a complex
thing and many a times has proven to be chaotic. The transformations in the leadership and the
feminist practices are effective in addressing some of the common challenges related to women’s
right that are agency and mobility, sexual health, lack of voice, safety and security and the
reproductive rights, empowerment and the economic inclusion. The main aim of feminist women
is to apply the various principles of egalitarianism, principles of collaboration and inclusiveness
to leadership and the respective positions they find themselves in. Feminism is often
misinterpreted as anti-male conception but it is not the case as it is just about women rights that
should be equal to that of the men (Wolf, 2018). The challenges to the patriarchal society
because of feminism can be form different fields and sectors as it hurts the ego of the men to
accept that women at present are no less than them and have equal potential to do almost
anything which men do. Thus it can be concluded that feminism is not against male but against
the excessive dominance of the males in every sphere that undermine the skills of the women and
confine them to the household chores. Feminism is a broader concept and is in its stage of
emergence and is challenging the traditional patriarchal culture to change the prevailing mindset
and conception that the men are more powerful than the women (Menon, 2015). Being a feminist
means to believe that the powers should be divided equally in the societal structure rather than on
the basis of gender.

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