Sociology Assignment: Analyzing Key Terms and Social Understanding

This essay provides definitions and discussions of several key terms in sociology to help understand the social world. The essay begins by defining quantitative and qualitative research methods, highlighting their roles in gathering and analyzing data to understand social issues. It then explores the concept of alienation, explaining its philosophical and sociological dimensions, including social isolation and its causes within modern society. The essay continues by differentiating between mechanical and organic solidarity, emphasizing the different forms of social integration in various societies. Finally, it discusses the terms health and well-being, highlighting their importance in understanding individual fitness, mental stability, and the overall health of society. The essay uses references to support the definitions and discussions of the key terms.

Define each of the following key terms
and discuss the ways in which these
terms help us to understand the social
world

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key Terms.......................................................................................................................................3
Quantitative and Qualitative research..........................................................................................3
Alienation....................................................................................................................................3
Mechanical and organic solidarity...............................................................................................4
Health and Well-being.................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

Key Terms
Quantitative research
Quantitative is research method that is often used to gather information over the proposed
research topic. Quantitively research always relies on those data which are measure to examine
questionnaires about sample population. This research often uses by social scientists to observe
occurrences which affects individuals. This research provides high understating about people
attitudes and mindset through which it can find out needs of people in the social world. Both
qualitative and quantitative researches help researchers to understand emerging social issues like
common issue of all people in society through which researchers can easily create some creative
solutions to solve them. Thus, quantitative plays significant role in understating social world.
According to Rahman, (2020), quantitative research method involves in collecting and
analyzing non-numerical data in order to understand the opinions, concepts or experiences. It can
be applied to generate new ideas. It is quite easy method for application purpose because in this
method can use charts, graphs etc. which helps to understand figure of research questions and
makes interesting for the readers to read. This method is played vital role such as it offers best
available research in term of emerging issues or application of evidence to diverse population.
This research often start-up with the field then develops concept and theories. Thus, this research
involves in inductive view of the relationship between research and theory.
Alienation
Alienation can be defined as the procedure why which a social being or people is
disengaged from the society or social activities. In the philosophical concept, alienation refers to
the estrangement of people from themselves. This alienation takes place when people are unable
to relate with world in which they live. According to Belcher and Schmidt (2020) alienation is
not a false consciousness. There is various type of alienations but social alienation is more
famous as compared others because it is a kind of condition or situation in social relationships
that reflects by a common values and high degree distance. So, it is considered sociological
concept that is developed and proposed by several contempory theorists and classical. Thus, this
alienation term supports to understand how people are becoming socially isolated. It also
supports to find reasons over the proposed situation. Like social isolation in the modern society

is the reason of personal stress that arises when a person meets those strangers who unaware or
lacking behind from ongoing social relationship. Thus, it is one of the best terms that assist in
understanding social world. Karl Marx is best known as revolutionary. Mark turn away from
philosophy in his mid-twenties, towards politics and economics. Marx’s economic analysis of
capitalism is based on her version of the labor theory of values. Harvey, (2018) stated that
alienation is the systematic result of capitalism, but from past few years men is exploited by men
in term of economical hierarchy. For example, most of labor works in manufacturing companies
wherein they become socially disconnected like what they produce and why they produce. Social
alienation theory is properly based on observation that in emerging production industrial are
running under capitalism, as resulted labor often lose their control on the lives and become
addicted by not having control over their work.
Mechanical and organic solidarity
Mechanical Solidarity is a type of social integration of the people of a society who
posses’ common value and beliefs while organic solidarity is a kind of social integration that
raises out of the requirements of individuals for one to other services. According to Bowness,
Tulle and McKendrick, (2020) mechanical solidarity usually operates in small-scale societies
and traditional and based on kinship that ties familial networks. Society believes less on
imposing uniform rules on everyone and more on controlling the relations between persons and
different groups, often through the greater use of laws and contracts. Haribabu, (2020) said in
books that mechanical solidarity is a type of sense of togetherness in the society that takes place
when individuals perform similar work, customs, values and shares similar experience from each
other. This term plays vital role in understanding overall society world because it emphasizes
over those societies which is developed in less technological advancement i.e. completely
dependent on gathering or hunting. Ručman, (2019) have quoted about organic solidarity in
their published research books that organic solidarity is a kind of social unity that is based upon
the dependence of individuals that have more on other in modern society. This term usually
emphasizes over those individuals who already developed in technological advanced society like
they are completely dependent on other people. Thus, both mechanical and organic solidarity
terms help understand different perspectives of people who lives in social world (Mohajan,
2018).

Health and Well-being
Wellbeing is considered fundamental to the overall health of people, enables them to
become successful by overcoming difficulties and gains what they expect out of life. There is a
two-term health and wellbeing that contributes in understanding social world for example heath
denotes individual’s fitness while wellbeing denotes mental stability. In other world health and
wellbeing is the accomplishment and maintenance of physical fitness and mental stability.
According to Wigfield and et.al., (2020) health is considered complete wellbeing of emotional,
mental and physical. Biomedical model of health is focusing on purely biological factors and it
excludes environmental, social and psychological influences. This model is used by various
western countries in order to diagnose and treat a condition. It is an approach to conceptualize
disease that has highly dominated thinking about mental and physical disorder. This model is
used to maintain wellbeing and health. This term supports in understating healthy people ratio in
the society for example in UK lives two type people in society at different zones wherein one
type people lives in modern society who have good financial support and other luxurious
facilities so there are a smaller number of people who are unhealthy. On the other hand, another
type people who lives in less developed areas in UK like Debenhams etc. there are lots of people
who are suffering from disease due to unavailability of nourished food. Other Littlecott and
et.al., (2019) stated about wellbeing concept in the research articles that social wellbeing is
considered integral part of overall wellbeing for example if people do not have strong
relationship with other people then their ability to flourish is going to limited. This term supports
to understand mental wellbeing od people in the social world. Thus, wellbeing and health
supports to understand emerging issues of social world due to this people are categorized into
different zones.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Rahman, M.S., 2020. The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative
approaches and methods in language “testing and assessment” research: A literature
review.
Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related
subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.
Belcher, O. and Schmidt, J.J., 2020. Being earthbound: Arendt, process and alienation in the
Anthropocene. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, p.0263775820953855.
Harvey, D., 2018. Universal alienation. Journal for Cultural Research, 22(2), pp.137-150.
Bowness, J., Tulle, E. and McKendrick, J., 2020. Understanding the parkrun community; sacred
Saturdays and organic solidarity of parkrunners. European Journal for Sport and
Society, pp.1-20.
Haribabu, E., 2020. Unit-12 Society, class and solidarity. Indira Gandhi National Open
University, New Delhi.
Ručman, A.B., 2019. Social Ties, Solidarity and Threat Perception in Rural and Urban
Communities in Slovenia1. Revija za kriminalistiko in kriminologijo/Ljubljana, 70(5),
pp.409-421.
Wigfield, A and et.al., 2020. Developing a new conceptual framework of meaningful interaction
for understanding social isolation and loneliness. Social Policy and Society.
Littlecott, H.J and et.al., 2019. From complex interventions to complex systems: using social
network analysis to understand school engagement with health and
wellbeing. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(10),
p.1694.