Social Facts
- Submitted by: andicorona33
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- Category: English: Creative Writing
- Date Submitted: 01/18/2014 10:31 AM
- Pages: 2
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Social facts, according to Durkheim, are coercive in the sense that they impose themselves unto man whether he agrees to accept them or not. However, making the decision to resist social facts is the equivalent to swimming against the current. The existence of social facts is external to man, yet man live by them each and every day. Social facts determine whether a man excels or just barely survives.
In Lareau’s book, it is a social fact that the use of an extended vocabulary gives a clear advantage in regards to securing a desirable job in the future. This social phenomena is indeed coercive based on its disposition to make somebody like Alexander Williams much more likely to be successful in job interviews, while families like Katie Brindle never used words intrinsically, but rather more as a tool. The working class children do not possess the words nor ability to negotiate, resulting in the feeling of inferiority in social institutions. The social fact of the value of a comprehensive vocabulary is shadowed by its coercive power to determine one’s success in the workplace.
Since a social fact is defined as a way of thinking or acting that lies outside the consciousness, another example is the use of physical discipline in the working class. The working class habitus’ makes them parent the only way they know how (probably the way they were brought up), thinking that physical discipline is an appropriate means to end unruly behavior. However, the presence of violence in a childhood proves to be quite consequential. It promotes aggression towards others, and a sense of fear towards authority figures. It is a social fact that beating a child produces negative effects, and in some way, coerces the child to grow up with these disadvantages on their back.
In Lareau’s book, it is a social fact that the use of an extended vocabulary gives a clear advantage in regards to securing a desirable job in the future. This social phenomena is indeed coercive based on its disposition to make somebody like Alexander Williams much more likely to be successful in job interviews, while families like Katie Brindle never used words intrinsically, but rather more as a tool. The working class children do not possess the words nor ability to negotiate, resulting in the feeling of inferiority in social institutions. The social fact of the value of a comprehensive vocabulary is shadowed by its coercive power to determine one’s success in the workplace.
Since a social fact is defined as a way of thinking or acting that lies outside the consciousness, another example is the use of physical discipline in the working class. The working class habitus’ makes them parent the only way they know how (probably the way they were brought up), thinking that physical discipline is an appropriate means to end unruly behavior. However, the presence of violence in a childhood proves to be quite consequential. It promotes aggression towards others, and a sense of fear towards authority figures. It is a social fact that beating a child produces negative effects, and in some way, coerces the child to grow up with these disadvantages on their back.