The sociologically examined life chapter 4 summary

Pieces of the Conversation

Fifth Edition

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Pieces of the Conversation
Michael Schwalbe
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Michael Schwalbe

Now published by Oxford University Press, the fifth edition of The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the Conversation teaches students how to think sociologically. Michael Schwalbe's conversational writing encourages discussion and pushes students to critically examine how social life leads them to think, feel, and behave in the ways they do. The Sociologically Examined Life encourages students to apply sociological thinking to both social structures and their everyday lives. It also guides students in reflecting on their potential power to change the social world.

New to this Edition:

Two new chapters (12 and 13), one showing how to think sociologically about the relationship between nature and society, and another showing how to unpack the processes that make up the social world
Updated statistics and examples throughout

The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of a Conversation by Michael Schwalbe reviews what is meant by the sociological perspective or, as he calls it, being “sociologically mindful.” Explaining that the sociological perspective involves paying attention to social life and looking at the world from multiple points of view in order to appreciate the uniqueness of others and to ensure that everyone has access to the “good life,” Schwalbe opens by stating “If you would like a written portrait of the discipline of sociology, you can find one in many places—but not here” (2). What one does find here within these pages, however, is a guide to becoming more aware of one’s surroundings and a way of becoming more connected to the people near and far. …show more content…
This implies there will always be a power struggle between groups, even those of the most cooperative and sociologically mindful individuals behaving as part of a collective. Being mindful allows one to see how information is linked to power and the extent to which that power can make things happen based upon the resources at hand to devise as accurate and complete a view of the world as possible. This will help us “be less susceptible to the illusions that are supposed to keep us polite and calm while horrors go on all around us,” Schwalbe explains (98). By observing the patterns of social life, we can also see how those in power use what is most meaningful to people to keep them compliant with the status quo and more readily opposed to the common enemy of their in-group. This includes shaping public opinion about the meaning of appearances and how those meanings determine the ways in which we interact with others. Schwalbe particularly wanted us to consider the collective over the individualistic, though, stating “We can 't really know what all our potentials are; we can only know, late in life, which ones have been realized. What we can know, or at least be mindful of, is how social life turns us into certain kinds of people” (64). Society acts in several ways to contain our choices and restrain our

In Schwalbe “The Sociologically Examined Life” Chapter 4 page 58 Schwalbe mentions in his paragraph “Sociological mindfulness can help us see how our feelings depend on what happens in encounters like those on my run. It can also help us see how our emotional responses to these encounters are affected by history, culture, and current social arrangements.” When he mentions that phrase, he talks about his past life how his feelings depended on what happen during his encounter with other people. He compares personalities and inequality that is not the same thing.

For example I can relate to schwalbe in my encounter run in a coffee shop. A man in a local Starbucks off of Lathrop Road ask for directions towards Grant road off of Tracy Blvd. So I told him go on I-5 stay straight, merge onto 580West and go down 10 miles and you will arrive at your destination. At his face expression, it was like he gave me that disrespect look in my eyes because I was Asian and he was a middle class white man. As I was staring at him in person, in my mind, it was like this guy cannot tell directions because he was Asian. It was a form of racism, but more of inequality because he was middle class, and I was a normal human being earning a degree. Being mistreated for telling directions in society made me feel to show that sort of disrespect towards his group kind.

If we all work together towards supply and demand, we can establish interdependence. Interdependence is working together depending on one another for help or business. For example, take consumers and producers. In the United States, we need oil for America to run its cars and business, but America has to go over sees to negotiate with 3rd world countries about prices of drilling oil. Once they establish price, oil is drilled and sent back to U.S. grounds for the plants to process. After that, supply and demand goes on the market making a profit. With interdependence, U.S. depends on foreign oil.

sociologically examined life chapter summary