The Practical Sociology Model for Fees, and Funding - Essay Example

? The Practical Sociology Model for Fees, Funding and Overseas Study: Mobile UK and Educational Inequalities By (Module and number) (Subject) (Professor) (Date) The Practical Sociology Model for Fees, Funding and Overseas Study: Mobile UK Students and Educational Inequalities Sociology tackles the society at large in terms of various issues to be able to solve and make the community of people progressive, and to cater the rights of the individuals. It has become a discipline to better understand human interactions and their places in the society. It aims to study the society in a scientific manner through research, investigation and analysis to verify the circumstances and information to be added to the body of knowledge in that discipline (Browne 2011, p. 3). The results of the studies are also geared toward the applications to the society at large for the welfare of the people and also to broaden the understanding of social aspect of life. The conventional sociology as a discipline encompasses the issues on cultures and traditions, rules, social hierarchies, social inequalities and even religions and beliefs (Lyman and Scott 1989, p. 2). All parts of human daily life have crucial roles in the interactions of people in the society and how individuals behave and affect other human beings around them. The other parts of life may include the needs and wants of the individuals from food to the technology like computers and the Internet and how those things affect the whole society (Stephens and Leach 1998, p. 83). The sociological studies conducted have improved and have developed through time as the sociology as a discipline widens its horizons. The methods used in research include both the quantitative and qualitative ways (Williams and Vogt 2011, p. 363). The cultural evolution in the past century had led to the proliferation of philosophic methods of inquiry and analysis in sociological research and at the same time quantitative development occurred through the instances of creating mathematical and analytical models that match up the technological advancement. The quantitative techniques involve analysis through the social media and networks and simulations and modeling. Sociology then is distinct from other fields that may have sociological theories also but the focus is not mainly the society (Wolf and Fukari 2007, p. 125). Therefore, sociology is a distinct discipline that specializes in studying all about the society itself from processes to issues to be solved through scientific methods. One particular field in sociology is the accounts on the realities of daily life of people in the society. It is called practical sociology and some people call it to be the first in competence among the fields of sociology (Lemert 2012, p. 26). It means that expression and application are both needed to transform the potential and become a competence. Practical sociology is also a product of the mind that searches deeper meaning beyond the outside appearances observed in the society (Stephens and Leach 1998, p. 198). Truly practical sociology considers how the reality goes on in the world where people move and think about. It is practical since it dares to give accurate information that is easily applied to daily life for enhancement of the lives of people in the society. The information that practical sociology can give is easily used to liberate each individual in his life to make it a better one. It is also different from the known skills since the common skills are very specific and particular in terms of their application. Practical sociology is not a common skill as it empowers the people in the society which shows its scope is wider than common skills (Lemert 2007, p. 27). Sociology then has been heavily focused on theories which might now work all the time with the lacking of practicality. In that sense, practical sociology came to being as a sub-discipline which carefully got out of the one performance and action which involved theory alone. It serves as an alternative for deeper analysis and philosophical frameworks in practical sense that all lack in the traditional sociology (Zake and DeCesare 2011, p. 18). Therefore, practical sociology still involves the theory but takes into account the individuality of people by dissecting their ideas, behaviors and interactions with other people that affect the society. Practical sociology then has various models used by the sociologists to better understand the studies and for making the research more accurate. Some of the models are professional sociology, critical sociology, policy sociology and public sociology. Each of them has different focus and uses. They may be used together in evaluating a study or used alone for a particular research. It depends upon the sociologists and researchers involved in the study. In particular, professional sociology is distinguished from the others as it gives the foundations for the other models like public sociology and policy sociology. Professional sociology then is exclusive for people in the academe as they are highly specialized beings who have trained through many years in the field of sociology to understand and study the society at the professional level. In that case, professional sociologists usually talk and discuss only among themselves as the ordinary people will not be able to understand the level of their studies (Stanfield 2011, p. 146). Their discussions would be filled with jargons while solving various issues in the society. Through such highly specialized field, the other people from the other models will be able to make their findings in their respective fields by having the basic foundation from professional sociology (Dahms 2009, p. 212). It is then composed of enlightenment and disciplinary. Enlightenment is about giving light or providing awareness to people about the society when applied in the context of sociology while disciplinary pertains to the types of knowledge, field and problems as an approach of professional sociology in taking on the society (Agger 2007, p. 273). Another model is the critical sociology which is an ingenious way of tackling sociology wherein the ever-changing aspects of the society are tackled under a modern approach of the sociological discipline. It requires efforts on learning and looking for solutions in the problems that are coming out in the society and it may entail the potential of starting a continuous forward social change. Some of the problems that are being studied in critical sociology are gender and sexuality, racial discrimination and social stratification (Baker and Luke 1991, p. 6). The next practical sociological model is policy sociology which is a concept made by Michael Burawoy, a British Marxist sociologist working at University of Berkley (Bian et al. 2006, p. 47). The said model involves the creation of answers to the most pressing social problems. The usual body seeking for assistance through such model is the government as it needs the help of a body of knowledge that is functional to solve the existing problems in the society. The approach is not exclusive for people in the academe as the ordinary people are affected by its suggestions and actions once policies are enforced. It involves social engineering. The concept of social engineering is related to political science wherein the norms are manipulated on a wide scale by elites usually from the government (Nichols 2007, p. 281). It should not be confused with the social engineering related to information technology wherein hacking is done to get access to the sensitive and private information of a person. Since it involves manipulation, critics have bombarded social engineering and labeled it as a way of enslaving people. Despite those criticisms, it is still useful as governmental agencies seek to influence the social behavior to a certain extent so as to promote wellness of the society. It can be seen in laws that seek to punish the criminals and offenders for violating the rules of the state. Some subtle ways of doing it are through awards, merits, and encouragements for positive behaviors with punishments for negative behaviors. When it is put into practice, it may undergo questioning as to whether there is any exclusive social engineering. Also, it may vary depending upon the time required and the scope of the policy. Social engineering then is an important concept to libertarians and non-traditional thinkers. It is usually encountered in the issues about varying ethnic tribes. It is also used by the USA Conservatives to debunk its opponents via correct political will, allowable and unallowable behaviors, and disallowing prayers to be part of governmental gatherings and public events. On the other hand, the opposite is true for liberals as they debunk the conservatives through the programs like school prayers, English exclusivity and abstinence as a contraceptive alone (Merton et al. 1998, p. 235). Another sociological model is public sociology which involves the ordinary people in the talks and study about the society. It is known to be more flexible than the other forms of sociological models as it caters the public audience. It is the exact opposite of professional sociology which is exclusive for professional sociologists only. It is used to cater the participation of the ordinary people in shaping the society through debates, engagements, discussions and even social movements. It takes on the theoretical principles and uses it on debates regarding the possible future of the society (Nichols 2007, p. 149). With that, public sociology takes on many forms that made it confusing and led to the rejection of it by many sociologists. Those models may be used in particular research studies. For the financial aids and the issues on tuition fees in British colleges and universities, a model may be used to verify and analyze the conducted study. The British Academy funded the said research on the impact of financial factors on the decision of the students to study overseas (Brooks and Waters 2011, p. 8). The researchers then would like to find out the actions taken by the students to get their degrees, whether those are undergraduate or graduate ones. The method used in the study was a qualitative one wherein the researchers interviewed 37 women and 48 men from various backgrounds though majority of the participants were from well-to-do families. The findings of the research were greatly affected by the status of the students. For the undergraduates, more than half of them came from private secondary schools while less than 20 percent of the graduate students came from private secondary schools (p. 3). Also, the graduate students mostly came from lower income families with big differences in educational background like being adult students. The interview contained the questions such as the reasons for studying abroad, expectations of being a foreign student, the role of friends and family in choosing the school overseas and previous travels. The questions were answered within September 2007 to February 2008 (p. 4). For those who graduated already abroad, they faced some questions such as their experience in working abroad, how they got financial aids and how finances affect their choices in their studies. It was then found out that most of the undergraduate students were supported by their parents in order to study abroad. They came from affluent families or if not, they are from the middle class that allowed them to get private schools for their secondary level education (p. 7). For the graduate students, they are mostly self-supportive and in need of financial assistance. In contrast with the undergraduate students, the learners at graduate level are mature enough as they vary in experience from working and understanding their circumstances (p. 8). Perhaps the best model that fits the study is public sociology as the knowledge pursued is a qualitative one. Dialogues were done through correspondence and interviews to get the pulse or the answers of the participants regarding their decisions in studying abroad. The point of doing the study in that model is to increase the awareness of the public as to what they can do to earn a degree despite of the circumstance of having financial struggles. For the government, it may be an eye-opener to make alternatives in providing financial assistance to students so that they do not need to study overseas. The problem with the model is its lack of quantitative accuracy as the balance in the number of respondents is not pursued very well. In conclusion, public sociology is needed to provide awareness to the ordinary people about the financial struggles and effects of those factors in the pursuit of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Students may be forced to study abroad and seek financial aids to earn the degree that they need. Some are lucky enough to have parents supporting them with all of their educational needs. Critical sociology may be used as an alternative model to study the deeper aspects of the problems with finances and education while catering a broader audience. It may have more accurate results than public sociology. Bibliography Agger, B. (2007) Practical sociology: from social facts to literary acts. USA, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Bailey, J. (1980) Ideas and intervention: social theory for practice. London, Routledge. Baker, C. and Luke, A. (1991) Towards a critical sociology of reading pedagogy. USA, John Benjamins. Bian, Y., Chan, K. and Cheung, T. (2006) Social transformations in Chinese societies. Netherlands, Brill. Brooks, R. and Waters, J. (2011) Fees, Funding and Overseas Study: Mobile UK Students and Educational Inequalities. Sociological Research Online [Internet], May, 16(2), pp. 1-10. Available from [Accessed 15 May 2012]. Browne, K. (2011) An introduction to sociology. 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(2007) Constructing a sociology of translation. USA, John Benjamins. Zake, I. and DeCesare, M. (2011) New directions in sociology: essays on theory and methodology in the 21st century. USA, McFarland. Read More