Sociology - Reality the Subjective Term Paper

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Individuals who never come into contact with other societies may live their entire lives without the slightest idea that other societies exist, much less that other social norms and practices besides the ones to which they are accustomed as their reality are possible.

This element of human reality is also responsible for some of the worst recorded human behavior. On one hand, certain parts of human moral thinking is inherent as a natural part of us (Kluger 2007). On the other hand, so much of human morality is determined by subjective social constructs, that practically anything is acceptable to us, even to those of us who are inherently inclined to be good people.

History has shown many times that if the social construct within a given society presents cannibalism, or slavery, or the sacrifice of virgins to volcanoes, or even the systematic mechanized mass-murder of millions as acceptable, few individuals will have the capacity to consider those norms objectively, or from outside of the social constructs of their society. In that regard, the eminent 20th century scientist and Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein made the following eloquent observation in a 1946 essay about American Slavery and the 20th century racial prejudices and inequality of black Americans:

large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our environment. In other words, it is tradition - besides inherited aptitudes and qualities - which makes us what we are. We but rarely reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our conduct and convictions." (Einstein 1946)

It is precisely that phenomenon that explains how the learned men who drafted the United States Constitution could have included a specific provision detailing the rights of slave owners to reclaim their "property" in the event their slaves escaped to free states until the "Fugitive Slave Clause" was repealed by the Thirteenth Amendment.

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Prior to 1865, even the brilliant legal minds of Supreme Court justices entertained highly technical legal arguments, all the while seemingly ignorant of the fundamental immorality and injustice of one man owning others by virtue of their different skin color.

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due. (Article IV, Section 2)

Conclusion:

The social constructs inherent in human societies are responsible for so much of our psychological development and conceptual perceptions that most of us are completely oblivious to them. We know only the rules and norms communicated to us by the society in which we live. In many respects, this is a benign phenomenon of social development, but human history also illustrates the depths of objectively immoral conduct of which almost all of us are capable, despite even superior intellect and education. Only by comparing different social constructs can we begin to contemplate what may be truly offensive in our own culture of origin. Even then, it is a difficult task. REFERENCES GAO (2008) the Constitution of the United States of America.

Einstein, a. (1956) Out of My Later Yeas. Secaucus:: Citadel

Gerrig, R., Zimbardo, P. (2005) Psychology and Life 17th Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

Henslin, J.M. (2002) Essential of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Kluger, J. What Makes Us….....

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