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An Argument Against Sociology Being a Bullshit Study

So, as a Sociology major I have (perhaps inevitably) come across people who have voiced their opinions on why sociology is a crock, convoluted, an unacceptable method for conducting science, and not a valid (impractical) study. I hope to address these issues and give a thorough defense of my field, for (obviously) if I had no defense, I should not be a sociology major. I do completely welcome criticism and comments to what I write, and in fact I would love some. I thoroughly believe that the best analysis is derived from discussion and (logical) argumentation. I have put in bold the main points since I realize many of you probably do not want to read my god-knows-how-long argument. SO on with it. I guess I will address the different arguments I have come across one by one Sociology is not credible because it borrows from so many other fields . Indeed, Sociology is extremely interdisciplinary, but I think the complexity is what makes it so grand. We coul...

My problems with the strong is the new skinny campaign

When the 'strong is the new skinny' campaign first started, I was pretty excited about it. The first article I saw was a woman who used to be what she considered anorexic. She said she was weak, and barely ate. She fell in love with weight lifting, and said it gave her confidence, strength and courage. She explained how before lifting she was taught to deprive herself, to lack confidence in her body, and be weak. After lifting she felt proud of her new strength, could eat (and was supposed to eat) more, and felt a sense of progress towards muscle, versus progress towards being smaller. She posted new photos of herself showing she didn't look much different (she didn't 'get huge'). Her photos though were fairly normal looking. She probably had a healthy 10-20% body fat, and you could tell she had some solid muscle. Her muscle, however, wasn't rippling out of her skin, and it isn't supposed to be. There are two main types of weight training I want to tal...

Fraternity Rape Culture: Analyzing Cultural Instigations and Exploring Solutions

(Original Work) Fraternity rape culture continues to be an unattended and mystical issue among universities nationwide. In the journal article “Wales Tales, Dog piles, and Beer Goggles: An Ethnographic Case Study of Fraternity Life” Rhoads reminds us that “half of all reported acquaintance rapes were committed by fraternity members and athletes” (307). Patricia Yancy Martin and Robert Hummer push further that “over 90 percent of all gang rapes on college campuses involve fraternity men” (458) While the statistics are clear the reasons are not. Elizabeth Armstrong and colleagues speculate that the use of alcohol as a scarce resource creates an environment where fraternity brothers have leverage over women and can dictate the party atmosphere (489-490). Paula Nurius and colleagues point the finger at the gap between perceived risk and actual risk at fraternity parties and ultimately women’s inab...

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