As a budding sociology major, the main goal of my writing on this page will be the reflection and application of sociological theories and academic topics regarding sociology in an accessible manner. The consideration of social structures, institutions, and processes on both a macro and micro level is essential, in my own personal opinion, to promote a conscious citizenry that strives to be an active part in the future they want to create for themselves and for others.
The first topic that stuck with me as a sociology student and that I want to bring to the fore here is the concept of societal transiency. This amounts to the fact that societies are constantly changing and evolving, and on the face of things, it seems like a straightforward concept that doesn't have any real big implications.
In history class in elementary school, middle school, and high school, we would learn about historical and big events that evoked social change. I always really enjoyed learning about this because I found the domino effect some events would have to be fascinating and intriguing. Despite this, everything we learned was always "in the past" and was going to stay there. Not until I took one of my first sociology classes did it dawn upon me that what we do as activists, citizens, students, and people will affect the direction of our ever transient society and that we can play a part in what one day will be studied in a history class.
What I found important is to approach our daily lives without assuming that the many facets of it are "natural". Accepting the status quo as if it is the end product of all our past social change will only lead to passivity and a lack of recognition that things will not be the same way they are in 50 years and that every person has a part to play in that.
I think that what needs to occur is a realization that many of our daily actions are historically specific. The way we use our phones as alarms to wake up, stream music, whenever we want to, call an Uber to get where we need to go and be constantly connected, is a phenomenon that is less than a decade old.
If we look at gay marriage, it has only been legal on a federal level since 2015. What many of us may consider being a natural right for people of sexual orientations outside of heterosexual ones has only been widely legally recognized for a few years.
The point I am trying to make is that consciousness of our ever-fluctuating society needs to be instilled in the up and coming students, youth and citizens of today. Next though, a recognition that our individual agency within any of the social institutions of education, health, government, religion, the home or in the rapidly accelerating technological fields can and will bring about progress for a society that will always be transient.
