Sociology, Culture and Economics

It has been said on more than one occasion that Cash is King. The current American culture would agree almost immediately. A momentary glance at the current economic situation in the United States lends more support to the statement. A brief look back at history shows that from the origin of human life, economic status has directly affected sociology and culture as a whole.

Before one can understand how economics affects sociology and culture, one must have a basic understanding of sociology, culture, and economics. Sociology, in its simplest form, is the application of the scientific method to the social world. Sociology is used to analyze society (pure sociology), and based on this analysis, attempt to reform society (applied sociology). Sociologists observe cultures and events as objectively as possible and record their findings. If the sociologist is practicing applied sociology, then they will draft a report identifying social issues and behaviors and offering explanations and solutions for the issues noted .

Culture can be easily understood as patterns of human activity. Underlying this elementary definition are symbolic structures and traditions which give culture its foundation. Based on this definition, it stands to reason that humans do shape their culture, rather than the popular belief that culture shapes humans. However, it also stands to reason that when confronted with thousands of years of culture a human cannot help but be influenced by culture through the patterns of their parents and through the patterns and traditions relative to their geographic locale .

Studying culture is becoming increasingly difficult as there are an increasing amount of cultures and cultural variables. For each culture that exists, a group of subcultures exist. Buried deep under these subcultures are lists of variables ranging from age, geographic location, and family values to race, religion, and family tradition. For every culture that exists, there will be those who live amongst the culture, but might not necessarily agree or live according to the culture. Such people are termed “ counter - cultural ”. Those who are counter - cultural, may disagree with culture completely, or only on a limited number of cultural issues. Although counter - culture is not popular, it should not be discounted by any means, for it is through counter - cultural movements that social change is affected .

It is interesting to note that culture does not always follow itself. Culture as a principle is ideal. A culture is made up of a group’s ideal norms and values. However, idealism is not realism. Real culture is the actual behavior which often falls short of the cultural ideals. This is not to say that the ideals themselves are flawed. Rather, this difference between ideal culture and real culture seems to suggest that humans are fallible, and thus prone to error .

Economics is a social science that analyzes the production, distribution , and consumption of goods and services . Lionel Robbins defined economics as ““ the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses .” While most people believe that economics is generally restricted to studies in the area of business, yet economics is much more pervasive. Economics and economic study principles can be applied to the areas of education, family, law, politics, and war. The overarching effect of economics on the other social sciences is generally termed economic imperialism .

Every social event displays a cultural or economic dimension. By using simple observational skills, the sociologist can see that the American culture is increasingly consumerist. The consumer will do anything necessary to keep up with the times and the Joneses including charging their credit cards until they are maxed out. American culture puts a high emphasis on instant gratification, which leads to impulse spending and increased debt. The good feeling the consumer receives when making a purchase is not reciprocated when the end of the month comes and their eyes meet the balance due on the credit card statement .

It can be argued that sociological and cultural ideals are what caused the current meltdown of the financial markets in the United States, and in some cases, the world. In America, there is a cultural ideal called “The American Dream”. This dream usually brings thoughts of the customary 3 children, 2 cars, a nice house with a pool, and a garage to boot. A few banks and financial lenders decided to capitalize on this ideal and began making low rate variable interest loans that were below the prime mortgage rate as deemed by the Fed, hence the term sub-prime mortgages .

The American idealist consumers saw these low rates, and decided that it was time to have a go at the America dream. These consumers took out monstrous mortgages for homes they could otherwise not afford. Gradually, the interest rate on the variable rate loans began to rise. The family’s household income stayed the same. As the rates continued to climb, the homeowners began to fall behind on their loans and eventually default. Americans have lost over 1. 5 million homes, and the after effects are still being felt as financial institutions and banks continue to go under or get bought out. Who would have thought that such large economic fallout could be the result of sociological and cultural ideal s?

As a result of the economic meltdown, new sociological though and cultural movements are rising. There is increase resolve amongst Americans to exercise self control over their spending habits. People are once again extremely cautious about investing due to the recent risk and vulnerability of the stock market. The most striking cultural movement to arise from the economic turmoil has been the classic American attitude. During times of difficulty, the United States of America grows stronger, and citizens rally to support each other and meet each others needs.

Through the study of economics the sociologist can see just how much integration and synthesis exists between sociology, culture, and economics. Each area has an effect on each other. An economic event cannot not occur without some sort of sociological and cultural impact following. Likewise, not sociological or cultural movement can occur without provoking some sort of reaction from the economy.