So... I guess I'm a structuralist.
That's Emile Durkheim. I didn't always respect him, but I guess that would be because in my first year, I came into sociology with little regard for most of the macro theories and considered myself a micro-sociologist. (Dog! I was ignorant when I was 19, not everyone is, but I love getting older and have no intentions to stop.) Then I changed my majors, then I dropped out, then things got confusing, but after that all was dealt with, I went back to sociology.
Now, micro sociology, interaction and individualist theories aren't taught in a lot of the specialised courses. They have their own, my university called it "Identities and Society" and taking that class was basically as close as I've ever had to a religious experience. I'll explain because its relevant.
One of the first things I remember my father telling me; and I argued with him about it, was that you have a hand in everything that happens to you. He was a bit more blunt, 'everything that happens to you is your fault' was what he told me, but I prefer the other one. I responded with something along the lines of 'what if you walk around a corner and someone punches you in the face?'. After some debate it was prevailed upon me that walking around the corner does not mean you deserve the punch in the face, but your feet were the ones that walked you to the face punching, and we have to be cognisant of our role in everything that happens to us.
The play between agency and consequence in our society is complicated and fucked up. It also necessitates the mingling of the sociology of identity and other micro-theories and structuralism (or at least, that's how I do it at this point in my life).
We, North Americans, value freedom. Some more than others, but free choice is a deeply integrated ideal within us. But I believe we've reached the point where we use personal freedom as a disclaimer, I see this as more of an American thing than a Canadian thing but we've got our own ridiculous societal idiosyncrasies.
Health Care: You have the option to purchase health care insurance in the united states. (For now). However, if you do not, you risk facing life debilitating debt should you require medical attention. Health Care insurance is both hard to get... and if you have anything wrong with you, this part necessitates that you NEVER have a hiccup in your health insurance should you have anything wrong with you AND that you have parents able to pay for health insurance for you as a child, because by the time you're an adult, it's a pre-existing condition. But health care insurance is also COSTLY. And wages are poor and unemployment is high.
That's not a choice. Its mandatory for everyone who has the ability to do it, strongly advised for everyone who can sacrifice enough or work enough to nearly afford it and an intentional trap for those who are not able, because this system requires examples of what happens to people who do not comply.
THEN, because everybody in America has the freedom to make their choices, those who aren't able to afford health insurance for whatever reason are not only in crushing debt, but they are denigrated as failures as well. But the choice is a lie.
When the consequences are high, and compliance is as strongly discouraged (low wages and part time disqualifying you for health insurance at your job counts as discouragement), free choice doesn't exist, and non-compliance should not be punished.
Damn. I'm a structuralist. But it goes further than that.
I believe that until our society is structured so that most people within it can be successful, we will always have problems. We know it isn't structured so that most people within it can be successful because our middle class is shrinking. We know this: these are facts we can OBSERVE.
Turning it around means changing almost all our institutions, battling poverty, and making K-12 schooling into an experience that creates confident, critically thinking adults that can engage the world and stand up for what they believe in rather than what it is. A travesty of awfulness where students are trained to be disrespected and to disrespect others: where those who wish to lead our young and help them gain the skills to survive seem to be considered sub human and our most precious natural resource (oh yeah, I went there)
Click to viewChildren are not considered worthy of funding. But wars are. How do we know this? Well, check: are wars funded to the umpteenth degree? Yes. Are schools? NO?! There we have it.
North Americans have an identity that is out of line with our actions, and a political system that capitalises on that. To bring our actions into line with what we say our values are, we need to wake the fuck up and take a long hard look at ourselves and each other and step up and make the hard changes and choices.
I am a strange sociologist today.