Sociological Perspective

Introduction

Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society. At the heart of sociology is a distinctive point of view called "the sociological perspective." Sociologists look for general social patterns in the behavior of individuals as they relate to a group and how the group and social structures affect our individual perception and behavior. Human behavior is patterned, and repetitive. We can predict with reasonable reliability what each of us will do generally under given conditions (Seymour, 2003). Our uniqueness as individuals is in the context of the group we belong. Sociology studies the social forces that impinge on our lives in so many unseen, yet significant ways. Sociologist Peter Berger said:

In seeing the strange in the familiar "things are not always what they seem." Sociology pushes us to question the assumptions we are making about society, and reveals aspects of our social life that we typically would not claim to be "obvious" facts. Our social world guides our actions and life choices as individuals. People act in the context of the group they belong; it is the group that influences human behavior. The realization of the strength and importance of the group is the heart of the sociological perspective (Berger, 1983).

In this paper, I will explain the sociological perspective of the personality and character of the lead actor, Denzel Washington, and supporting actor, Bruce Willis, in the movie called The Siege. Their personalities and characters shaped by the same America society, both of them work for a law enforcement agency, but their beliefs, values and attitude to duty are divergent. My points of reference are based on the theories of Max Weber and Йmile Durkhiem

Max Weber

The idea of symbolic interactionism, or interactionism for short, was coined by the German sociologist and economist, Max Weber (1864-1920). Weber emphasized the subjective meaning of human behavior, the social process, and focused on the subjective aspects of social life and social systems. Max Weber believed that we need to know the image of humans, rather than on human’s image of society. He said that humans are pragmatic actors who continually must adjust their behavior to the actions of other actors and situations. He also said that humans can adjust to these actions only because when we are able to interpret them, i.e., to denote them symbolically and treat the actions and those who perform them as symbolic objects.

Society consists of organized and patterned interactions among individuals. This focus on interaction and on the meaning of events to the participants in those events (the definition of the situation) leads to toward change, and continually