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In this essay, I will outline the concept of sociology and discuss how sociologists understand social phenomena. I will then identify and apply the key features and concepts of sociology such as social imagination, public issues and personal troubles, historical contextualization, structure, and agency, amongst others, in order to discuss how these help us to understand the challenges of accessing higher education as well as how these challenges can be overcome.
Sociology is about the scientific relationship between human interaction and the social forces that shape human behavior (Stewart & Zaaiman, 2014). Sociology studies the patterns, tendencies, and practices of social interactions as well as the social processes and structures in society (Stewart & Zaaiman, 2014). When humans interact with one another, they start to form social relations which sociologists can study.
Sociologists understand phenomena as a social interaction that has happened between two or more people. Sociologists are able to understand social phenomena due to the fact that they are able to explain how humans interact with one another in certain social contexts. Sociology develops based on the advancing context of the modern world (Giddens, 1986). The way in which groups of people communicate has changed and developed over time and so when looking at sociology, sociologists have to take into consideration the way and events in which individuals communicate and interact with one another in a specific society.
Sociological imagination is the ability of humans to understand their own situation in relation to broader societal problems (Stewart & Zaaiman, 2014). The notion of sociological imagination was used to outline the method by which people could distinguish what affects them unfavorably in the individual’s life (Stewart & Zaaiman, 2014). Sociological imagination allows people to begin to understand the fundamental issues that are ultimately affecting their lives (Stewart & Zaaiman, 2014). For example, when people say that they should go and get a cup of tea or coffee, it is a normal, everyday thing for many to enjoy, however, many people are unaware of the process that goes on behind the development and creation of coffee and tea. The people who are working to make the coffee and tea cannot even afford to make use of it while other people who buy it see it as a normal, easy-to-acquire product. Sociological imagination also links to personal troubles.
Personal troubles transpire within the personality of the individual as well as within the scope of his direct relations with others (Mills, 2000). Personal troubles have to do with himself and with those limited areas of social life of which he is personally aware and impacted (Mills, 2000). In South Africa, some learners or students may not have the same home language as other individuals and so it is that individual’s personal trouble to not be able to understand another individual. However, personal troubles can become public issues.
Public issues have to do with matters that exceed these local surroundings of the individual as well as the range of his internal life (Mills, 2000). Public issues have to do with the organization of such environments into the institutions of a historical society as a whole (Mills, 2000). In South African universities, when many individuals are experiencing personal troubles such as language barriers, it starts to develop into a public issue where many individuals are experiencing the same personal trouble.
Historical contextualization refers to the religious, economic, political as well and social conditions that had once existed during a specific time and place (Salemink, 1990). Historical contextualization allows and helps sociologists to understand the social aspects that had occurred in the past as well as be able to compare them to the social norms that we experience today in South Africa.
Social structure refers to the design within a culture and organization through which social action can transpire (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). Social structure is both an enabler as well as a constraint in regard to what is possible in social life (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). Social structures such as educational backgrounds can be an enabler for students if they have been exposed to a higher grade of education throughout their lives putting those learners at an advantage in regards to accessing higher education, however, some students may fall victim to social stratification and experience social constraints.
Social Stratification refers to the unequal and biased positions that occupy individuals in a society (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). If a student has had a lower grade in education for their schooling career, it puts those learners at a disadvantage, as it is a constraint for the students who had a lack of schooling, which then jeopardizes their chances of accessing higher education due to their lack of sufficient education.
Agency is the comprehended ability of people to act upon their world and not only to know about or to give personal or intersubjective significance to it (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). Agency is the power of the individual to act purposively and reflectively and to control their own activities as well as redefine the world in which they live. (Giddens & Sutton, 2017).
Individuals who have the capability to make decisions, plans as well and choices regarding their own lives as well as to act on those decisions exercise agency (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). These are individuals who are able to identify aspects in their own lives that may disadvantage them such as a poor educational background, and make decisions and choices based on those particular aspects and determine how they are going to act upon those choices and plans to make a better life for themselves.
Grit can be defined as the individuals’ internal morals and perseverance as well as a passion for long-term goals (Wilson-Strydom, 2017). Grit also entails the capacity to withstand both effort and interest in tasks that may take extended periods of time to complete (Wilson-Strydom, 2017). When a student in a higher-education facility shows an interest in the work that they are doing as well as continuous passion and perseverance for the task at hand, this shows that the students have grit and will not just simply give up or show less effort in the task when facing a challenge.
Resilience is the understanding that individuals can reevaluate themselves, set goals to accomplish, and are able to create and maintain their own well-being and quality of life as desired, regardless of their current circumstances or their sociological history of misfortunes (Wilson-Strydom, 2017). Instead of assuming our goals of the standard norms, in order to achieve higher education, we need to consider the opportunities that all people have to live the lives that they have reason to value (Wilson-Strydom, 2017).
Resilience is the ability to accomplish a specific goal regardless of your circumstances or disadvantages. Students who come to higher education institutes who have a home language other than English have difficulty being able to understanding and interpreting lectures and readings that are given in English, however, students with resilience will try to overcome this difficulty by demonstrating agency and the control that they have over their decisions to find a way to succeed (Wilson-Strydom, 2017).
There is a large amount of diversity in higher education institutes. This diversity is evident in the students’ backgrounds in regard to their socio-economic status, the language that they speak, as well as cultural and educational backgrounds (Smit, 2012). Diversity in the educational background that is essentially rooted in socioeconomic inequalities is becoming a limitation to development in higher education institutions (Smit, 2012). Higher education institutes are currently implementing the integrative model for their students (Smit, 2012).
The integrative model can be seen as the conforming of various students from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and religions into the dominant culture of the higher education institute (Smit, 2012). Students who come from different backgrounds and have different diversities are expected to adapt to fit into the integrative model. Learners who do not have English as their home language or have a very vague conceptualization of English will struggle when having to learn in English due to the institute implementing a model that does not cater to these different diversities.
The adaptive model prompts the university to change from the integrative model to accommodate the diversity of the students in the higher education institutes (Smit, 2012). This adaptive model provides a more fair opportunity for students to be able to access higher education regardless of their diversity such as educational background or socio-economic status (Smit, 2012). This model will also be more beneficial for students in succeeding at higher education as it takes the student’s diversities and allows them to use these diversities to their advantage when attending lectures and when using the material that is given that is suited to particular diversities of the students.
All of the above-mentioned factors play a major role in the access as well as the success that is experienced by students in higher education institutes. Things such as sociological imagination, personal troubles, and public issues influence whether individuals have the opportunity to have access to higher education based on aspects such as their socioeconomic status and their educational background. Those students who have an unfavorable background, or a background that doesn’t fit the social norm have a social constraint when accessing higher education due to the inequalities they are faced with
Aspects such as structure, agency, grit, and resilience are all influencers when it comes to the student’s capability to succeed in these higher education institutions. Students are faced with certain social constraints, which are things that put individuals at a disadvantage. Social constraints can be things such as financial issues, which may influence a student not being able to stay in the institute, language barriers as well and socio-economic status. Students also encounter social enablers, which are things that put certain individuals at an advantage in their time at higher education institutes. Social enablers can be things such as a stable financial background, sufficient educational background as well as language exposure or knowledge of the language that is being taught.
There are many aspects that influence access to higher education institutes as well as the ability to succeed in these higher education institutes as outlined above. Students in South Africa have to overcome the features mentioned above in order to fully succeed in these higher education institutes. As outlined above, both structural factors and agency need to be considered when addressing the challenges that students face in accessing and succeeding in higher education institutes.
References
- Giddens, A. (1986). Sociology: Issues and Problems, In Sociology: A brief but critical introduction (2nd edition). London: Macmillan, 1-22.
- Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2017). What is Sociology? In Sociology (8th edition). Polity, 3-30.
- Mills, C. W. (2000). The Sociological Imagination (40th-anniversary ed). New York: Oxford University Press, 3-24.
- Salemink, O. (1990). The Ethnography of Vietnam’s Central Highlanders. University of Hawai’i press Honululu, 3-7.
- Smit, R. (2012). Towards a clearer understanding of student disadvantage in higher education: problematizing deficit thinking. Higher Education Research & Development, 31 (3), 369-380.
- Stewart, P., & Zaaiman, J. (2014). Sociology: A South African Introduction. Juta, xiii-xix.
- Wilson-Strydom, M. (2017). Disrupting Structural Inequalities of Higher Education Opportunity: ‘Grit’, Resilience and Capabilities at a South African University. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 18 (3), 384-398.
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