The Forest And The Trees Analysis

Dylan Gonzalez
Professor Donna Bobbitt-Zeher

Sociology 101

20 October 2010

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science that involves the study of people, groups, and societies. This science explains the dynamics of society and how they and how they connect to our actions in everyday life. It studies the ways that social structures human attitudes, actions, and opportunities. The basic framework of The Forest and the Trees has two main points. The book discusses the main analogy of the “forest and the trees” and the analogy of the “One Thing”. This also mentions the relationship between social systems and individuals. There are many components that make up these topics. Also, there are different perspectives on
It doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best choice. For example, if somebody makes a racial comment and you think it’s wrong but at the same time everybody else is laughing so you just laugh because it is the path of least resistance. It is the route that will make you feel more uncomfortable than just not laughing and being judged by everybody else who did laugh. It is the path with the least amount of conflict on the individual. “People make systems happen, consciously or not, and systems lay out paths of least resistance that shape how people participate. Both neither people nor systems exist without the other, and yet neither can be reduced to the other.”(Johnson 19.) This leads into “The One Thing”. “The One Thing” is the concept that “we are always participating in something larger than ourselves and if we want to understand what it is that we’re participating in and how we participate in it”. This means that it’s not all about the individual or the society in itself, but individuals and societies together and how they affect and relate to one
Social structures are patterns of social relationships and social institutions that compare society. (Mills) Culture shapes social structures just like individuals do. Culture is our way of life. Culture is learned ways of acting, feeling, and thinking. These learned ways shape social systems because they are passed from person to person. Just by living our everyday lives we pass on these actions, feelings and thoughts. When I think of culture and social structure the best example that comes to mind is parenting. When people have kids they teach them “the paths of least resistance” which is the way they should act and do things. Parents teach their kids how to eat properly, how to use the bathroom, how to speak, and how to do many other actions based off of what’s culturally correct. Those parents learned it from their parents and their parents learned it from their own parents. This is how social structure is shaped culturally; it is passed down from generation to generation and affects society for forever because culture just gets passed down. Through learning the actions of parents and everybody involved in an individual’s life, people learn socialization. Socialization is the process whereby people learn through others, what they need to in order to live in society. (Bobbitt-Zeher.) Individuals are socialized based on agents of socialization. Things like