The German And The American Sociological Traditions

Compare and contrast the German and the American sociological traditions’ answer to: c.) Why do people obey social norms (to the extent that they do)? During our lecture, it was stated, â€Å" The norms we develop for the sake of practice are justified only to the degree that they solve the problems we presently face.† â€Å"If that doesn’t work, we have social reconstruction to make it better.† Within the American, and German sociological traditions, how are norms developed, upon which grounds is a norm considered socially and morally acceptable? Do people obey norms because what they consider a norm makes the society a â€Å"good society†. George Herbert Mead for the American Tradition, believing in adapting, and Max Weber for the German†¦show more content†¦We spoke about Mead’s ideas during our lecture over the American sociological tradition, and what comes to mind is the child burning its finger on a lit candle in another room. When making contact with the flame the child quickly pulled back the finger that had touched the hot flame. By withdrawing his or her hand from the flame due to the heat, the child is responding to the stimuli in its environment, also known as the Stimulus Response Theory. (Lecture) The stimulus of the child touching the hot flame, and withdrawing its hand leads to the Mechanism Stimulus Response Theory. (Lecture) This is because the child socially reconstructs the environment, and what stimulates them due to the pain the child felt from the flame.(Lecture) The way the child now feels about that object is completely different due to the pain. In society we go through stimulants daily, according to the American sociological tradition, these stimulants become our norms. What we believe and what we do not believe. A stimulant can be derived from things like pain, language, significant symbols, and generalized others. For example, my dog is currently laying on my bed, but if she needs to go to the restroom she needs to wake up and go to the door to be let out. She knows this because I trained her using different types of symbols. When she was a puppy, if she used