Sociology 101

So, I’m taking a sociology class as a part of my continuing education requirement to keep my teaching license updated.  It’s called Social Problems:  A Critical Approach.  In order to identify and understand social problems, social scientists have devised the “ideal society”, a list of ideal characteristics to serve as a standard for society to attempt to achieve. 

Here’s the ideal, this gets a bit lengthy, but it’s pretty interesting:

1.  Our relationship with the poor, underdeveloped nations is nonexploitative and supportive of movements to secure basic human rights.

2.  Members of society are able to particiapte actively in or influence directly those political and economic decisions that affect them.

3.  Our government provides international leadership and sets a strong example for other nations in its approach to nuclear disarmament, and the cooperative, nonviolent settlement of differences.

4.  Resources are devoted to the preservation and conservation of the natural environment , and technological decisions take into account the well being of future generations.

5.  Work is freely available to all.  It is organized cooperatively, with special attention to providing meaning, dignity, and satisfaction.

6.  Gross differences in personal wealth and income are greatly reduced, so that the life chances of all members of U.S. society are relatively equal and all are able to share in the abundance of goods and services being produced.

7.  Each individual has ready and continuing access to the education and training needed to develop his or her interests and capabilities to the fullest extent.

8.  There is no personal and institutionalized discrimination against individuals on the basis of group membership (e.g., race, ethnicity, sex, age, or sexual orientation).

9.  Adequate health care is understood to be a human right and thus is made accessible and affordable to all.

10.  Special attention and support are freely given to troubled families and their members, including single-parent households.

11.  Members of US society are at peace with themselves and with one another.  The vicarioius rewards associated with such activities as crime, violence, and substance abuse have no attraction, and the social factors that provoke mental troubles and suicide are absent. 

So, how are we measuring up?

I was quite amazed at the connection between Sociology’s ideal, and a Jesus following respect for humanity and it’s created design.  There is an inherent understanding in humanity of how we were created to live.  It reveals itself  in these ideals.  These aren’t a list of a local church’s core values, (although they could be, and maybe should be,) but they are an ideal that all Jesus followers would do well to try to live by.  If Jesus is the model of humanity’s design, the ideal, then wouldn’t it make sense that those of us who live to follow Him would be attempting to uphold that ideal?

So how are we measuring up?

Choose to believe something different.