CONCLUSION

All our papers addressed current issues in American society by using frameworks provided by the classical founders of sociology. While the papers varied in specific topics, we all applied the classical founders of sociology to relevant issues that American society faces today. This shows the applicability of the classical sociological theories to contemporary topics, issues, and works.

Darrell’s Reflections

Due to a large proportion of school funding being done through property taxes, higher class individuals have access to better education than lower class individuals. To add, higher classed individuals perform better on reading and math tests and graduate college at 50% higher rate than their lower class counterparts. Thus, the bourgeoisie use their financial privilege to access and gain institutionalized cultural capital in the form of degrees and are better prepared to integrate into society. These same individuals have access to a higher number of leadership roles because of their institutionalized cultural capital, who end up dictating the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, members of the bourgeoisie achieve organic solidarity and use collective action to continue to exploit the proletariat, aid other members of the bourgeoisie, and protect themselves from the pandemic. The disparities between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie affected by the COVID-19, can be equalized by allowing the proletariat to obtain the same quality of education as the bourgeoisie despite costs. This would result in more diverse leadership to respond to the COVID-19 response, and see a larger number of American’s protected from the virus, instead of just the rich.

Dariush’s Reflections

Using the theories of classical sociologists such as Marx and Engels, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Max Weber, I was able to apply their findings and concerns to modern day issues including income and racial inequality and its effect on the quality of education one receives.  This concept was expanded using the theories of contemporary sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his theories on the different forms of capital.  This research allowed me to connect classical theories with contemporary issues and deepen my understanding of America’s social classes and the divide between these classes.  My analysis suggests that the lack of economic capital one possesses negatively affects one’s quality of education.  This statement is true for many African-Americans who make less income and accumulate less wealth than whites.  As a result of the poor quality of education, higher education is unattainable.  Thus, one is unable to attain cultural capital, such as a degree or other credentials.  As a result, one is unable to grow their network and increase their own capital.  Therefore, the cycle of generational poverty repeats itself.

Vaish’s Reflections

While we wish to see a country that moves towards a position of racial and social equity, the clash between the progressive movements and the consistent resistance to these movements prevents the United States from making any substantive progress towards racial justice. DuBois and the other founders lay out how the combination of racial and class animosity leads to a situation where no significant progress can be made. The history of the color-line in the United States prevents class solidarity and further polarizes between the project and resistance identity. Even when millions of white American have started to side with the Black Lives Matter movement, we still haven’t seen major changes in the American status quo. The only way we can achieve this is if the number of people in the project identity continues to grow, but also the power of the resistance identity should shrink.

Allie’s Reflections

The classical sociologists provide important concepts and frameworks to analyze modern issues in society, such as school-based policing and school shootings. This research allowed me to delve into the literature and apply the classical sociological frameworks to further my understanding on the issues of school-based policing and school shootings as they fit into the larger historical context. My analysis suggests that the increase of SROs does little to prevent violence in schools and actually reinforces the problem of the lack of social integration and cohesion in students that contribute to school shootings. In this work, I found that there needs to be more research done on this topic and policymakers need to analyze and view this research more thoroughly to implement policies that will not harm racial minorities and help schools become a safer environment for students.

Larissa’s Reflections

The  concepts of Sociological founders allowed me to deepen my understanding of the opportunity gap between wealthy and poor individuals. More specifically, reviewing the previous literature helped me conclude that low-income racial minorities tend to live in communities that are especially disadvantaged through low-quality education, low levels of access to resources, high rates of incarceration, and poverty concentration. During his time, Karl Marx noted that the proletariat children face many barriers preventing them from going into higher education and recent studies indicate this is still the case. Without access to higher education, many poor children remain in low-socioeconomic environments and are not given opportunities to accumulate cultural capital or to participate in social mobility.

Elease’s Reflections

Using classical theories of the Protestant work ethic, formal rationality, cultural capital to frame the exploration of the multidimensionality of wellness consumption under modern capitalism demonstrates the flexibility and long withstanding utility of the work of sociology’s classical founders. The analytical framework I use suggests that the concept of wellness is being co-opted for the profit of companies within the wellness industry and by corporations investing in employee workplace wellness programs.

*We would like to thank you Jennifer Beamer for her support in putting together this digital book! We are grateful that our work throughout this semester can be displayed in this manner!