Introduction: Sociological Constructs and Theories

Ableism is a form of discrimination. The false ideas that disabled people are by default, inferior when in truth disability is just another way for a mind and or body to be. I'm studying about Schizophrenia in my psychology class and many people who have this serious mental disorder have so many stigmas around them. When in fact they can still manage their lives, understanding them, treating them with support and understanding is all anyone wants and needs no matter the basis of physical, mental or emotional impairment.   

Social constructs are overlayed by power. By power I mean, access to and through the various social institutions to include the government, work, education, family, law, media, and medicine, among others, and the process of privileging, normalizing, and valuing certain identities over others. Power in American society is organized along the lines of gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, age, nation and religious identities. Some identities are more highly valued and or more normalized, than others. Take for example the LGBT community. Typically, the idea of power is contrasted to identities thought to be less valuable or less 'normal'. That is obviously not true. As we are all human an should have equal rights no matter the multiple identity, and experience some with more privilege has due to their socially valued identity statuses and disadvantages due to their devalued identity statuses. A great quote by Tony Webster states the following, "Privilege is when you think ...

We all come from a social structure, this refers to the ways in which we interact, that exist through time, and passed down from one generation through the next through the socialization process that over time come to be taken for granted as 'normal'. What is normal simply becomes 'just the way things are.' The way it is includes family, schools, mass media, peers and institutions. My daughter, just like I have, will grow up with these social structures as she is currently learning them, and I am teaching them to her. It is part of life and inevitable. It is the way we socialize. Families are socially constructed by social bonds such as fostering, nurturing, or economic ties. These all have an impact on members within the family and society. 

Racism is a sociological imagination. This is a critical perspective that goes beyond the surface level explanations of personal and looks to the social context. The context of racism in sociological imagination looks at the intersection of history and biography to place things in the necessary context to fully understand them. The biography refers to the life story of Christian Cooper who was bird watching in the woods in Manhattan's Central Park when he politely asked Amy Cooper to put her dog on a leash, she refused. He then started recording their interaction, and she threatened to call the police, telling them that "an African american man was threatening her life." This is an example on the ideas about white women shaping the history of racism and having a perspective from one that emphasizes the experiences of the individual to one that understand the broader social context in which that individual lives.