Sociological theory to me is ideas that are all interrelated to one another. It's just a collection of peoples ideas on what makes people tick and what causes who to do what. A more popular question that everybody asks, not just sociologists, about anything that perplexed them is the question "why?".
On the subject of 'why?', the word authority pops into my mind and how exactly they relate. People always question authority whether it be because they are inebriated, want to show off, or generally want to know why they are forced to do something. My feelings on authority are quite mixed. I'm generally okay with authority because humans need some sort of boundaries and rules or else there would be no order in the world. As long as the person in command does not abuse the power or use it to gain personal satisfaction of having someone obey their sick humor, then a normal and complying action is alright. If the authoritative figures orders something that goes against what I think is right or wrong then of course I'm going to stand up. It's good to stand up and refuse sometimes because a little bit of anarchy keeps the people with power in check.
I believe that if I were to be a sociologist I would be a Social Interactionist. I'm very interested in what people do and why according to the rules they set for themselves, if any. What makes a human attracted to a certain individual human? What is right or wrong within the mind of any given person? The fact that everybody is an individual and acts accordingly to their thoughts but are influenced by society as a whole has always fascinated me. How people react to the things they hear or see is completely different for each individual due to what they know is wrong or right and what certain symbols mean. Seeing people react to themselves and society has always been interesting for myself.
The Milgram Experiment is a perfect example of human beings reactions to morals and themselves. Throughout the experiment, the teacher would have to administer volts of electricity to the student if the student answered one of the questions wrong. Some teachers laughed because they were nervous and that was their way of dealing with the emotional stress while others flat out refused to go on after they were going to be pushed past their comfort zone.
Their reaction to authority was mixed. I believe that every human does want to stand up to authority when their morals and sanity are challenged but not all of them have the willpower in them. If they didn't hear or see the damage they were inflicting, I believe they would have had no problem administering the shocks. The reason I think a majority of them stood up to authority was the fact that they were uncomfortable. It could have been that they were uncomfortable at the fact that they were hurting the other person or that they were being forced to do so. Every human does know what's right and wrong but whether or not they stand up to a figure in power is based on their individual thoughts and comfort. I'd like to believe that people stand up even when they aren't sure the outcome is going to be okay.
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