Ramirez 1

Hernan Ramirez

SBS 400

Susan Morley

3/3/2013

MLO 1

Major Learning Outcomes are requirements that the Department of Social

Behavioral and Global Studies at California State University Monterey Bay has developed in

which students display their understanding of different concepts that are the basic for

social science research. The first Major Learning Outcome (MLO1) requires to explain how

the theory deliverables produced in the SBS major Proseminar demonstrate theory.

Students learn to define theory and identify the difference between classical and

contemporary theory. In MLO1 students are expected to understand the different theories

that were used in the social behavioral science. In this paper I will provide a definition of

theory and include an example of a theory. Theory is defined as “an interdisciplinary

undertaking that creates connections between the areas in the humanities and social

sciences” (Marshall 2006).

Social theory is an interdisciplinary undertaking that creates connections

between the areas in the humanities and social sciences. There is a difference between

classical and contemporary theories. Classical theories continue to be relevant to be

sociological theory today. They have become classics because they have a wide range of

application and deal with centrally important social issues and mainly focus on issues from
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the past. Meanwhile, contemporary theories conserve the concept of classical theories but

focus more on recent issues in society.

The first deliverable that I have completed was for the SBS 300 Major

Professional Seminar. The topic focused on the social class discrimination. The second

deliverable focuses on inequity in society.

My first deliverable was concentrated on discrimination between social classes. The

theorist was Karl Marx. The purpose of study is to explore the existing social class

discrimination. The book that I used was In Contested knowledge: Social Theory Today

(Sedmain, 2008). Marx explained how social theory can work in the social aspects of

society. Marx seeks to create a theory that would help to understand society struggles by

using scientific approach to explain the informal statements based on experience. Karl

Marx best known as a revolutionary communist whose theories had inspired other

communists to make social changes. Based on social class, Marx argued that in order to

make change, it was necessary to understand social forces such as institutions, cultural

traditions, and social groups. Marx believed that we as individuals shape our own ideas to

create our actions and our social interests which are determined by our social position.

According to Seidman, as we transform the natural environment to survive, we shape our

own human nature (Seidman 2008). Moreover, Pierre Bourdieu was best known for the

concept of habitus. The habitus concept guides individuals to evaluate things and refers to

the way we interpret every little thing in the world. Bourdieu’s perspective of social class

was different from Marx. He believed that culture is what makes the difference in social

classes. He argued that "Culture reproduces class domination to the extent that the
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domination classes can compose their cultural values, standards, and tastes on the whole

society, or at least install their cultural preferences as the standard of what is the highest,

best, and most legitimate in national culture” (Seidman 2008). Bourdieu explains that

individuals make their own social status based on the culture they belong to or come from.

According to Bourdieu, men from the working class prefer food that is meaty and filling and

men from the ruling class prefer fish precisely because it is delicate, and less filling, healthy

(Seidman 2008). This idea helps us understand the difference between social classes. It

shows that individuals from either social class make the choices that best fits their living

style.

My second deliverable papers is about inequity in society. For this assignment I used

the book of Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela. In this book the author gives

personal hardships that he experienced throughout his education. Based on this book I was

able to link some of Mandela’s struggles to my education experiences and to recent

struggles in today’s society. He describes how hard it was for other people in his

community to continue with their education; especially how hard it was for women. For

example he detailed how Mathona, a young South African girl did not have the opportunity

to continue with her education because her family needed her to work, “her parents did not

have the means to send her for further education. She was an extraordinarily clever and

gifted person, whose potential was limited because of her family’s meager resources.”

(Mandela 1994). This expression from Mandela is exactly what describes some people in

my community in Mexico. The lack of resources ruins people’s dreams.

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The theorist that best relates in this paper is also Karl Marx because his theory is all

about conflicts in ownership among class with the means of controlling production. The

reason as to why I believe he would be a good theorist for my paper is because he describes

the struggles of the working class.