Social Phenomena of Individual and External Circumstances in a Society

In todays society scholars all across the world have conflict in the matter which talks about how race and an individual’s identity shapes how we all live our lives. We can all come to a conclusion where we agree that everyone from individuals to a community within a society face inequality, this could be through racial discrimination or other things. In this essay well be discussing the differences of opinions of both Scientists. Scientist A whom believes that individual choices result in social phenomena and it has little to nothing to do with societal structure. Social phenomena are knowledge and experiences we carry it is individual and external circumstances in a society which influences someone’s behaviours and opinions. On the contrary Scientist B believes pretty much the complete opposite his opinions are that “individual choices have little power to influence them” in other words he’s saying that its events that cause it.

Scientist A claims in the statement that “ Differences in outcomes among racial groups that we observe in a society – for instance, areas that they live in or varying participation levels in politics - could predominantly result from the nature of individual choices”. Which I believe to mean that the choices someone makes is based on the environment he or she has surrounded themselves around. By this it could mean that someone who has grown up in areas such as Mayfair in central London will choose to take different choices as to someone who has grown up in areas outside of London where not only is opportunity different the people in that society are different. 

Two people from different areas both have different outlooks on the world due to what they may have seen around them or experienced. Furthermore, education in the place they live could be different to others which may play a part in the choices they make because they could be studying different types of things. Another thing I believe scientist A believes in is politics. This could determine decisions that one makes because how politically active an area is could change the views of a person because they will be hearing about changes or reforms that will be put in compared to someone who has no knowledge whatsoever on politics.

Rational choice theory is what the Scientist uses for his explanation. The rational choice theory is a theory that talks about how individuals only make choices and decisions that they believe in best for them and it’s in their self-interest. Us as human beings are selfish people we tend to only decide to do things if it benefits us, however it’s a good thing because it means that where there is opportunity we are able to capitalise on it to maximise our utility.its a strength as it helps us to evaluate and consider others decsions