The Search for Sociological Perspectives in Journal Article

In the article found on The Guardian titled Totnes Parents Rejects Vaccines Despite Stark Medical Warnings, a concerned parent named Lotus Tarn speaks out about her refusal to vaccinate her daughter and the dangers and harm she feels will come to her daughter if she chooses to vaccinate her. The article also brings others’ opinions on vaccines with one doctor quoting “In 2015-16 more than 240 people developed measles in the south-west, with the outbreak starting and being centered in south Devon. We experienced a similar large outbreak last year, this time centered on Bristol, which is an area that has similar low uptake of immunisations.” (Morrison, Steven and Yates, Julie “Totnes Parents Rejects Vaccines Despite Stark Medical Warnings” The Guardian October 22, 2019). The articles goes on to highlight more opinions from those who see vaccines as a good thing and those who are against them while adding research data listing the percentage of people who’ve chosen not to get vaccinated while also highlighting the purpose of each vaccine.

The Sociological Perspective is described as a group of people or a “society” living life by an unspoken unofficial rule which dictates how we think, act and dress and how we feel is “necessary” in order to survive and adapt in a world that is rapidly changing and one where we are faced with interacting with others while forcing us to act a certain way depending on the situation we are presented with.

The Sociological Perspective in this article would be Lotus Tarn and other parents who feel that they should not vaccinate their children because they feel that vaccinating their children would do great harm. The reason why I believe this is the sociological perspective is because these group of anti-vaxxers are forced to adapt into a society that believes that going unvaccinated will bring great harm or the spread of diseases, whether you agree or not is up to you to decide but this also brings up the very heated and much discussed debate of weather it should be up to the parents to decide to vaccinate their children or others who feel like going unvaccinated poses a threat to society. This also relates to the sociological perspective because these groups are often forced to interact with one another and whether or not you agree both sides have to learn to adapt to a world that is quickly beginning to decide what they put into their bodies and how they deal with these outcomes as a society.