Blog 6- The Persuit of Happiness

A few weeks ago in my sociology class, we discussed the sociologist Harriet Martneau.
I really enjoyed learning about her views and it was nice learning about a woman sociologist. I feel as though early women sociologists do not get the credit they deserve. Ms. Martneau was not even in our textbook. Some people do not consider early women sociologists to be actual sociologist, because they were not trained in the field. However, Marx was not trained either.

One of Harriet Martneau's ideas was the "Law of 'Social Life.'" This means that people are always looking for happiness in something. We try doing things that make us happy. For example, some people buy nice clothes or go on vacations, because we think it will makes us feel good. Sometimes this pursuit of happiness can be for the happiness of others. We may do things that make us unhappy, but we still do them because it will make someone else happy. For example, I absolutely hate doing my dishes, but I do them because it makes my roommates happy.

I think that Harriet Martneau has a good idea, but I do not think it is entirely correct. She is right for the most part. I think most of our motives for things is in the end happiness. People get a college education, because it will help them get a job which will bring them money which they believe will eventually bring them happiness. I listen to my mother all the time when it comes to wedding planning, because I think she will be happy with me if I do what she says.

However, I think that this pursuit of happiness will not satisfy a person. People work so hard to try to be happy, but they sometimes end up empty handed. People work really hard to get a college education and they hope it will bring them a nice job that will pay them a lot, but sometimes it does not turn out the way they want. College grads sometimes get a low paying and unsatisfying jobs and then they end up feeling like a failure. I also listen to my mother way to much, when it comes to wedding planning, and I am super unhappy, because the wedding has nothing that I wanted.

http://franthony.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/happiness.jpg