F E AT U R E
Sociology is ubiquitous. It can be anywhere, all the time;
basically, it is indeed everywhere, any time. As noted earlier,
renowned Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu referred to Sociology
as a “Martial Art” due to it’s power to provide “self-defense”
just as vaping has grown to be a defense mechanism against
smoking tobacco. Not to mention, numerous contemporary
Sociologists believe this academic discipline is more of a
“handson” duty or service to your communal surroundings
primarily through social activism, civil engagement, & public
service.
a few billionaires noticing their pockets
feeling lighter, it would more so include
millions of people out of the job and out
on the streets with mouths to feed also
defining their struggle. Sure, currently
more people struggle in poverty than
there should be, but what it were worse?
This could be why we don’t see how
much vaping is helping people all
across the globe on the nightly news
every single day, like one might imagine
we would see if it were supposedly
so beneficial. Yet the fact that it is not
being recognized for its harm reduction
benefits nor is it reported on a daily
basis of how much healthier it is than
traditional smoking, certainly begs your
imagination to wonder. If vaping became
widely accepted and the general public
began demanding that it be recognized,
perhaps there might be an imbalance
of power and a massive decline of our
strongest economic assets? Then again,
perhaps this is simply an overblown
exaggeration of what could occur, that’s
why it is categorized as “theoretical” you
can certainly allow your imagination to
run wild or set you free, building a more
realistic understanding of how the world
works or makingup improbable scenarios
that could never occur.
These same potential circumstances tie
directly into what Sociological theorists
refer to as the Conflict Perspective,
another predominantly confrontational
area to our theoretical framework. It
is extremely important to remember
that this is an extension of Sociological
Theory through an interpretation of the
Conflict Perspective, I’m by no means
claiming th is to be one hundred percent
truth. However, I am suggesting that,
as citizens of the free world, we have
a responsibility to continually question
such concepts, whether false or true.
The Conflict Perspective is the view
that our social world is characterized by
94 ISSUE 04 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE
continual struggle between competing
groups. “Conflict theorists assume that
social behavior is best understood in
terms of tension between groups over
power or the allocation of resources,
including housing,money, access to
services and political representation”
(Schaefer 2011:16). If you were able
to view this issue through the Conflict
perspective, you would naturally be able
to determine that vaping is being “spun”
as something dangerous to individual
people and their health. While looking
through the telescope, what you really
would see, theoretically, is that vaping is
far more dangerous for Big Business
and our society’s most affluent
population. We already received a
possible visualization of what could
happen to our social structure
economically if vaping took over as the
most socially acceptable form of smoking
harm reduction. Then again, would the
approval of vaping cause this much
chaos? Probably not. Especially because
it would never just unfold overnight,
thrusting our societal unrest into full
throttle in a single day is unlikely. Or is it
more likely than we care to know?
Now, to further examine the sociology
of vaping, we move onto the telescope
which allows you a chance to see the
world through the Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective, from the tippy top of that
highrising skyscraper, that is, only if your
imagination is still at work. Whereas
Functionalist and Conflict Theorists both
analyze large scale, society-wide
patterns of behavior, theorists who take
the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
generalize about everyday forms of
social interaction in order to explain
society as a whole.
To see vaping through such a unique
interpretive sociological viewpoint, we
must first recognize how many people
that vaping has been able to bring
together and how much of a positive
effect vaping has had on individuals
who are now a part of this social group,
ultimately a united vaping community .
While looking through the telescope’s
lens labeled as the tool with an ability to
allow you to view society as a Symbolic
Interactionist it would be very easy
to realize how amazing vaping is for
contributing in positive ways toward
the entire process of socialization and
how it seeks to help reverse the quickly
declining concept of face-to-face
social interaction. Vaping brings others
together, perhaps some individuals who
may otherwise be socially isolated from
our current times of declining social
interaction. Stephen Hawking once
communicated that above all else, “We
must never stop talking,” claiming that
our identity as human beings would be