The sociological perspective is based on the idea that our circumstances are an important part of why we do what we do. He says that our social background has a huge influence on our attitudes, behaviors and life chances, meaning that many factors combine to influence how likely we are to be healthy, happy and wealthy. In light of the sociological perspective, a social context is simply the set of factors that combine to create part of a person's identity. These factors that constitute a social background include gender, race or ethnicity, social class, religion, education, and family situations. According to the concept of “accident of birth”, no one can choose what kind of social context to be born into. Who your parents are, what area and social class you grew up in, or what race you are are not deliberate choices. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay We are born into them, so we are stuck with them. Due to our social background, we are all inherently different. We have different challenges and things that we face every day. However, the textbook notes that although we differ in many ways, “we share key aspects of our social background with many other people,” including “gender, race, ethnicity, and social class.” When you really get down to it, we are more like the people around us than we might assume. Your neighbor, while differing in one or two aspects of his social background such as race or gender, probably shares the same social class or education level as you. Finding similarities fosters sympathy. When we see how we relate to those around us, we are more likely to see them as someone deserving of love and respect, so we gain empathy for them. In our class lesson, we discussed suicide rates in each state. Using the sociological perspective, we were able to see that many factors played into determining how high or low the suicide rate was. Some of these factors at play were personal struggles such as genetics, work pressure, abuse, self-image and mental health issues. Other factors have been attributed to public issues such as the quality of education, wealth distribution, the guilt factor, and gun ownership laws in the area. Understanding that some factors are personal while others are public helps us gain empathy for others because we can see that it is not just a “personal problem.” It becomes clear that our contributions to society, socially and politically, can be part of the problem that causes harm to others. On the other hand, it is also clear that, while we are all subject to the same public issues, there are other deeply personal issues. struggles we can never understand. We may know what it is like to receive a substandard state-funded education, but we cannot understand what it is like to be abused and have a highly negative self-image. We gain empathy when we realize that personal pressures from other individuals push them to behave as they do. Although we can observe the different circumstances that contribute to an individual's behaviors and attitudes, we cannot understand each other completely. Because we are human, the capacity of our love and empathy is limited. However, there is someone who completely understands and is perfectly empathetic. This is the savior Jesus Christ. Elder Holland states that “the only way complex social problems can be solved satisfactorily is by loving God and observing His.