Christmas Psychological And Sociological Perspectives

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself. As aforementioned, the initial true meaning of Christmas is religion - one that has now been muchly downplayed. Of course at first glance religion is only an important element of Christmas for those who are actually religious, for which then religion plays the dominant role of what Christmas is to them. However, religion means to show obligation to something through faith, it could be argued that the majority of society is actually religious. We follow a society which hasShow MoreRelatedEssay On Domestic Violence871 Words   |  4 Pagesrelationship. The perpetrator uses violence to control and dominate the other person. This causes fear, physical harm and/or psychological harm. Domestic violence is a violation of human rights, (the White Ribbon Australia). 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