AFRICAN STORIES

       Certainly he has made this hijab not for me to cover my bemired,besmirched and unclean but chasteness modesty and purity. The society prefers me to be unclad, to dress in almost nudity, to look exactly like the unbelievers wallowing in obliviousness of western world, but with my hijab, I stand completely different, completely out of fordeem appearances He (ALLAH) spoke against in the Holy Qur'an.

With my hijab I could walk around the world blissfully,satisfactorily and delightedly. I have nothing to be scared of but something to be accord on. selectively and uniquely respected,because my hijab doesn't makes me look like one of them. Who dress in the way of Satan, who have their hair exposed to take more than thousands of curses from Angels Every Day. The way I'm addressed is in accordance of probity, well presented and capable enough to win a lost soul.


My Hijab didn't bring respect and rectitude alone, it also uncloak and unmask my stunning beauty. I have been condemn to look horrible in my pride (hijab) I have been beguile too, on how I'll look prettier than queen Elizabeth, if I throw off my Hijab. But I cannot be deceived, not because I followed and still following his path alone but because I value his existence and superiority over all creature of the world (Allah).

The people of my age have said alot to me, tormented my life because I got my pride covered. They wondered how I still have my hijab on during hot weather but they don't know that I'm not like them, when you're used to something it'd get to a stage that it'd not have any effect in your life anymore no matter how well and often you do it. I'm used to my dignity, I'm used to my hijab that I don't even know when it is hot.

My hijab my saviour, my redeemer of evil that lives in the heart of men. You were like a scare crow that affright away all types of evils that men are capable of. While they all married to braids and weavon, wool and artificial hairs just to have the attention of common people of the world, I stick to my hijab to seek a place in the hereafter.
My Hijab my dignity
My hijab my self-esteem
My Hijab my pride
ISLAM my WORLD.

So what?
I get into an argument with a man,  he slaps me, I feel the pain, yet they tell me I provoked him. I should have been quiet,  I should have been patient.  I should apologize to him.

I get into an argument with a man,  I slap him,  they tell me I have no respect, no home training. I should have been quiet,  I should have been patient. I should apologize to him.
Because I am a woman,  I don't have a right to be angry. So, the degree of my innocence is directly proportional to the degree of my  silence in the face of oppression and brutality.....

Because I am a woman, my husband cheats on me, I am told to tolerate it to save my marriage. The barbaric and stupid excuse is that ''it is in their nature to cheat,  I should slim down,  dress better, cook better,  pray harder and be more pleasant to him"

I cheat, and I am called a whore, I have committed an abomination, I have no right to look elsewhere for the love and emotional support I lack at home,  I am an irresponsible mother.

So I am sent packing, from the home we both built,  with all my earthly possessions stuffed into a tiny box on my head.  I am henceforth forbidden from seeing my two older children,  I'm lucky to be allowed to go with my little one still suckling on my left breast. Three years later, the little one is tagged a bastard. Now, my new name is "after-three",  because I am a woman.

He is 28 and runs a company. He's tagged  wonderful, hardworking,  focused,  career oriented,  successful at a very young age.

I am 28 and I run a company " Hmmmm, she is not even married, unserious, can not order her priorities right, a hustler,  loves money,  let her go and get a husband oh"
And I wonder if being successful has anything to do with a person's gender.

Because I am a woman,
I am not allowed to have wits or be a prodigy, I cannot be financially buoyant,  professionally successful or be treated with respect without a man beside me.

Then I am tagged a generous leg opener, "a runs girl". They never see the possibility that I actually had to go through ups and downs to get to where I am.
Because I am a woman.

A man looses his wife to death and remarries a year after, he did the right thing, he's being praised and congratulated for moving on, after all life is for the living.

A woman looses her husband to death and remarries after 4yrs, "ahhh! so early? Are u sure she wasn't sleeping with that man even when her husband was alive? That was why she killed her husband.  She's a witch! "  Because she's a woman.

Because I am a woman, this post will be considered controversial, and everyone will try to correct me.
But don't forget, that I am a woman and it does not make me less human!!!

#THE SOCIOLOGIST’S THINKING

WHY YOU BUY WHAT YOU BUY EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T NEED THEMSUE 2:  THE SOCIOLOGIST’S THINKING
WHY YOU BUY WHAT YOU BUY EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T NEED THEM
: THE SOCIOLOGIST EXPLAINS

Have you ever sat to think of the reasons why you continually ensure to catch up with the latest technological products? Why you buy foot wears that don’t fit your every day needs? And buy clothes you may only have to wear to just a party in a year?  Answers to these questions are embedded in studies on consumer culture and behavior which sociologists have spent adequate efforts studying in over 20 years now

Attempting to discuss these things psychologically may not fully answer the question, it is not an individual problem i.e. not only you face such problem, everyone does which makes the sociologists interested. Having a tab + I phone+ laptop+ Android + blackberry and a small Nokia phone isn’t a big deal amongst Nigerian youth, neither is having a wardrobe full of clothes that is seldom worn nor items of no significance but beauty, even if they can’t afford what they own they go extra mile to get them.

The symbolic interactionist scholars led by Viera, believes buying is a way to prove one’s identity and keep a consistent picture of one’s self to others. You may buy a product just to make a social statement about whom you are and the group you belong to. E.g. members of a self professed rich gang may buy expensive product including those they don’t need just to prove that they are rich, another example that readily comes to mind are the Igbo men who spend flamboyantly on product and at parties just to prove that “they aren’t called chief for nothing”. This act, sociologists have named “conspicuous consumption” which means buying just to communicate social standings and status hence you might have bought that clothe you don’t need just to tell people that you are a fashionista or buy the gadgets you don’t need so people would know you are a technological freak.

The conflict scholars led by Marcuse believes that the capitalist society through marketing and adverts lures people (the poor working class) into believing and buying items they do not need as essential, this is done because the capitalist system survives on buying, selling and continuous production of consumables, essentials and luxuries. To keep up to this need the working class are made to see luxuries as essentials and to get them they have to continually be at work and the systems continues to exists. Put simply “you buy what you don’t need because you were made to think it is necessary to your existence and all this while you were lied to because the producer wants you to be at work” this is what the conflict scholars have called “false needs”. E.g. there have been increasing popularity of the hover board and there are corresponding adverts just to preach its environmental friendliness, energy saving and speed, all of these is just done to make the working class see that the hover board is not a luxury, it is essential and needed in our daily life. But underneath this advert is an attempt to stir your desire to keep u at work to look for more money.

Other scholars not found in the two mentioned continuum also posited different drivers of consumption e.g. Mc Craken proclaimed the “Diderot effect” which is believed to drive your consumption as you race to get your things matching each other e.g. Apple phone, Apple Laptop and all things Apple just to have your gadget matching. This means that you might have bought those foot wears you rarely wear because you want them matching with one clothe in the ward robe. Veblein also claimed that people consume because of the inherent competitive nature of human being  i.e. people buy things just to prove that they are better and richer than their neighbors, take for instance, ask yourself how do you feel when your neighbor or friend buys a better or bigger item than yours? Veblein holds we would be moved to moved into a competition and ours becomes undervalued and we feel like replacing them with one better than that of our friends.

Conclusively, attempting to understand why you buy what you buy is best understood when you see all above mentioned as interplay and not an isolation of each other, understanding consumer culture would teach you to control your desires and properly channel your resources into what’s needful.






The sociologist’s thinking is a weekly article thread that seeks to explain and tackle social problems and phenomena that affects you from the stand points of sociology professionals and scholars. In accordance to the ethics of social research; criticisms, suggestions and encouragements are welcomed alike and if there is any social problem you have observed in your environment and you want THE SOCIOLOGIST to explain, you may reach THE SOCIOLOGIST via the under listed means
PHONE/WHATSAPP: +2348066949058
FB:adebayokayode4christ@yahoo.com
MAIL: senadebayo@gmail.com
TILL I COME YOUR WAY NEXTWEEK, ALWAYS REMEMBER: THE SOCIOLOGIST IS ALWAYS THINKING
: THE SOCIOLOGIST EXPLAINS

Have you ever sat to think of the reasons why you continually ensure to catch up with the latest technological products? Why you buy foot wears that don’t fit your every day needs? And buy clothes you may only have to wear to just a party in a year?  Answers to these questions are embedded in studies on consumer culture and behavior which sociologists have spent adequate efforts studying in over 20 years now

Attempting to discuss these things psychologically may not fully answer the question, it is not an individual problem i.e. not only you face such problem, everyone does which makes the sociologists interested. Having a tab + I phone+ laptop+ Android + blackberry and a small Nokia phone isn’t a big deal amongst Nigerian youth, neither is having a wardrobe full of clothes that is seldom worn nor items of no significance but beauty, even if they can’t afford what they own they go extra mile to get them.

The symbolic interactionist scholars led by Viera, believes buying is a way to prove one’s identity and keep a consistent picture of one’s self to others. You may buy a product just to make a social statement about whom you are and the group you belong to. E.g. members of a self professed rich gang may buy expensive product including those they don’t need just to prove that they are rich, another example that readily comes to mind are the Igbo men who spend flamboyantly on product and at parties just to prove that “they aren’t called chief for nothing”. This act, sociologists have named “conspicuous consumption” which means buying just to communicate social standings and status hence you might have bought that clothe you don’t need just to tell people that you are a fashionista or buy the gadgets you don’t need so people would know you are a technological freak.

The conflict scholars led by Marcuse believes that the capitalist society through marketing and adverts lures people (the poor working class) into believing and buying items they do not need as essential, this is done because the capitalist system survives on buying, selling and continuous production of consumables, essentials and luxuries. To keep up to this need the working class are made to see luxuries as essentials and to get them they have to continually be at work and the systems continues to exists. Put simply “you buy what you don’t need because you were made to think it is necessary to your existence and all this while you were lied to because the producer wants you to be at work” this is what the conflict scholars have called “false needs”. E.g. there have been increasing popularity of the hover board and there are corresponding adverts just to preach its environmental friendliness, energy saving and speed, all of these is just done to make the working class see that the hover board is not a luxury, it is essential and needed in our daily life. But underneath this advert is an attempt to stir your desire to keep u at work to look for more money.

Other scholars not found in the two mentioned continuum also posited different drivers of consumption e.g. Mc Craken proclaimed the “Diderot effect” which is believed to drive your consumption as you race to get your things matching each other e.g. Apple phone, Apple Laptop and all things Apple just to have your gadget matching. This means that you might have bought those foot wears you rarely wear because you want them matching with one clothe in the ward robe. Veblein also claimed that people consume because of the inherent competitive nature of human being  i.e. people buy things just to prove that they are better and richer than their neighbors, take for instance, ask yourself how do you feel when your neighbor or friend buys a better or bigger item than yours? Veblein holds we would be moved to moved into a competition and ours becomes undervalued and we feel like replacing them with one better than that of our friends.

Conclusively, attempting to understand why you buy what you buy is best understood when you see all above mentioned as interplay and not an isolation of each other, understanding consumer culture would teach you to control your desires and properly channel your resources into what’s needful.






The sociologist’s thinking is a weekly article thread that seeks to explain and tackle social problems and phenomena that affects you from the stand points of sociology professionals and scholars. In accordance to the ethics of social research; criticisms, suggestions and encouragements are welcomed alike and if there is any social problem you have observed in your environment and you want THE SOCIOLOGIST to explain, you may reach THE SOCIOLOGIST via the under listed means
PHONE/WHATSAPP: +2348066949058
FB:adebayokayode4christ@yahoo.com
MAIL: senadebayo@gmail.com
TILL I COME YOUR WAY NEXTWEEK, ALWAYS REMEMBER: THE SOCIOLOGIST IS ALWAYS THINKING