Lecture One Notes

Sociology
Sociology is the study of human behaviour in society. Sociologists have learned an important
lesson: All human behaviour occurs in a social context (Andersen and Taylor 2008, 2). By that
we mean that human behaviour is underpinned by the culture, groups and the institutions that
they are part of.
Sociologists are concerned about the ways in which peoples social locations shape their lives.
Social class, race and gender locations all shape our life chances. The importance of sociology
therefore lies in its ability to demonstrate to us how society influences our lives. It also aids an
understanding of how major social changes: industrialisation, globalisation, increasing use of
technologies, wars, diversity, migration; can change our lives and the very society which we
inhabit.

Sociology is a scientific way of thinking about our world. Sociologists might rely on:
Observation
Reasoning
And logical analysis
In order to facilitate their answers to questions.

Sociology and Other Disciplines
Society is the subject matter of sociology. Sociologists are interested in, as Andersen and Taylor
(2008) state:
The routines of everyday life
How people are dealing with social change
How racism impacts on individuals lives
How language is used to differentiate a gender division of labour

These points represent only a small snapshot of some sociological issues. Psychologists,
anthropologists, political scientists, and economists, all are interested in social behaviour and
social change processes. They are all social science disciplines. The difference between these
disciplines and sociology is not the subject matter but the perspectives which each discipline
uses.
Psychology is interested in individual behaviour but does not generally include a societal
analysis. The psychological perspective tends to show that behaviour comes from
personality differences. From a sociological point of view, it is not that psychology is
bringing a wrong perspective. It is that sociologists believe that behaviour stems from
the social context in which people live. One individual might manifest particular traits
which are deemed to stem from personality. How is this explained if this trait is
witnessed across the whole society? A broader perspective might be needed and a
sociological analysis might engender an understanding of social factors which lead to this
type of trait.
Anthropology is the study of human cultures. Anthropologists perceive culture to be the
foundation of society and they are interested in examining how people adapt to cultures.
Sociologists focus on societal forces and how those impact on various aspects of culture
while anthropologists are generally involved in describing cultural aspects of different
cultures.
Political science is interested in how a society organises its governance structures while
economics is the study of production, distribution and consumption of goods and
services. Both political scientists and economists study specific institutions. Sociologists
are interested in all institutions; arguing that all institutions shape human behaviour.

The Sociological Imagination
This is the ability to see the societal patterns that influence individual and group life (Andersen
and Taylor).
In his book The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills argues that the objective of sociology
should be to understand the relationship between individuals and the society in which they live.
Sociology should help us to see how the social context in which we live shapes our lives. This
demonstrates the relationship between the individual and the society.
Mills made a distinction between troubles and issues, and it is this distinction that helps us to
understand the Sociological Imagination. Troubles are privately felt problems that spring from
events or feelings in one individuals life. Issues affect large numbers of people and originate in
the structure of a society (e.g in the institutions or maybe something to do with history). Issues
shape the context where troubles arise and sociologists employ the sociological imagination to
understand how issues are shaped by societal structures.

The Sociological Perspective

A perspective is a point of view. It is an angle on reality, a place where the individual stands as
he or she looks at and tries to understand reality. An angle will always limit what one sees, since
other angles- many of which may also be accurate- cannot be considered at the same time.

Language is entangled in our visions of reality and our perspectives are thus made up of words.
It is these words that are used by the observer to make sense out of situations. In a way, the best
definition of perspective is a conceptual framework, which emphasizes that perspectives are
really interrelated sets of words used to order physical reality. The words we use cause us to
make assumptions and value judgments about what we are seeing.

The sociologists interest in perspectives come from the sociological focus on the role that
social systems play in shaping our thought systems. It is understood that people interact over a
period of time and out of that interaction they come to share a perspective. What they see will
therefore be interpreted through that perspective, and often, each perspective tells us something
very important about what has really been internalized by people of a particular culture. Often,
members of the same cultural group of society will share similar perceptions, judgments and
value systems. An individuals perspective can therefore highlight the internalized social values
of a category of people.

Humans always see reality through perspectives. Once we begin to learn perspectives as children
we are doomed- or blessed- to use them as our angle of vision. If we recognize this fact, then we
must also admit there is no possible way that any individual can see all aspects of any situation
simultaneously. Humans are limited by their perspectives; they cannot see outside of their
perspectives. Yet perspectives are vitally important: they make it possible for human beings to
make sense out of what is out there. As Charon (2004) notes:
Perspectives force us to pull out certain stimuli from our environment and to totally ignore other
stimuli. Perspectives force us to make sense out of those stimuli in one way rather than another.
Perspectives sensitize the individual to see parts of reality, they desensitize the individual to
other parts, and they guide the individual to make sense of the reality to which he or she is
sensitized.
The American sociologist Peter Berger has offered tremendous insight in relation to the
importance of the sociological perspective. He argues that sociology and the sociological
perspective allows us to see beyond the surface of everyday taken-for granted phenomenon. In
this regard, he argues:

.It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this things are not what they seem.
This too is a deceptively simple statement. It ceases to be simple after a while. Social reality
turns out to have many layers of meaning. The discovery of each new layer changes the
perception of the whole. (P. 7).

Therefore, he states that sociological analysis and indeed the sociological perspective helps us to
unearth the unfamiliar in familiar phenomena and social situations. It can best be described as
seeing the strange in the familiar. This does not mean that sociologists are concerned with only
bizarre things in society. On the contrary, the sociological perspective will help us to unearth the
hidden, underlying aspects of particular phenomenon that we take for granted. As Berger notes:

The experience of sociological discovery could be described as culture shock minus
geographical displacement. In other words, the sociologist travels at home - with shocking
results. He is unlikely to find that he is eating a nice old lady for dinner. But the discovery for
instance, that his own church has considerable money invested in the missile industry or that a
few blocks from his home there are people who engage in cultic orgies may not be drastically
different in emotional impact. Yet we would not want to imply that sociological discoveries are
always or even usually outrageous to moral sentiment. Not at all. What they have in common
with exploration in distant lands, however, is the sudden illumination of new and unsuspected
facets of human existence in society. This is the excitement and, as we shall try to show later, the
humanistic justification of sociology. (P. 8).

Berger also argues that sociology helps us to move beyond our conservative, socially created
understandings of society. Indeed, he makes the point that sociology is a discipline that leads us
to challenge and question societys rules and norms. Sociology and the sociological perspective
kindles our curiosity about humanity as a whole. It takes us beyond our cultures and our narrow
perspectives. It helps us to appreciate the diversity of humanity. Thus, as he so tellingly notes:

People who like to avoid shocking discoveries, who prefer to believe that society is just what
they were taught in Sunday School, who like the safety of the rules should stay away from
sociology. People who feel no temptation before closed doors, who have no curiosity about
human beings, who are content to admire scenery without wondering about the people who live
in those houses on the other side of that river, should probably also stay away from sociology.
They will find it unpleasant or, at any rate, unrewarding. ..sociology will be satisfying, in
the long run, only to those who can think of nothing more entrancing than to watch men and to
understand things human. ( P.8).

Berger further adds that

To ask sociological questions, then, presupposes that one is
interested in looking some distance beyond the commonly
accepted or officially defined goals of human actions.
.. sociological perspective can then be understood in
terms of such phrases as seeing through, looking behind, very
much as such phrases would be employed in common speech-
seeing through his game, looking behind the scenes (P. 8).






References

Andersen, M and Taylor H. (2008). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society

Berger, P. L. (1963). Invitation to Sociology. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
Inc.

Charon, J. M. (2004). Symbolic Interactionism: An Introduction, an Interpretation, an
Integration. Pearson, Prentice Hall.