WHAT’S SOCIOLOGY

Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies. Its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings.

WHAT KIND OF DISCIPLINE?

• Sociology is NOT a natural science because social behavior is different from natural ones.

• The explanation of social behavior requires the understanding of the meaning of actions.

• Sociology is, non the less, a social science that is based on systematic observational methods and the construction of explicit theories.

Giddens

“Sociology offers a distinct and elaborated perspective on human behavior. Learning sociology means taking a step back from our own personal interpretations of the world, to look at the social influences which shape our lives. Sociology does not deny the reality of our individual experiences. Rather, by developing sensitivity toward the social world that we live in individual characteristics”.

The scope of sociology

• What sense does it matter that in whatever human beings do or may do people are dependent on other people?

• What sense does it matter that they live always in the company of, in communication with, in an exchange with, in competition with, in cooperation with other human beings?

• Why are we as we are?• Why do we behave in certain way?• Under which conditions do we behave in certain way?• What factors affect and change human societies?

Practical Significance of Sociology

• Awareness of Cultural differences: Seeing the social world from the diversity of cultural perspectives.

• Understanding Social Situation: Self understanding and self enlightenment.

• Assessing the Effects Policies: Contributing to practical policy-making and social reforms.

The Sociological Perspective

‘The sociological imagination’ by Wright Mills is to break free from individual cases and put things in a wider context.

The sociological imagination requires us to think ourselves away’ from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order to look them a new.

Structuration by A. Giddens

Social structure is an important sociological term refers to structured or patterned events and action that is not stable. Therefore structuration is defined as societies are reconstructed at every moment by active human behaviours. In other words, structuration is a two-way process by which we shape our social world through individual action on the one hand and we are shaped by society.

Why Learn Sociology?

To think sociologically, or being familiar with sociological approach means that:

• We can understand a little more fully the people around us, their dreams, their worries and their misery.

• We may better appreciate the people around us.• We may have more respect for their rights to do

what we are doing. Their rights to choose, practice their way of life, they’re defining themselves, selecting their life-projects.

Personal Troubles/Public Issues

Sociology builds up knowledge of society that is not based on the experience of one individual but accumulated from the research of large numbers of sociologists.

Personal troubles are private problems experienced directly by individual. Public issues are factors outside one’s personal control caused by crises in the larger system.

A Case : Being dismissed from job, being unemployed for a person is a personal problem. But when large number of people are unemployed, it becomes a public issue and leads to policy changes designed to relieve private problems.

Sociology and common sense

• Common sense is a kind of non-specialist view and this is not one of the matter other sciences study on. Common sense predominates in people’s minds.

• A Case: Women rare children because they have a material instinct for this task. This is often argued. It’s natural or common sense.

• Most of other social science does not even notice that common sense exist. Because they do not have to compete with common sense or public opinion. Sociology as you could see till now, has intimate ties between common sense. Sociology tries to open up the possibilities that common sense naturally tends to close down.