Explanations of the slides. What is sociology? Sociology is the study of social relationships. The word sociology comes from a combination of the Latin ‘socius’ (meaning companionship) and the Greek ‘logos’ (meaning the study of). So the word literally means the study of companionship or social relations. Sociologists are primarily interested in all that happens to people in terms of their relationship with others. These may be: Personal Relationships – Those with people we know well, such as family members, friends and people we know at work or college. Impersonal relationships – those relationships we have with people who serve us in shops, take away garbage or drive the taxi we are in. Indirect relations- with people we neither know nor see, but whose actions influence our lives. For eg: A decision to increase the fuel prices by OPEC can affect the prices of other commodities and in turn affect the working and domestic lives of thousands of people around the globe. This leads to a new opening in the type of relationships dealt in Sociology ‘Global relationships’. The word relationship is very important in sociology. All sociology is about relationships of one kind or the other: For eg; relationships between different societies, between different parts of a society and between individual and society. people’s lives cannot be understood apart from the social contexts in which they participate directly or indirectly. Social relationships are rarely random. Normally they are organised in various ways. Sociologists refer to these patterns of behaviour as social institutions.Eg; family, marriage, education, religious institution etc. Although these institutions seem to be separate and distinct they are also related to each other. What we loosely refer to as a ‘society’ is actually a complex of many social institutions. Let’s take an example: Educational institutions are dependent on political institutions for their funding. It is ultimately the government that decides how much money to be distributed to educational institution. Governments are themselves dependent on the economy. The amount of money that government spends on education depends on how much it can raise in taxes. The economy of a society depends largely on the educational institution as it is education that supplies the economy with skilled labour.These interrelationships mean that institutions should not be studied in isolation from each other.(refer to the fig in the slide) As a result of this institutional interdependence, many sociologists adopt a MACRO PERSPECTIVE that means looking at societies as systems, and trying to work out how different institutions ‘function’ to produce particular outcomes. One of the distinctive features of sociology is that it is concerned with whole societies.Wright.C.Mills put it as, Sociologists should ask: ‘what is the structure of this particular society as a whole?’ Sociology is the only subject that sees societies as ‘wholes’ in this way. C.Wright Mills coined the term ‘Sociological Imagination’, explains the quality of mind to understand the interplay of individuals and society. Once we understand that society is responsible for many of our actions, we can free ourselves from the traps made by the society. Any change in society can bring about changes in the lives of the individual. It helps us to ‘think ourselves away’ and relate our private dilemmas to the broader social trends. This distinctive perspective (Macro Perspective) means that it overlaps with many other fields of specialized enquiry. This perspective can be considered to be the helicopter view or the bird’s eye view of society. It can be considered to be a view which is over and above the individuals. The knowledge of the social structures that constrain us makes us aware of the social forces acting upon us. Sociology thus enables us to see them (social constrains) for what they are, resist them if we wish to, and, to some extent, free ourselves from them. Peter Berger uses the metaphor of the ‘puppet theatre’ to represent ‘social reality’. He explains his thought: As in a puppet theatre, people act out certain parts that are prescribed for them, and are pulled this way and that by the invisible strings of society.
Through sociology, they can, however, see the strings that pull them and the social machinery that operates the strings. Let us see how this approach is applied in one of study by two US Sociologists, Bowles and Ginitis. They were studying the relationships between the institutions of family and school. Children from lower-class or working class backgrounds have more problems at school and leave with fewer qualifications. From their research and findings, they found that schools prepared large numbers of young people, usually from the more deprived backgrounds, for low paid, subordinate jobs. The approach above tells us only a part of the story. Sociologists are not only interested in the relationship between institutions; they are also interested in the relationship between individuals and institutions. Thus sociologists adopt a MICRO PERSPECTIVE, looking at small segments of institutions in much greater detail. This can be considered to be the worm’s eye view as it deals with small parts of institutions. They uphold by saying that the individuals make the society and thus have to study the individual’s actions in order to understand the major patterns of society. Lets take the relationship between family and school (see above in macro).Paul Willis made a detailed study of 12 British working class boys. He found that rather than simply being failed by schools and the society, as Bowles and Ginitis suggested, the boys he studied deliberately failed themselves, by refusing to work at school. They had already decided that education was irrelevant to their futures and that society does not expect them to be well educated for high paid jobs. Here we can see how the mind or attitude of the individuals reflects upon their actions. Now another part of the same relation is seen through the micro perspective. The focus on these perspectives is to understand how the truth is analysed in different angles. Global perspective and the three reasons that global thinking figures prominently in the sociological perspective. (Refer to Macionis, pp 5-9). Benefits of the Sociological Perspective. (Refer to Macionis, pp- 10)
Sociology and Commonsense. Is the Sociologists’ understanding of societies any different from everyday, commonsense understanding? Sociology is different from commonsense because it involves: - Asking distinct sociological questions - Doing research - Applying or testing theories. Asking Sociological Questions. Sociologists see the world differently and ask different questions about it. To ask questions about the happenings in society, you should be unbiased in your approach. The best way is the sociologists art of Making the familiar strange. This means trying to see the taken for granted world around you afresh, by looking at it with the eyes of a stranger. (Connect the concept of Sociological Imagination here) For eg: every one of us have heard about CRIME in your society. There are opinions formed in you about it from different sources like the media….If you see this phenomena anew, many kinds of sociological question arise about this like: Why are some actions defined as ‘crimes’ and other acts equally harmful are seen as quite acceptable? Why is that the idea of crime change over time in some societies? For eg; In Britain earlier, It was legal for a man to rape his wife but illegal to be practising homosexuality. Now it is illegal for a man to rape his wife and legal to choose partner of the same sex. What this shows is that Crime is socially defined. If so, Sociologists asks the question of have the power to define Crime and as criminals. Sociologists not only see Crime as how it disrupts social order, but also interested in how it contributes to social order. The boundary of acceptable and unacceptable
behaviour can be understood in society through identifying some acts as crime and punishing the criminals. Doing Research. Sociologists have access to more sources of information, they collect and organise this information in very specific and systematic ways. Sociological research is done using research methods. Thus sociology involves the systematic study of societies from a wide range of sources. The information on Crime in a particular society is given by different sources especially through media. But these reports, unlike that of Sociologists, will not undergo systematic sociological investigations. Applying Sociological theories. Theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related (Macionis, pp-15).Sociology as a discipline has evolved, and sociologists have developed very general frameworks of ideas called sociological theories that explain how societies work and change. Sociologists, therefore, have a source of knowledge to draw upon. The fact that sociologists have access to this specialized knowledge means that they can provide explanations of human behaviour that are different from commonsense. Robert Merton, while analyzing increasing crime in US society, argues that the US society encourages everyone to pursue wealth, status and power. Those who do not have the opportunity to achieve them through legitimate means revert to illegitimate means of achieving them. Merton’s explanations suggests that although criminals are clearly deviating from society’s norms by committing crimes, they are also conforming to US society’s norms by wanting greater material rewards. Merton’s theorising on crimes suggests a new approach which cannot be seen in commonsense theorising. Sociologists have theories to support or criticize a phenomenon.