Sociology

Sociology

'Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies'. Sociology is concerned with the small things like interactions between strangers to bigger issues such as global warming. Bhaskar described society as a multilayered reality. His work was concerned with looking at the history of things as opposed to just what's on the surface. Studying sociology is being able to look at social situations in a wider context than your own personal view. Having the ability to do this is referred to as the 'sociological imagination'. This way of thinking allows us to look at things objectively. A classic example of the sociological imagination is considering an individual drinking a cup of coffee.

The act of drinking a cup of coffee is a seemingly simple, everyday routine. However on closer inspection we realise the significance of it. It has become a social ritual we all feel obliged to comply with in order to conform. Coffee is a socially acceptable drug in our society whereas marijuana is not. There are societies that are more lenient towards marijuana, why is this? Also coffee has been down a long line of people before it has gotten to you. This line connects some of the poorest countries in the world to the wealthier countries in the west. These links are provided by the people who transport the coffee all over the world to various places. Coffee holds a significant symbolic value, we have all at some point met up with a friend for coffee. However, individuals are more interested in meeting up with one another as opposed to actually drinking the coffee itself.

Another theory, Functionalism is concerned with the connections between smaller segments of society and society as a whole. Two of the main functionalist theorists, Compte and Durkheim, compared society to the human body in that all the small, individual organs in a body all have their own jobs to keep the body running. However, they are all connected, and if one part were to cease working the rest would have trouble doing their jobs. Thus is one part of society were to break down the whole of society would be affected. This idea is known as 'organic analogy'

Positivism is a theoretical view based on natural science. Emile Durkheim felt that the study of human social life should not be any different to that of the natural sciences. Originally positivism was described as inductive; this described the reasoning process by which general conclusions are drawn from particular instances. However, as of the 1930's positivism was seen as deductive which meant that a conclusion was reached by reasoning from evidence. Nationalism is described as a collection of beliefs that give an individual a feeling of being part of a community. For example a person feeling part of a nation, being British, French etc.

The following section will apply the sociological imagination, in depth, to the dimensions of inequality. I felt it was important to concentrate on the inequalities in society as it is ...