What is Sociology?

The first power-point I was shown in Introduction to Sociology this semester taught me the basics. After spending the past few days violating social norms and taking pictures of/with strangers at schools and parks, I am able to illustrate and explain this lesson.

From Sociological Research Methods

There are multiple ways to analyze the social world. One of those ways is through participant observation. This picture demonstrates Sally doing just that: participating in a study group in order to analyze how students of different majors prefer to study, documenting the habits, routines, and attitudes of each person. Sally uses the data she collects to come to conclusions about patterns and personalities and how each student makes sense of the material.

There are two different approaches one can take to studying sociology: the macro and the micro. In the picture above, Sally and I are demonstrating microsociology. Microsociology studies the face-to-face interaction in small groups. Microsociologists then examine their data and come to conclusions about small groups and the affects they have on entire societies.

There is ability that every sociologist must possess, and that is the ability to use sociological perspective. The sociological perspective is the mind set that allows a person to look at situations and distinguish them as either personal or social. One situation a person can look at using sociological perspective is unemployment (the picture above of my friend Jon lounging on a chair is meant to illustrate unemployment by showing a man doing nothing). If 2% of the nation is unemployed, it is considered the personal problem of each unemployed person. But when that number skyrockets to the 8.8% it was at this past January, it becomes a social problem. When the number is that high, it cannot only be blamed on the misfortune of that 2%, it is a problem with society.

Bernard McGrane suggested the way for people to best use their sociological perspective; by throwing out all expectations and seeing the world through a beginner's mind. The beginner's mind is natural to babies. Their brains are blank slates. They approach social situations with no biases.

Sociology can be seen from the eyes or two different kinds of people: the everyday actor and the social analyst. The social analyst approaches situations with a scientific perspective and looks for patterns with a clear and consistent mindset.