Applied Sociology

Neil Thompson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138629691
• eBook ISBN: 9781351809122
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Sociology offers fascinating insights into social life that tell us so much about people and society. But what can we do with those insights? How can we put them to good use? That is exactly what this book is all about. It explores the practical value of sociology, how sociological understanding can be of help in a variety of settings.

Neil Thompson's wealth of experience in using sociology in practice comes shining through in this clearly written and accessible text that succeeds in conveying complex ideas without oversimplifying them. Key concepts are explained and clear links are drawn with how the ideas can be used to inform professional practice and cast light on a wide range of situations across all sectors of working life, and in our personal lives too.

So, whether you are involved in the helping professions or any other occupation where success depends on having a good understanding of people; a student of sociology wanting to put your learning into practice; or simply interested in how sociology can help address social issues, this book offers a solid foundation of understanding. It is an ideal text for anyone seeking to use sociological ideas to make a positive difference.

Part One
Making Sense of Sociology

Introduction to Part One

Part One comprises two chapters. In the first I address the question of “What is sociology?” This is to make sure that we are on the same wavelength when it comes to discussing applied sociology—that is, that we are clear what it is that we are applying. This will include a brief historical overview and a consideration of how sociology can be useful in an applied sense. Finally, the chapter explores some of the groups of people who are likely to find sociological insights of value.

Chapter 2 builds on the discussion in Chapter 1, with the theme of “the sociological imagination,” the distinctive way of seeing the world through a critical and holistic sociological lens. This includes a discussion of the key concept of “social construction,” which then leads into a discussion of ideology, discourse and “common sense.” This in turn leads into a discussion of “praxis,” the fusion of theory and practice as a basis for applied sociology.

Together these two chapters provide a foundation for Part Two, where we focus on six specific aspects of the “web” of society.

1
What Is Sociology?

Introduction

In this chapter our focus is on establishing a firm baseline of understanding by clarifying precisely what we mean by sociology and establishing why it is important to use sociology as an underpinning of our work across a wide range of occupational settings. We also look at sociology, albeit in broad outline only, from a sociological perspective in order to appreciate how sociological thought has developed to reach the current point where it offers excellent potential for casting very helpful light on so many different aspects of human experience.

In order to demonstrate the value of applied sociology, we will also look at who uses sociology, who are the people in their respective work settings who can benefit from thinking sociologically about the circumstances they find themselves in and the challenges they face.

Defining Sociology

Definitions can be problematic because they often involve trying to fit a great deal of information into just a few lines of text. For complex concepts like sociology, that can generate more confusion than clarity. I am therefore going to “explore” a definition, rather than just present one. I will begin with a very common definition of sociology as: “The scientific study of society.” Super-ficially, that sounds straightforward enough, but, in reality, apart from “of,” each word in this definition needs to be carefully considered:

• The This implies that there is just one, definitive version of sociology, a neat consensus. In actual fact, sociology comprises a diverse range of ideas and approaches. It is a vibrant multiplicity of perspectives, although there is also much common ground, of course. None the less, it would be a mistake to assume that sociology is uniform or standardized or speaks with one voice. Also, it is important to acknowledge that sociology is not the only social science—there is also anthropology, economics, political science and so on.
• Scientific Early versions of sociology tried to mimic the natural sciences and their methods—what came to be known as a “positivist” approach. However, this approach has proven to be unsuitable, because the subject matter covered by sociology (people) does not work the same way as the subject matter of the natural sciences (nature) does. The natural sciences base their work on the objective study of natural, relatively regular processes. With sociology (and the other social sciences), it is much more complex: there are subjective factors, such as patterns of meaning (as we shall see), that play a significant part; social processes interact with choices made (“agency,” to use the technical term) to produce less predictable outcomes; and various other complicating factors. We need to recognize, therefore, that, in the social sciences, we use the term “scientific” in a slightly different sense from the natural sciences. Some people prefer to avoid confusion by not using the term “scientific” at all and use the term “systematic” instead.
• Study Sociologists do indeed engage in study—for example, through various forms of empirical research. However—and this is particularly significant for our present purposes—it is important to be fully aware that sociology is also an applied discipline. It is not simply a matter of studying society for its own sake. There is also an important role for sociology to inform efforts to address problems and contribute to social amelioration (tackle social problems; improve working life; reduce conflict and so on). We shall return to this point below.
• Society Sociology does, of course, involve studying “society,” but we need to recognize that the term “society” is a shorthand. We have to be careful not to assume that “society” is a single, monolithic entity. “Society” is a convenient shorthand for, among other things: social structures, processes, institutions, discourses, expectations and relations (hence the SPIDER model). This helps us to realize just how complex and multidimensional “society” is. So, there is no problem with using the term “society,” provided that we do not allow it to seduce us into thinking that what we are dealing with is simple and straightforward.

A basic premise of sociology is that all human activity takes place within a social context. A basic premise of applied sociology is that failing to consider that social context at best gives us only a partial picture of what we are dealing with and, at worst, significantly exacerbates the problems we are seeking to address and/or introduces new problems.

Practice Focus 1.1

Nia was a human resources adviser in a large retail organization. She was asked to interview Karen, one of the sales assistants about her poor and deteriorating attendance record. Karen had taken much more sick leave than anyone else in the company and had been late for work on a number of occasions too. Nia’s manager told her that she would need to impress upon Karen that this level of absence and poor punctuality would not be tolerated any more. With this in mind, Nia began the interview with a clear focus on “laying down the law”—in a polite and friendly way, but none the less quite firmly. However, things did not go according to plan. Once Nia started to broach the issues, Karen became quite tearful and was shortly in floods of tears. Karen started to explain that she had been experiencing extensive domestic violence—both physical and emotional abuse. There had been times when she was so emotionally drained by the experience that she could not face coming into work. In particular, the thought that she would have to be friendly and smiling to all and sundry when inside her heart was broken and she was feeling extremely vulnerable and fragile was just too much. Nia was so shocked by what she heard that she decided to look up domestic violence as a subject. She was amazed to find out just how common the problem is and how much harm it could do. She was particularly interested in what she read about “emotional labor,” the expectation that certain people need to display particular emotions as part of their job, even if that does not fit with their actual emotional state. She recognized that this was exactly what Karen had been struggling with.

The Role of Meaning

One of the things that separates sociology from the natural sciences is that a key element of what sociology is concerned with is meaning. As human beings, we do not simply act according to the objective circumstances we encounter. We act according to how we interpret those circumstances—what they mean to us. Although meaning is often conceived of as an individual, psychological matter, it is, in fact doubly sociological, in the sense that:

• (i) social interactions rest on meanings—for example, conflict often arises as a result of differing interpretations of an action or attitude; and
• (ii) meanings themselves arise from social sources—for example, language is necessarily social in nature; similarly, symbols and gestures and other “markers” of meaning are culture specific and therefore social.

The role of meanings—how they arise and how they affect people (“social actors,” to use the technical term)—is therefore something that we will return to at various points in the book.

The study of meaning is known as “hermeneutics.” Renowned sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman, writes about “sociological hermeneutics.” As he explains:

It consists in the interpretation of human choices as manifestations of strategies constructed in response to the challenges of the socially shaped situation and where one has been placed in it. Human choices are not more determined—though no less either—than the moves of card players are determined by the cards in their hand. A placing in a situation manipulates the distribution of possibilities. It sets apart moves that are feasible from those that are not, and the more probable from the less probable. But it never eliminates choice altogether.

(2014, pp. 50–51)

This passage highlights one of the important principles of sociology (the need to take account of the role of the social context), but also recognizes the significance of choice (human agency). A common misunderstanding of sociology is that it is based on the idea that people have no control over their lives, that they are just “puppets” of their circumstances. While a minority of sociologists have put forward deterministic ideas that leave little or no room for agency, it is now widely recognized that sociology needs to account for both the social context and our response to it—see the discussion of structuration theory in Chapter 3.

Bauman goes on to clarify the concept further:

The postulate of ‘sociological hermeneutics’ demands that whenever we pursue the meaning of human thoughts or actions we ought to look into the socially shaped conditions of people whose thoughts or actions we intend to understand/explain. In other words, the hermeneutics of human conduct is primarily a sociological, not a semantic or philological operation.

(2014, p. 52)

Although meanings are personal in many ways, we should not lose sight of the fact that they are also sociological—that is, they can best be understood as psychosocial. When it comes to applied sociology, then, we will need to make sure that we do not lose sight of the central role of (social) meanings.

The “Social Animal”

The idea that we are “social animals” is well established, but so very often the emphasis is on the animal element of the phrase, and once again the social element is relegated to simply a matter of background. Sociology can be defined, in part, as a process of drawing out the implications of being a social animal. It does not detract from the fact that we are animals—mammals, to be more specific—but animals in a social context; and that social context is much more than just a backdrop for our primarily animal behavior. The social context is important because:

• It brings a set of highly powerful influences and constraints—for example, sexual attraction is a biological phenomenon, but it is: (i) influenced by social factors (cultural variations on who or what is considered attractive; sexual stimulus through pornography; and so on); and (ii) constrained by social factors (manners; courting etiquette; laws against rape and other forms of sexual abuse; and so on).
• Sexuality is filtered through social norms and expectations—consider, for example, how, in some societies or cultures, sex before marriage is frowned upon; adultery may lead to being stoned to death; and same-sex relationships are considered as manifestation of illness.
• Attitudes to sexuality change over time, as society changes—consider, for example, how, in Victorian times, sexuality was seen as a taboo subject, but is now spoken and written about much more freely.

Similar points could be made about various other aspects of what are perceived as reflections of our “animal nature.” For example, the need to curb and penalize “natural” aggressive tendencies is widely accepted in peace time, but there is a different attitude towards human aggression in times of war. So, animals we may be, but focusing primarily or exclusively on the animal aspects once again gives a very incomplete and misleading picture of the situation.

While being “social” is a common feature of the animal world, we need to acknowledge that, in human terms, the social elements are far more complex, far more significant, and potentially far more problematic. Contrast, for example, the relative simplicity of the “social” nature of worker ants who collaborate in achieving various tasks with the hugely complex nature of modern society, with its multiplicity of cultures, ideologies, political systems; its globalized economic systems; its international music and arts scene; an international network of sporting competitions; its extensive use of social media and other forms of technological communications; and so on. In many ways, it is these complexities that distinguish humanity from the other animals.

Harari argues that the highly evolved social nature of human existence has enabled huge advances, leading to very important achievements:

If you tried to bunch together thousands of chimpanzees into Tiananmen Square, Wall Street, the Vatican or the headquarters of the United Nations, the result would be pandemonium. By contrast, [Homo] Sapiens regularly gather by the thousands in such places. Together, they create orderly patterns—such as trade networks, mass celebrations and political institutions—that they could never have created in isolation. The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mythical glue that binds together large numbers of individuals, families and groups. This glue has made us the masters of creation.

(2011, p. 42)

That glue is, of course, an important feature of social functioning and thus of sociology.

Voice of Experience 1.1

When I did my professional training it was hammered home to us that I needed to be sensitive to what the tutor called “the space between people.” What he meant by that was the subtle and complex ways in which people interact and influence each other. I could see that the idea was applicable across the board as far as people were concerned, but I could also see how it especially related to the young people I was working with. I could see just how important peer pressure was at that time when they were trying to let go of their childhood, but weren’t quite adults yet. I also saw how devastating it was when some of the young people were rejected by their peers. How people relate to one another can be incredibly positive and helpful, but at times, it can also be so destructive.

Jay, a youth worker

Harari also points out that it is this social glue that has also helped us to survive—for example, to work together to develop food production systems; housing; health care systems; educational facilities; and so on. It is also true, of course, that this glue has enabled us to work together to kill billions of people through warfare, enslave millions of people against their will after having forcibly uprooted them from their home country; and to do untold damage to our habitat through environmental exploitation for financial gain and the associated power.

So, we are indeed animals and subject to “natural” forces and constraints, but because we are also social beings, we are also able to transcend our animal nature, our biology, and achieve much more than other animals can do—for good or ill. Part of applied sociology is a focus on trying to minimize the ill effects and maximize the positive ones.

Beyond Psychology

Another common misunderstanding of sociology is that it somehow...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• PART ONE Making Sense of Sociology
• PART TWO Making Sense of Society
• PART THREE Sociologically Informed Practice
• Guide to Further Learning
• References
• Index