What is Sociology

9 Key excerpts on "What is Sociology"

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  Elements of Sociology

  for Students of Health Disciplines

  • Ugo Giorgio Pacifici Noja(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • tab edizioni

    (Publisher)

  Introduction to sociology: the basic concepts part one Chapter 1 What is Sociology Today? Today we can define sociology as the discipline that studies soci-ety 1 and social groups . Sociology’s task today is to explain those aspects of human be-haviour which are included in the concepts of culture and society . Others define sociology as the «scientific study of society, its in -stitutions and social relationships» 2 . As a world-famous sociologist said, sociology «aims to make human behaviour less predictable by activating sources of inter-nal, motivational decisions […] – providing human beings with a wider knowledge of their situation, and thus of widening the sphere of their freedom of action» 3 . In other words, sociology develops different analyses of society and its categories which are useful tools to understand complex behaviours , social norms and the choices society makes 4 . 1. Christophe Guilluy, sees the end of society as such as a result of the disappearance of the middle class. This point of view can be compared with the late British political leader Margaret Thatcher’s stance, which she had already expressed in La società non esiste, Luiss, 2019. 2. Alessandro Orsini, ed., Course of General Sociology (Corso di Sociologia Generale), il Mulino, 2019, p. 5. 3. Quoted in Carmen Leccardi, Zygmunt Bauman: Critical Sociology and Ethical Com -mitment in the Era of Globalization (Zygmunt Bauman: sociologia critica e impegno etico nell’epoca della globalizzazione), in Sociologies of our Times (Sociologie contemporanee), Maurizio Ghisleni e Walter Privitera , ed., Utet, 2009, p. 4. 4. Maurizio Ambrosini, Loredana Sciolla, Sociology (Sociologia), Mondadori, 2019, pp. 6-7. 18 Introduction to sociology: the basic concepts 1.1. The Birth of Sociology In 1813 the French philosopher Henri-Claude de Saint-Simon 5 had the insight to create a new “ science of man ” that seeks to study how society is structured 6 .

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  Sociology

  Made Simple

  • Jane L. Thompson(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Made Simple

    (Publisher)

  Sociology and the Social Sciences Sociology is about social behaviour, why people behave as they do, what factors in society affect their behaviour, how groups of people in society organise themselves and come tg be as they are. Of course, an interest in 'people' could be claimed by almost every academic dis-cipUne in one way or another. Even nuclear scientists cannot fail to take account of the behaviour and expectations of the people in the society in which they work. But sociology is about more than an 'awareness o f or 'an interest' in people. It is an attempt to study, in as scientific and systematic a way as possible, how societies operate. This means trying to 'stand back' from society a little—watching, re-cording, measuring, evaluating and interpreting what is going on, and 1 2 Sociology trying to explain how and why so many of the things we all take for granted about society come to be as they are. Of course, societies are made up of countless individuals, all differ-ent from each other in many respects. The idiosyncracies of individual behaviour, which in part cause different people to think and react differently, are of interest to sociologists, but are probably more the concern of psychologists. Both disciplines are closely related, but whereas the psychologist tends to start from the individual, the socio-logist usually concentrates on the social group he or she belongs to. Sociologists look more for similarities and patterns that can be detected in the behaviour of numbers of individuals who maybe share the same environment or social class or nationality. They try to make accurate generalisations about the characteristics of human behaviour and social organisation, to identify what causes them and to suggest what their implications might be. It is probably this kind of concern that has in the minds of many laymen earned the sociologist the re-putation of being 'nosey'.

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  Introduction to Sociology 2e

  • Heather Griffiths, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Openstax

    (Publisher)

  Why do we feel and act differently in different types of social situations? Why might people of a single group exhibit different behaviors in the same situation? Why might people acting similarly not feel connected to others exhibiting the same behavior? These are some of the many questions sociologists ask as they study people and societies. 1.1 What is Sociology? Figure 1.2 Sociologists learn about society as a whole while studying one-to-one and group interactions. (Photo courtesy of Gareth Williams/flickr) What Are Society and Culture? Sociology is the study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups. A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture is what sociologists call a society. Sociologists study all aspects and levels of society. Sociologists working from the micro-level study small groups and individual interactions, while those using macro-level analysis look at trends among and between large groups and societies. For example, a micro-level study might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups such as among teenagers or business professionals. In contrast, a macro-level analysis might research the ways that language use has changed over time or in social media outlets. The term culture refers to the group’s shared practices, values, and beliefs. Culture encompasses a group’s way of life, from routine, everyday interactions to the most important parts of group members' lives. It includes everything produced by a society, including all of the social rules. Sociologists often study culture using the sociological imagination, which pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described as an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choices and perceptions.

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  Sociology

  The Essentials

  • Margaret L. Andersen; Howard F. Taylor, Margaret Andersen, Howard Taylor(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Surrounding all of this behavior are social changes that are taking place in society, including changes in technology, in global communication, and in how people now interact with each other. How we make sense of these changes requires an understanding of the connection between society and social interaction. In this way, a sociologi-cal perspective can help you see the relationship between individuals and the larger society of which they are a part. ● ● Define society and social interaction, contrasting macro- and micro-level analyses ● ● Compare and contrast different ways society is held together ● ● Identify the different types of society ● ● Explain social interaction in society, including groups, status, roles, and everyday social interactions ● ● Compare and contrast the theories used to analyze social interaction ● ● Examine interaction in cyberspace in this chapter, you will learn to: What Is Society? 104 What Holds Society Together? 106 Types of Societies 107 Social Interaction and Society 110 Theories about Analyzing Social Interaction 117 Interaction in Cyberspace 120 Chapter Summary 122 Social Structure and Social Interaction Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 104 CHAPTER 5 What Is Society? In Chapter 2, we studied culture as one force that holds society together. Culture is the general way of life, including norms, customs, beliefs, and language. Human society is a system of social interaction , typi-cally within geographical boundaries, that includes both culture and social organization.

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  Sociology

  The Essentials

  • Margaret Andersen, Margaret Andersen, Howard Taylor(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CHAPTER 5 Social Structure and Social Interaction 105 These same students might put ear buds into their ears as they move on to their next class, possibly tuning in to the latest sounds while tuning out the sounds of the environment around them. Some will return to their residences and perhaps text message friends, download some music, or send a photo via Instagram. Surrounding all of this behavior are social changes that are taking place in society, including changes in technology, in global communication, and in how people now interact with each other. How we make sense of these changes requires an understanding of the connection between society and social interaction. In this way, a sociological perspective can help you see the relationship between individuals and the larger society in which people live. What Is Society? In Chapter 2, we studied culture as one force that holds society together. Culture is the general way of life in any society, including norms, customs, beliefs, and language. Human society is a system of social interaction, typically within geographical boundaries, that includes both culture and social organization. Within a society, members have a common culture, even though there may also be great diversity within it. Members of a society think of themselves as distinct from other societies, maintain ties of social inter- action, and have a high degree of interdependence. The interaction they have, whether based on harmony or conflict, is one element of society. Within society, social interaction is behavior between two or more people that is given meaning by them.

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  Introduction to the Social Sciences: The study of human relationships

  • Sudha Menon(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Society Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Definition of a Social Science 1 CONTENTS 1.1. Social Science And The Scientific Method ........................................... 2 1.2. Social Science as a Study of Human Beings ........................................ 7 1.3. The Study of Social Relationships ...................................................... 13 1.4. Social Science as a Study of Societies ............................................... 18 1.5. Differences Between Social Sciences And The Humanities ................ 24 Chapter 1 Summary ................................................................................. 28 Chapter Introduction to the Social Sciences: The Study of Human Relationships 2 The initial chapter in this book will try to explore the range of definitions of social sciences, primarily based on their characteristics and differences from other differences. In the first section of this chapter will examine the methodologies that are associated with social science. The second section will highlight how socials sciences help to illuminate our understanding of human beings. In the third section, we consider the relational aspects of social sciences. The fourth section elevates these relations into societal patterns that are of interest to social scientists. The chapter will close by explaining the distinction between traditional social sciences and the humanities, while at the same time acknowledging the links that exist between the two broader fields of study. 1.1. SOCIAL SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC METH-OD One of the key distinguishing features of social science is the scientific method (Benton and Craib, 2010; Herek, 2018; Trist et al., 2016). Over time, many social scientists have regarded this method as the key to understanding what distinguishes them from other “arts” (Bohman and Nouwen, 1991; Lynd, 2015).

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  An Introduction to Sociology

  • Bryan S. R. Green, Edward A. Johns(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 1 SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE ONE of the most puzzling and irritating aspects of sociology to someone first exposed to it is the contrast between the subject matter, which consists largely of aspects of social existence familiar to the layman, and the language used by the sociologist in analysing and describing it; this being largely unfamiliar, esoteric and tech-nical. Part of the difficulty in accepting the necessity of such a language lies in the fact that we are social beings already possessing an everyday language which we use to order our own lives and to make sense of the social world around us. It is hoped that this chapter will show why special words, or the special use of familiar words, is necessary. It is the aspiration of sociology to be a scientific discipline which sets the sociologist apart from the social philosopher, the social critic and the journalistic commentator, even though they may be concerned with the same phenomena. This is not to say that the sociologist claims a monopoly of knowledge or understanding regarding society. He is merely developing one approach to further understanding as intensively as possible. If the results ultimately prove less enlightening than those produced by the philosopher, the commentator or the novelist then at least it can be argued that the effort to apply the methods of scientific ex-planation to social data was necessary and worth while. The most general aim of a science is to establish empirically validated propositions (sometimes called laws) concerning the relationships between events and objects which can be observed directly or indirectly. The scientific approach in social studies may 1 2 AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY at first sight appear desiccated and dull compared to the vivid descriptions possible in historical narrative or to the exciting speculations possible in social philosophy.

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  Sociology, Science, and the End of Philosophy

  How Society Shapes Brains, Gods, Maths, and Logics

  • Sal Restivo(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  For two hundred years sociology and anthropology have been developing a robust scientific profile outside the mainstream of the public understanding of science. And for about fifty years, the interdisciplinary field of science and tech- nology studies has been transforming our understanding of science and technology as social products, social institutions, and socially situated. Some hints of these developments have reached the intellectual commu- nity in two forms; on the one hand we have distorted and misunderstood ideas about “the social” and “social construction of science” attributed to The High and Low Traditions in Sociology 59 the weakened reasoning of a vaguely defined group of “postmodernists.” In general, the public and scientific imaginations have been blocked from the actual nature of these developments by the preeminence and notable achievements of the physical and natural sciences combined, notably in the United States with a psychologistic cultural mythology. On the other hand, we have seen a more or less sociologically viable notion of “the social” emerging in the neuro- and life sciences and even in the turn to practice in philosophy. While the robustness of the social sciences remains veiled by cultural prejudice and the ideology of science, the very idea of the social is increasingly being brought to the attention of scientists and humanists. We are in an age of the social in a way the ancient Greeks were defined in part by an age of philosophy that adumbrated systematic organized science. The idea of the social has at the same time shown up as a factor in the emergence of interdisciplinary studies from the late 1960s on. This movement has created an arena of debates and discussions over new ways of conceiving the development of science, technology, the arts, and culture in general. A door has been opened for the disciplines of sociology and anthropology to take a more central place among the disciplines merging into interdisciplinary sciences.

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  Deweyan Inquiry

  From Education Theory to Practice

  • James Scott Johnston(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • SUNY Press

    (Publisher)

  It is understood that the contexts in which human behavior is studied are very different from the contexts in which the physical 41 42 Deweyan Inquiry universe or even flora and fauna, is studied. Nevertheless, as Dewey maintains throughout his vast work, this does not allow the social sciences or social scientists to abrogate their responsibilities to engage in rigorous experimental inquiry. Indeed, as Dewey saw it, the greatest impediment to the problems of human conduct in our time was the backwardness of the social sciences in relation to the physical sciences. Having the social sciences catch up was a central characteristic of all Dewey’s writings on the topic. Not surprisingly, Dewey thought education must play a central role in this. Beyond the study of human behavior and conduct, social sciences demand an inquiry that has special techniques and attributes of its own. In contrast to the physical sciences, the general warrants or laws of social science are less easy to come by. Interpretation plays a great role in understanding human behaviour. Methods such as observation, interviews, and performative analyses, take on much greater weight in many cases. Beyond this, sensitivity to the plight of suffering is necessary, so that empathy may be fostered—to understand and act on—the behaviours of others. Most importantly there is the normative question that lies behind all social scientific research: what are we to do with the results? The answers do not come on the face of the results of social scientific inquiry: they have to be deliberated upon. And this brings social science straight into the territory of ethics and politics. We have four characteristics that distinguish social science from other modes of inquiry. These are: 1. The environment in which social science research takes place; the environment of human interaction and conduct. 2. The subject-matter under investigation: human beings.

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