01.What is Sociology and Sociological PerspectiveKorpics 2013
Sociological Perspective I: A Matter of How You Look at It
In many ways, sociology is the study of things we see inevery day life, but that we do not see in the same way. This is a characteristic of many sciences.
We talk, for example, of the "sun coming up every morning," or "going down every evening."
The science of astronomy, however, taught us long ago that the world is not flat and not the center of the universe, but is a globe turning on its axis and, as it turns, it only appears that the sun is coming up or going down: it is not.When we look around us and see walls and/or objects, we see them as solid things. Nuclear physics, however, teaches us that what we see as solid, continuous matter, consists mainly of nothing.
Empty space.
It is mainly atomic nuclei surrounded by vacuum, around which a few things such as electrons buzz. With the limited ability of our eyes, we look at those millions of nuclei and electrons, and see solid matter.
Empiricists are people who say we can understand only things we can observe, that we do not need theory to interpret those things.Astronomy, nuclear physics, and sociology teach us that we need perspective before we can see things –– that raw observations cannot in themselves lead to understanding.In everyday life, we may think of society of consisting of people.In sociology, society is not people.Individual persons carry society in their beliefs and actions (and interactions), but are not society in themselves. Society is a system of beliefs and actions carried by human beings, but it is something which transcends those same carriers. That means, then, that social organizations, such as family or community, are not people. They are systems, or patterns, of beliefs and actions, by people, which are carried by people.
This is not to say we can define society (or social institutions) any way we want, or see it in any way we personally wish. Sociology is a discipline, and it takes discipline to understand it.It is necessary to understand sociology. That means to be able to understand the sociological perspective.
Society is in theeye of the beholder.
- What is society?
- What do Empiricists believe?
- How are families “not people?”