Sociology For Dummies helps you understand
how to scientifically analyze social organization and cultural structure.
| Publisher | Wiley Publishing, Inc. |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9780470572368 |
| Year | 210 |
| Pages | 358 |
| Format |
In a nutshell, sociology is the scientific study of society. Sociologists use the tools and methods of science to understand how and why humans behave the way they do when they interact together in groups. Though social groups — or societies — are made up of individual people, sociology is the study of the group rather than of the individual. When it comes to understanding how the individual human mind works, sociologists largely leave that up to psychologists.
Most people who call themselves “sociologists” work in universities and colleges, where they teach sociology and conduct sociological research. They ask a variety of questions about society, sometimes wanting answers just for the sake of curiosity; however, many times their findings are used to inform
decisions by policymakers, executives, and other individuals. Many people who study sociology go on to conduct sociological research outside of academia, working for government agencies, think tanks, or private corporations. Accurate, systematic study of society is in one way or another useful to
just about everyone.
Studying sociology, whether or not you call yourself a “sociologist,” means taking a particular view of the world: a view that sociologist C. Wright Mills called “the sociological imagination.” You have to be willing to set aside your ideas about how the social world should work so that you can see how it actually
works. That doesn’t mean that sociologists don’t have personal values and opinions about the social world; they believe that to change the world, you first need to understand it.
Sociology is the study of human and societal interaction. Whether you’re currently enrolled in a course or want to learn how to apply sociological concepts to your personal or professional life.
I’ve written this book to introduce you to one of the biggest and most fascinating disciplines in all of science. Yes, you read that right: Sociology is a science. Sociologists don’t use beakers and test tubes, but like natural scientists, they do seek to learn about the world by creating theories and testing them with systematic observations.
What makes sociology both so interesting and so challenging is its subject: the social world. Society is huge and hugely complex; there are answers to sociological questions, but there usually aren’t any easy answers. In addition to the challenge of answering sociological questions, there’s the challenge of asking them — that is, of thinking about society as a subject of objective, scientific study.
Your grandpa, your minister, and the guy who works at your local coffee shop probably don’t have any opinions about how atoms should and shouldn’t bond with one another, but they certainly all have opinions about how society should be organized. Studying society scientifically means setting aside — temporarily — your thoughts about how society should work.
After you do that, though, you can learn some amazing things about the world. The achievements of sociologists are among the great achievements of the human race because, in sociology, people from all different walks of life come together to understand society objectively — so that, in the long run, it can perhaps be made to work better for everyone.
However you’ve come to sociology, I hope this book leaves you with a greater respect not just for sociologists wearing lab coats (yes, some of them actually do) but for your entire species — the first species on Earth capable of conscious self-analysis.
What sociologists see when they look at society isn’t always pretty, but that fact makes sociology all the more important: just like you need to know how a car works before you can fix it, you need to understand how society works before you can change it.
| Title | Sociology for Dummies |
|---|---|
| Autor | Jay Gabler |
| Publisher | Wiley Publishing, Inc. |
| Year | 210 |
| Pages | 358 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| ISBN | 9780470572368 |
| Format | |
| Filesize | 4.12 MB |
| URL | Jay Gabler Sociology for Dummies PDF |
