Sociology as a Form of Consciousness

Lecture 1 - Sociological Perspective and Its Promise

1. What is sociology?

Sociology is the systematic study of the relationship between human behaviors and society.  It differs from other social sciences disciplines not on the subject matters, but the perspective sociology uses.

2. How sociological perspective may contribute to the analysis of social, political and economic issues and problems?

All of these problems are, at roots, problems of human beings and institutions, organizations, and social relations they have created.

3. Spirit of Sociological Inquiry

- Critical thinking: a willingness to ask any question, no matter how difficult; to be open to any answer that is supported by reason and evidence; and to openly confront one's own biases and prejudices when they get in the way.

- According to C. Wright Mills (1959), sociological imagination is the ability to grasp the relationship between our individual lives and the larger social forces that help to shape them.

- According to Peter L. Berger (1963), there is a debunking motif inherent in sociological consciousness, i.e., to look some distance beyond the commonly accepted or officially defined goals of human actions. Besides, unrespectability, relativizing and cosmopolitan motifs are also basic features of this consciousness.

4. Is sociology a science?

- Science is a way of learning about the world that combines systematic theory and observation to provide explanations of how things work.

- sociology is a social science because sociologists are engaged in the scientific study of human social relations.

- it differs from natural science that the subjects of social science study can change their behavior; and usually, only conditional generalization can be drawn from sociological findings.

5. Who should study sociology?

People who have strong curiosity about people and the world they created.  Berger (1963:23) argues that the first wisdom of sociology is: "things are not what they seem."  Social reality turns out to have many layers of meaning.  Sociology students should be interested in discovering these layers beyond common sense.