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Importance of sociology in everyday life
Peter Berger Invitation To Sociology Summary
Relevance of sociology in everyday life
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Invitation to Sociology
This reading is an explanation of terms such as society, social, and social problems and how they fit in our world. The author, Peter Berger, talks about the process of seeing through society. He explains what the sociological frame is and the goal is to see through things to see what is going on underneath of the main idea.
• “Sociology will be satisfying, in the long run, only to those who can think of nothing more entrancing than to watch men and to understand things human.” (Page 12).
I chose this quote because I think it says lots about sociology. One must be able to enjoy sitting back and watching human behaviors and to try to think of reasons as to why people do what they do and how they interact with society. This quote is saying that sociology can be very interesting even if nothing extraordinary is happening.
• “It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this--- things are not what they seem” (Page 12).
This quote describes one of the biggest parts of sociology in my opinion. Many things that Peter Berger discussed in this article pertain to things that are not always what they seem. The reason for this is because in many situations, we must look deep below the surface to study what is going on. I chose this quote because I think it helps with the understanding of what sociology is.
The Girl Hunt
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When I first read this article, I was under the impression that it was going to be about men seeking out sexual partners but in this case, many groups of young men go out with their friends and simply try to impress their each other instead of getting the girl. Many of their nights on their “girl hunt” were spent drinking and having fun with the guys. These guys would even have competitions with each other to see who could get the most girls phone
Henslin, James M.. "The Sociological Perspective." Essentials of sociology: a down-to-earth approach. 8th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2008. . Print.
Sociology cannot be clearly explained as there are many different theories and theorists; so far none of them have been defined as a correct answer. Although with all this information of theories and theorists sociology is relatively explained as agreed philosophies that delivers a reason for human society. Sociological theories are like most other theories, they are selective, and there is no quantity of theory to explain everything or define the infinite amount of information that exist or comprehend the methods of observing reality. Sociological theories vary and can be linked to each other according to various criteria. The two main perspectives of sociology are the micro sociological approach and the macro sociological approach. The micro sociological approach is based more on the persons being capable of their own independent thoughts feelings and behaviour; therefor society is built through their interactions amongst each other and the significances they attach to them. This approach is defined using Social Action Theory and Symbolic Interactionism. The Macro Sociological approach is on a much bigger scale and consists of a person being born into a current society which will then shape their behaviour. It centres on the organisations, values and the culture of that particular society and how it impacts an individual and their role in life. This approach is made clearer using Functionalism, Feminist and Conflict Theories.
Sociology is very complicated, it’s full of terms that can be misinterpreted. For example, social location is interpreted several ways. The most common it the assumption that it’s where you live, in actuality, it’s who you are, your social class, education, gender, race, ethnicity, and the culture. Your social location is affected, by sociological perspective, Henslin (2015) notes, “sociological perspective which stresses the social contexts where people live” (p. 2). As humans, we have to overcome social challenges every day some of us more than other.
Invitation to Sociology- Peter L. Berger Of the various articles read so far this semester, the most important article we have read, in my opinion, was Peter Berger's Invitation to Sociology. This article eye the framework for the entire semester and introduces a new way of thinking that is essential to fully comprehend all of the topics discussed later on in the class. In regards to looking at the world with the sociological perspective, Berger states that it will "lead you to rethink your social world, so that you become aware of issue that you may never before have considered". This directly relates to the first chapter of the textbook "social problems in a diverse world" here C. Wright Mills explains the idea of the Sociological Imagination,
Sociology is the study of the relationships that humans have with each other and social institutions. It aims to understand the links that exist between individuals and the social structures around them and also the functions that these social institutions perform in society.
Sociology, in the broadest sense, attempts to study all aspects of society as a whole and the relationships, human behaviour and human interactions within society. Sociology looks at all aspects of society at all scales; such as the relationships between nations and also the relationships between individuals. This wide scope of interest is what makes
Macionis. J, J. Plummer, K. (2005). Sociology. A global Introduction. Pearson Education Limited. Essex. (UK) Third Edition.
Murray, Jane Lothian, Linden, Rick and Kendall, Diane. (2011). SOCIOLOGY IN OUR TIMES, Fifth Canadian Edition by Nelson Education Limited, Published by Thomson Wadsworth, USA.
In closing, both works by Berger and Mills make it obvious that the two men share different ideas on how the practice of sociology should be conducted. While some of their ideas may vary, they both share a fundamental point that they are trying to get across that can be applied in any person’s daily life.
A wide range of people all over the world inaccurately come to the conclusion that sociology is merely, ‘the study of the obvious’ and the application of common sense, this statement could not be further from the truth. Common sense derives from statements such as, ‘opposites attract’, however the Sociological sense takes this belief and carries out numerous tests to discover whether it is fact, or fiction.
In Peter Berger's "Invitation to Sociology", the sociological perspective was introduced. Berger asserts that it is important to examine new or emotionally or morally challenging situations from a sociological perspective in order to gain a clearer understanding of their true meanings. This perspective requires a person to observe a situation through objective eyes. It is important to "look beyond" the stereotypical establishments of a society and focus on their true, hidden meanings. Consideration of all the hidden meanings of social customs, norms, deviations and taboos, allow one to establish an objective image about the truth behind it. This method can also be applied to understanding people. This questioning, Berger says, is the root influence of social change and personal understanding of others. To do this well, it involves much intellectual prowess and ability to reason.
Before I started taking the course of sociology I wasn’t really expecting to learn anything, it was just supposed to be an easy online class. However, that was not the case. It challenged my mind. I started to see sociology all around me, starting with family, then friends, and how I see things overall in general. The fact that we have an everyday life in which there are patterns in ways of living is what sets a platform for a sociological breakdown and for being a part in what we do. A better way of understanding ourselves. We use sociology in many ways every day. One central and important study of sociology is the study of everyday social life. Everyday life and sociology are definitely two different words and situations, but they tend to hold a close relationship. While sociology is the study of the human interaction, everyday life consists of everyday human interaction. Everyday life is filled by human beings interacting with one another, ideas, and emotions. Sociology studies the interactions with all of these and shows how mere interaction resulted in things such as ideas. For an example, race and ethnicity are important concepts in the field of sociology and are ones that are studied a great deal. Race plays a large role in everyday human interactions and sociologists want to study how, why, and what the outcomes are of these interactions. Current sociological theories focus mainly on how there are many different factors in our everyday items of life, like movies. We were assigned a final to write a review for a movie in sociological form. The movie that was on the list that also happened to be one of my favorite movies, Toy Story. When we were assigned the assignment, I never thought about how in-depth it was with sociol...
The discipline of sociology provides a perspective that allows for individuals to expand and dig beyond “common knowledge” and inherit an approach to society that allows an advanced analysis of the root cause of activity in a certain society, opposed to assessing it on an assumption. A beneficial component to sociology is that it can be individually directed to different components of society that all contribute to its overall functioning. Under a sociological perspective we can use an engaged approach that once applied to social issues can improve the functioning of societies on both local and global scales that are considered complex, degrading, or facing considerable amounts of neglect. When we take into consideration the environment and
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper
Marsh, I and Keating, M., eds. (1996) Sociology: Making sense of society., ed [2006], England: Pearson Education.