The Influence Of Sociology

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“It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this- things are not what they seem” (Berger, 1963). The sociological perspective allows scientists to investigate the factors influencing social behavior that are not seen and not obvious. The sociological perspective allows examination of behavior as it is influenced by the groups in which people belong and by the influence of their society. Factors that influence social location, or the position of a person within society, have significant influence on behavior. Occupation, Education, race, and even age can have effects on how a person operates within society, how they behave and to which groups they belong (Henslin, p.2, 2015). Science often looks for cause and effect relationships …show more content…

As far back as Auguste Comte, the father of the word Sociology, the relationship between applying the scientific method to the social world was clearly stated (Henslin, 2015, p.4). Sociologists may wear a variety of hats from data collectors to community planners, community destroyers, criminologists, and even social reformers (Berger, 1963). Sociology is simply the science of how human behavior is shaped by all the factors that influence society. Scientists that work in the field of sociology study any variety of factors that influence society like culture, group structure, and social class (Henslin, 2015). Sociologists perform research on behavior that may seem to differ drastically. Steele & Aronson ( 1995) performed a test studying how questions about rest prior to a SAT test affected performance. The Milgram experiment in 1960s, investigates the influence of authority on individuals when they asked people to shock another person repeatedly (as cited in Henslin, p. 152, 2015). Research takes on a variety of forms from true experiments to observational and case studies, since human behavior is unpredictable and heavily …show more content…

To prevent something, one must understand it and many things in our society are understood more fully using the methods of the sociological perspective. Through education in sociology an individual can gain insight in factors influencing their own behavior and how to build better relationships between people involved in their life. Sociology’s impact on society is more fluid. Applied sociology could influence social policies in education, government, specific underserved or critical access communities. A sociologists studying group dynamics could enter a workplace and help the leadership form better groups leading to enhanced workplace satisfaction and productivity. Sociology and the study of violence have a particular sinister but important relationship. Violence is a very society driven actively, thus leading the study of its incidence and prevention of sociological importance. Sociology can help establish relationships between violence and sociologic factors in communities leading to primary prevention. On a specific basis a criminologist employing sociology could work on a team to profile a killer, revealing information as to how to prevent crimes in the

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