Intro to Sociology

The Sociological Perspective

Sociology is a social science.  The sociological perspective is one that transcends individual or group perspectives, becasue the purpose of applying the sociological perspective is to observe and measure social trends, and explore the social structure or foundation that underlies them.

A science uses the scientific method, which you likely have learned in other courses.  You typically have a theory-driven hypothesis, collect and analyze data, and then test again, sharing the results with others. Social sciences have to do with understanding people and places. Social scientists study economics, politics, environments, trends, demographics, and other human behaviors.

The sociological perspective can be a tool that can help you cultivate a big picture mentality. Just like some little kids like to take things apart and put things back together again, and may grow up to be engineers, some folks just naturally have a big picture perspective. Many if not all employers now are asking for big picture or systems-level thinkers.  This is because big picture people do not as easily get caught up in their “own little world” - they can get a grasp of how an institution works, how policies impact practices, how workplace hierarchies, relationships, and politics play out, and are sensitive to the fact that things get perceived differently by different people.

The sociological perspective is a scientific approach to understanding a society- a society might be a college campus, a neighborhood, a hospital, a community, a county, a state, or a country- basically any population. 

Psychologists may analyze individual people, finding out what makes them tick. Economists may analyze financial trends, political scientists may analyze political factions and how the state operates, and anthropologists might analyze a cultural group by living among them and observing behavior. 

Sociologists analyze communities- whether large or small- so what does that entail? 

What might you analyze in a community? What are the building blocks of a society? To answer this question, I imagined what it would be like to start a business.  What would I want to know if I were going to move to a new community, before I posted up shop? 

Here’s the list that my in-class intro to sociology class came up with: 

• other industries and businesses 
• employment rates
• natural resources and climate 
• demographics- what’s the average age, gender mix, race/ethnic background, income levels

Then I wondered what people in general moving to a new community want to know. I asked my class what they would research if they were moving to a new place and had kids and aging parents. Here’s what they said: 

• schools/educational opportunities
• jobs
• community engagement
• crime rates/criminal justice system
• health care and services
• recreation and entertainment
• politics
• neighborhoods
• what the people are “like” (culture)

There’s one thing no one mentioned:

• laws
• policies

Together, all of those factors are sociological factors. Sociologists study how those factors relate to human behaviors- trends in things like:

• crime
• employment
• marriage and divorce
• socializing and dating
• economic, environmental, and social policy
• educational attainment
• political orientation
• lifestyle
• health behaviors
• chronic and acute illness
• diet
• drug use
• mental health

The lists go on…but this gives you a sense of what sociologists study, and what the sociological perspective is. 

Do  sociological analysis of where you live. 

How do those factors impact you?