SGY110 Module 1 – Week 2: What is Sociology?
What did you find most interesting or challenging about the lecture and/or the reading?
The most interesting point about the lecture was the explanation of structure, culture and agency. While I remain unsure of what Mills () referes to as “the sociological imagination”, it is interesting to read how the author distinguishes between the individual experience of marriage, for example and marriage as a structure of society.
The idea that the more we can understand about why we act as we do, and about society as a whole, the more likely it is that we can have some control as individuals over our lives (Giddens), is interesting as it goes against the idea of structure and culture. The lecture describes this as agency.
How would you answer the question: ‘What is sociology?’ if a friend were to ask you?
If asked, I would say that sociology is the study of humans and their interactions with each other, as individuals, groups and societies (Giddens, 1986). Sociology seeks to explain the mundane in terms of why we do what we do and why are as we are.
What differentiates psychology from sociology?
While psychology is concerned with the individual lives and how factors such as family relationships, for instance, impact on lived experience, sociology is concerned with the interaction of the biological, the psychological and the biographical. While similar, it the addition of social categories, such as gender, age, class, cultural background
What differentiates journalism from sociological research?
Journalism can often involve opinions, while sociological research should never do so.
What social norms, other than those mentioned in the lecture, can you think of?
Queuing – Queue jumping is frowned upon yet there are times when the actual queue is not clear.
Drinking Alcohol Socially – There is often an expectation that people should drink socially and there is peer pressure to drink heavilly even though a person may not be able to handle alcohol
Drinking Tea or Coffee – there is often an expectation that people should offer and accept tea or coffee and there is surprise when someone drinks neither
