Sociology class - Essay Example

The Timeless Relevance of Sociology Sociology is defined by Max Weber, recognized as one of the founders of the discipline, as the “understanding of social action” (Keat & Urry 2011, 107) so that people will have the ability to determine a “causal explanation of its course and effects” (Keat & Urry 107). Weber used the term ‘action’ to refer to “all human behavior when and insofar as the acting individual attaches a subjective meaning to it” (Keat & Urry 107). Hence, an entirely spontaneous reaction would not be classified as an ‘action’ because it has no ‘subjective meaning’.

So what does sociology actually imply? For me, based on my own understanding, sociology is concerned with individual action that is unavoidably connected to the action and behavior of other people. Hence, the focus of sociology is quite extensive, encompassing all issues of our social behavior. Nevertheless, the abovementioned description of sociology can be confined. Take for instance an aspect of behavior like a consumer’s decision to buy a product. In general we would view this behavior as an economic act in the sense that it involves a monetary transaction.

However the consumer’s choice to buy can also be regarded as being a sociological act, because it definitely has personal significance for the consumer, and it is directed towards the assumed and actual conduct of other actors such as salespeople, other consumers, etc. So what is the importance of sociology? Why do we have to learn about it? Sociology becomes increasingly important nowadays due to the sweeping progress of globalization. This event led to the far-reaching transformation of the globe’s political landscape.

The traditional state was displaced by a completely new form of ‘nation state’ founded on transnational institutions, areas, and metropolises. Hence, because of this, sociology becomes indispensable to the understanding of the effects of globalization on the current standing of the nation state. However, some argues that sociology loses its importance because of globalization. I do not think so. Sociology will never lose its importance in present-day civilizations. While long-established societies and cultures were displaced by the new systems, a contemporary sociology embracing them displaced traditional sociology.

Certainly, the similarity between traditional sociology and the contemporary one is that as the former emerged in reaction to contained modernization, observed through the occurrences of industrialization and, later on, urbanization, contemporary sociology surfaced in reaction to inclusive and large-scale globalization. Whether the process of globalization is producing a universal tradition of evident uniformity or, in contrast, is generating heightened segregation comprising champions, failures, and diverse cultural amalgams, sociology is undeniably important in understanding today’s interrelated and mutual progress.

Even though sociology assumes that the market’s judgment has a tendency to produce uniformity, it argues that every market relies on institutional, societal, and cultural groundwork. Basically, sociology claims that globalization is present specifically due to the traditional social relevance generated in certain cultural and social perspectives. This results in the assumption that globalization is the success of daily existence entailing individuals and people involved in the creation of the universal social structures.

ReferencesKeat, R. & J. Urry. Social Theory as Science. London: Routledge, 2011.