How Does Sociology Differ from Common Sense Reasoning - Book Report/Review Example

How Does Sociology Differ from Common Sense Reasoning? Although some people accused sociologists of always observing the obvious conditions, looking sociology as “Making the familiar strange” has significantly helped counter the claim. For example, according to Conley (2011), the application of analytical tools to certain things that have always been done without much attention has helped countered the claim because provides new perspectives. Unlike simple common sense reasoning, sociology help individuals realize that what they take as normal is not actually normal. Question 2: What is sociological Imagination and how do history and personal biography Sociological imagination is a term coined to refer to the effort of individuals to think critically about the social world around them and see the connection between their experiences and the forces of history. History and personal biography affects social imagination because they help understand what is taking place in our world and the various social foundations that form basis of social changes. Q3: How does the exchange from Pulp fiction provided in this chapter shed light on the nature of sociology? What does humor have in common with the sociological imagination? The exchange from the Pulp fiction sheds light on the nature of sociology by showing how one can use other people’s daily experience to reexamine their own lives and question the links between their personal experiences and the particulars of their society. Humor and sociological imagination both share in common the fact that they enable individuals to see beyond what is considered normal or familiar. Q4. What is social institution and how is it related to social identity? According to the author, social identity is a group of social positions that perform a social role and are connected by social relations. With regard to the relationship between social institution and social identity, both social institution and social identity is that both of them a sum total of many factors and can not easily be changed. Q5. A sociologist study the way people the way some group of fast food employees do their work. How would Weber and Durkheim differ in their study of these groups? Weber would have focused on why the employees act the way they do as well as the meanings attached to their actions. On the other hand, Durkheim would have focused her study on the group’s social solidarity of the employees particularly with regard to the factors that make them hold together. Q6. Compare functionalism and Conflict theory. How to the two theories differ in their understanding of theory? Functionalism theory is largely founded on the notion that the best way to study societies is to analyze the roles played by various aspects of phenomena. On the other hand, conflict theory is premised on the assumption that the society is characterized by competing interests. The two theories differ in that while functionalism argues that there is consensus in the society, conflict theory suggests that the competing interests between members of the society often culminate into conflicts rather than consensus. Q7. What is Feminist theory? Feminist theory is a theory that emphasizes equality between women and men based on the belief that the society subordinates women. Some of the works of Harriet Martineau have been described as feminist because they focused on the experiences of women and highlighted instances of gender inequalities in the society. Q8. How would you describe Sociology? Sociology is a multidisciplinary study that transcends social imagination and cuts across other fields such as history, psychology and economics among others. Compared to history sociology differs in that it not much interested in the uniqueness of a phenomena but with the commonalities that can be derived across cases. On the other hand, unlike psychology, sociology goes beyond an individual and is more concerned with group level social structures. Q9. What are the cleavages of Sociology as a Field? Why might they be described as false dichotomies? As a discipline, sociology has a number of divisions some of which include quantitative sociologists, qualitative sociologists, statistical sociologists, empirical sociologists and sociological theorists. These cleavages are considered to be false dichotomies because they merely act as short cuts for deeper intellectual divisions of sociology. Q10. Why do people go to college? People go to college not only to acquire knowledge but also to enjoy the other benefits of education such as improved employability and career development. Randall Collins Book “credential Society” particularly make the familiar reality of college education to look strange because he applies analytical tools to certain aspects of college education such as asking why choose to go to colleges instead of reading at home if all they need is knowledge. CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW QUESTIONS Q1. What are the differences between causality and correlational? Causality is the notion that a given change a factor may result in a corresponding change in another factor. On the other hand, correlational simply refer to the variation between two variables. For example, income and health are correlational in that people with more income often tend to enjoy better health. However, we can also say that low income causes bad health or bad health can also cause low income hence causality. Q2. Description of a study in the Chapter One of the studies described in the chapter is the research titled “Money morals and manners” that was carried out in France and the United States by Sociologist Michele Lamont. The study employed interviews as its primary method of data gathering. A sample of upper middle class men in both France and the United States were selected based on their social status and interviewed about their tastes (Conley, 2011). Q3. Using deductive and inductive approaches in Research A Sociologist who observes the work seeking habits of welfare recipients for a week before forming a theory based on the observed trends is using inductive approach. The phenomenon can be studied using the other approaches (deductive approach) by using mathematical approaches such as statistics. Q4. A sociologist analyzes the effects of social class and gender on intelligence based standardized scores. The tests consistently get similar results but actually measure the ability top read quickly. What are the dependent and independent variables? Are the results Valid or reliable? The dependent variables in the study include gender and social class while the independent variables are intelligence and ability to read quickly. However, although the results are reliable, they are not valid because they did not measure what the sociologist intended to measure. Q5. Participant observation is often painstaking and demanding. Why bother with data collection? Use Lynne Haney’s research to support answer. Data collection is critically important in participant observation. For example, Lynne Haney’s research brought new insights to the study of welfare due to the broad use of data collection methods that were employed in the research. Q6. References Conley, D. (2011). You May Ask Yourself, Second Edition. New York:W. W. Norton Co. publisher Inc. Read More