Introduction to Sociology

The sociological perspective

-Invites us to look beyond the often neglected & taken-for-granted aspects of our social event, and examine them in fresh creative ways. (Berger  63).

-We see then- there are many layers of meaning in our experience and things are not always what they seem.

-Many of these understandings are below the usual thresholds of our awareness.

-         The sociological perspective allows us to bring previously inaccessible aspects of human life to social awareness and gain a window on the social landscape that we often overlook or misunderstood.

-As we scrutinize the hidden fabric (beyond the outward experience) we encounter new levels of reality.

This entire approach to reality via a special form of consciousness is sociological perspective.

The sociological imagination

C. Wright Millls argued (1959)

“It is our ability to se our private experiences and personal difficulties as entwined with the structural arrangements of society and the historical times in which we live”.

-         We usually go about our daily activities bounded by our narrow orbit. Our viewpoint is limited to our school, job, family and neighborhood.

-         Sociological imagination allows us to breakout of this contracted vision and notice the relationship between our personal experiences and broader social and historical relationships

-         Sociological Imagination is the ability to see

-          the interplay between biography and history, public issues ad private troubles

-         “Neither the life of the individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both”

For example, Divorce & unemployment

For the case of unemployment:

-When a person loses job, S/he blames publicly the boss or management, privately him/herself

-The personal impacts are:

·        Plans are upset

·        Self confidence shaken

If a few people are here and there fired it’s a personal matter But when millions are unemployed, it is a public issue. There must be something wrong in the economic system that creates unemployment.

This is a “social problem” that an individual cannot solve on his or her own.

 In early 1990’s-job difficulties in the USA-

Mills said, we cannot look to the ‘personal character’ of individuals to explain that problem under the circumstances that happened at that time.

-Restructuring and downsizing of corporate America compounded the effects of economic recession.

-As a result, devastating effect on the employment ranks of nation’s youth.

-Nearly 2 million fewer youth were employed in 1993 than in 1989(Bernstein,1993)

-The level of skill required for many jobs climbed rapidly leaving unskilled young workers out in the cold.

¾ of the unemployed didn’t receive unemployment benefits.

At present……..

LABOR DEPARTMENT ECONOMISTS CALCULATE THAT WHILE skill levels in the workplace rose during the past decade, The supply of college students rose even Faster.

The outlook for the next decade seems to be more problematic- in this way supply of new workers with a college degree will surpass the rise of new jobs requiring college degree.  If it continues then

·        Some 30% of college students entering the workforce from 1990-2005 will work in jobs that don’t require college degree.

·        The underemployed college students percentage will increase from 1% to 4%

So the developing private job frustrations of many younger Americans must be understood within the context of the structural factors operating in the larger society & workplace.

Sociology cannot promise to bring couples back together or find jobs for individuals, but it can help individuals put their problems/troubles into perspective.

·        Conflicts are bound to develop under a system that says a person is only as important as the job he holds, but provides a limited number of important jobs.

·        Under a system that says a man should support his wife & kids on his wages, but does not pay all men enough to do so.

·        Under a system that says career women are more glamorous, more alive & more fulfilled than house wives, but also says that all women want children and that children need a fulltime mother.

Private troubles in these ways reflect in social conditions