Since my amigo Andres started off with a quote, I figure I will too. This quote is definitely not as fun or flashy, but as relevant to sociology and society as his was to physics and the universe.
"Men do not usually define the troubles they endure in
terms of historical change and institutional contradiction...
They do not possess the quality of mind essential to grasp
the interplay of man and society, of biography and history,
of self and world. They cannot cope with their personal
troubles in such ways as to control the structural trans-
formations that usually lie behind them"
-C. Wright Mills
To me, this quote summarizes the point of sociology- to "translate private troubles into public issues."
Many people, even today, don't fully understand the vital aspect of our social world- we are all connected.
C. Wright Mills, one of sociology's preeminent political philosophers, told us that you losing your job in
a recession is not random, not bad luck, not your fault, but a consequence of human social action.
I won't talk in depth about C. Wright Mills, at least right now. However, you should understand, that as
a sociologist, ultimately, I am attempting to understand how human social interaction shapes us and society.
Don't be fooled, sociology is not limited to the social world, it literally pervades all aspects of human life, the
"hard" sciences and theories so old and ingrained in our consciousness we call them "fact".
Society goes so far to literally shape our identities, our values and how we act.
That's the beauty of sociology but also it's biggest flaw. It studies such an illusive creature with the most
complex social life of any known animal, it makes it hard to study and falsify. At times, it can be frustrating.
I mean, sociologists can hardly agree on a definition of "sociology", so how the hell can we agree
on sociological theory?
I have always been a sociologist, long before I knew of sociology or what it is; I loved my history classes
but always felt that it never answered the questions about human social life I asked in my head. (For
the record and any historians reading this, I still love history). When I was attending junior college (gasp!)
I had an english class that had a heavy emphasis on race and gender, which at the time, I had no clue were
some of the basics of sociology. After the class was over, I visited the professor's office.
I asked her what discipline covered these topics and the ideas we discussed, it seemed I had finally found
the class I had always wanted to take. She replied, "well then, you're a natural born sociologist". Which,
now, makes me chuckle, as any sociologist would warn you to be critical of "natural".
This blog is about the process of understanding problems, and that process is definitely not limited to sociology
or physics- but we want to show how disciplines can stand to learn something from how each tackles questions.
It is not meant to argue for one or the other, but to shed light on perhaps the two most misunderstood disciplines.
To end the post, I'd like to re-post a part of Andres' previous post. This quote is just as relevant to the field of
sociology, of course, only if you replace physics with sociology. So, keep in mind, while we will talk about the
same problem in radically different ways and perhaps come up with radically different solutions, the underlying
method is exactly the same.
"To a student of physics, the first step to solving a problem is understanding the issues at hand and identifying what principles to apply to each part."
-ginger snap!
