Sociology Is Sociology

Chapter One: What is Sociology? Sociology has become very prevalent in our everyday lives. Almost anything that anyone can think of involves Sociology in some way. Since Sociology plays a big role in everyday life, even when some people might not know it, that leaves many wondering what exactly Sociology is. Where did it come from? How has it become what it is today? The main reasons for Sociology being around today are the questions that are being asked Sociology, along with other social sciences, help examine the world and figure out what it takes in order to make the world a better place. Social Sciences consist of different types of sciences that involve looking at relationships among society. Although some people often confuse

Without these different social sciences and scientists that study them, people may not know how the world really works. Scientists look into events that could potentially give ideas of why something became the way that it is. Sociological perspective also gives insight into why someone might be the way that they are. It is important for everyone to have a sociologist’s perspective because this means that, instead of judging someone only because of how another person see them the first time, that person would be able to try to find a deeper meaning and not be too quick to judge. Another thing that is important for people to have is sociological imagination. Sociological imagination gives a person the ability to see a connection between their own world and the bigger world. This is important so that a person could see how much they impact the world or how the world impacts

The Industrial Revolution, which had people moving to cities for jobs that were often scarce because of the growing population, played a major role in the making of Sociology as a real field of study. Herbert Spencer came up with the phrase “survival of the fittest” which he used to describe the many situations where there would be a shortage of jobs for the large amount of people searching for employment. Also, there was a shortage of homes as well which led to bad living conditions. Along with Spencer, a woman named Harriet Martineau did the first actual study of society and convinced scholars that they needed to make society better, not just study it. Karl Marx saw two sides to society, the capitalists and the workers. He also thought that there would be a day when the workers would get tired of working for the capitalists so they would join together in order to overthrow them. Marx’s theory of different social classes became instrumental in creating a sociological perspective known as the conflict theory. Émile Durkheim created the first Sociology course and he was the first to combine science with sociology. He had a functionalist view of society and believed that every part of society, good or bad, had a purpose in society. Max Weber was different than the sociologists