1. Explain your understanding of the field of sociology.
The field of Sociology encompasses the academic discipline centered on the scientific study of human behavior. Sociology provides a framework for perspective on everything people do in life, and holds the stated purpose of furthering the understanding of other people and ourselves. Sociology is based on the concept that changes in social setting, or arrangement, affect behavior and consequently in order to change an undesirable or unacceptable behavior the social situation must first be changed.
2. Based on the lecture, discuss the origins of sociology.
The origins of sociology reach far back in history to the seventeenth century. New scientific discoveries by Galileo and Newton were the foundation for a change in how people thought and viewed the world. This new thinking resulted in the emergence from the dark ages of superstition into the new light of the Age of Reason. This development of society also brought about a series of revolutions that caused much turmoil and death. Scholars believed in order to predict or control this new society it was necessary to study it in a scientific manner. The first of the three founding fathers of Sociology is Karl Marx, known for his historical approach to the study of society. He held the perspective that the only way to look at society was through the Conflict Approach, which stated that conflict is natural, always was, always would be, and was necessary for society to function. However, Marx also stated that the destruction of any society would be due to its own internal contradictions. The second founding father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim is noted as the first professor of Sociology and credited with the institution of Sociology as a discipline. Durkheim defined the perspective of Structural Functionalism as the belief that each of the many different institutions of society, such as family, religion, military, and law and order, held its own clear cut function. He further asserted that the mutual dependency created by the division of labor between mutually hostile people in society was the catalyst for its functionality. The final founding father of Sociology is Max Weber, credited with the perspective of Symbolic Interactionism, or Humanistic Sociology. This perspective pulled the focus of study from solely observation of social facts, to an interpretative understanding brought about by getting closer to people and directly inquiring why they behaved in certain manners and circumstances.
3. With the help of examples, explain the term "the sociological imagination".
C. Wright Mills, noted to be the greatest modern American Sociologist, put forth the concept of the sociological imagination which states that in order to understand society, one must understand life and society together. Mills encouraged the quality of mind to look deeper into how the relationships between man and society, biography and history, self and world affect ones experience of life. According to Mills, there are three specific questions that must be answered in order to understand any society. The first addresses the type of structure of the society as a whole. For example, due to the current structure of capitalism held by the U.S., it is one of a very few developed societies that does not provide health care to its people, effectively designating an individual’s health as a commodity, and thus level of care is determined by one’s ability to pay. Question two looks at the society’s standing in human history. With the U.S. again serving as example, we find its relative youth perhaps significant with age, accordant with level of wise judgment.
Mills final question addresses the varieties of men and women prevalent in the society and period, and the `human nature' as revealed by the conduct and character observed. As a last example the U.S. due in part to the answers provided from the previous questions show instead of a healthy distance between the groups of industry, military, and government, a close intertwining in order to benefit each other, amassing a huge amount of power which has led to its corruption.
