{"id":25,"date":"2016-04-16T00:57:10","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T00:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontosociology-waymaker\/?post_type=chapter&p=25"},"modified":"2024-04-25T03:13:36","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T03:13:36","slug":"reading-what-is-sociology","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-introductiontosociology\/chapter\/reading-what-is-sociology\/","title":{"raw":"What Is Sociology?","rendered":"What Is Sociology?"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Objectives<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
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  • Describe sociology and some of its central concepts<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"413\"]\"Large Figure 1.<\/strong> Sociologists learn about society as a whole while studying one-to-one and group interactions. (Photo courtesy of Gareth Williams\/flickr)<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n

    What Are\u00a0Central Concepts in Sociology?<\/h2>\r\nSociology<\/strong> is the study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions.\u00a0A group<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share some sense of aligned identity.\u00a0<\/span>A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture is what sociologists call a society<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSociologists study all aspects and levels of society. Sociologists working from the micro-level<\/strong> study small groups and individual interactions, while those using macro-level<\/strong> analysis look at trends among and between large groups and societies. For example, a micro-level study might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups such as among teenagers or business professionals. In contrast, a macro-level analysis might research the ways that language use has changed over time or in social media outlets.\r\n\r\nThe term culture<\/strong> refers to the group\u2019s shared practices, values, and beliefs. Culture encompasses a group\u2019s way of life, from routine, everyday interactions to the most important parts of group members' lives. It includes everything produced by a society, including all of the social rules. Sociologists often study culture using the sociological imagination<\/strong>, which pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described as an awareness of the relationship between a person\u2019s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person\u2019s choices and perceptions. It is a way of seeing our own and other people\u2019s behavior in relation to history and social structure (1959).\r\n\r\nOne illustration of this is a person\u2019s decision to marry. In the United States, this choice is heavily influenced by individual feelings; however, the social acceptability of marriage relative to the person\u2019s circumstances also plays a part. It is important to remember that culture is produced by the people in a society, and therefore sociologists take care not to treat the concept of \u201cculture\u201d as though it were alive in its own right. Reification<\/strong> is the term used to describe this mistaken tendency, where one treats an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence (Sahn 2013).\r\n
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    Try It<\/span><\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/02dc0858-1171-4975-88f9-8a2cccdf1e6e\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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    Watch It<\/h3>\r\nThroughout this course, you will encounter video clips that explain and reiterate key concepts from the reading. They are strongly recommended. Please take the time to watch the videos. The following video gives an introduction to sociology and will give you a preview of many concepts that will be covered in the course.\r\n\r\n