“Sociology is the study of Society and how humans act in groups.” Sociology, in other words, can be defined as a social science, it digs deep into the social world to understand and grasp the study of the social web and its relationships in all aspects that is present in society. Each individual holds different perspectives and views regarding societal morals, norms, beliefs, laws, rules, and many more. Sociological thinking includes rational thoughts, beliefs, and views of the world just not in an individualistic manner or way but as a whole in general. In simple words, through sociological thinking, a person draws boundaries over various personal and general societal issues. Each individual holds different views but as a whole, it contributes a lot to the social system and its work in our society.
Allan G Johnson, in his book “The Forest, the Trees, and the One Thing” gave us an insight into the vast diversity and its functioning in and around society. People of different ethnicity, race, sex, age, religion, and culture brings out the vast diversity in our lives. Individualism is the concept of how people perceive and think about themselves and society in a personal manner rather than thinking broadly in general. “The Forest, the Trees, and the One Thing” is an account that conveys the presence of Sociological practice in every aspect of our life. The Trees are examples of Individuals and the Forest is for the Society we live in. We are always participating in something larger, bigger than ourselves, and our personal problems are also related to something greater, for example, I will purchase a shirt that is made in Thailand, and the industries in Thailand might hire children as workers, thus I’m also contributing in child labor even if I don’t intend to. In short, a person’s action though as an individual counts toward the social system and its making.
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People make the social system and the social system makes a person a social being. We are all dependent on each other and all of our actions reflect and affect something or the other. Individual thoughts can solve personal problems, but when these problems get solved individuals leave others' matter on the road and moves on to pursue the next personal goal. Thus Allan G Johnson states that the Individualistic model doesn’t fully help to bring and make bigger changes in a Society.
Sociology as a discipline is more than common sense. Common sense in most cases forms through one’s personal experiences, these experiences change a person’s way of viewing things and feelings about a particular thing, group, or person. It is not something that is taught in an institution or within a family, rather it is the society we live in that creates a remark on our thoughts and the way we think. Sociological studies and common sense do inter-cross or say interconnect in some cases but apart from these accidental coincidences, Sociological studies do a lot more than just mere thinking as it is a body that consists of methods, research, analysis, survey, data collection, scientific studies and many more. One can easily grasp the idea of Sociology and what it practices and how it is different from common sense, common sense is basically hindsight which does not solve societal issues in general. We need to keep in mind that understanding things and applying them into action are two different things, we tend to participate in something with a particular goal but end up doing something else most of the time because we can’t completely control our surroundings, the systems and it’s various aspects but we can bring changes with small walks and maintenance.
In “Sociology and common sense”, Andre Beteille an Indian Sociologist describes how an individual’s action reflects on social context, these actions are well formed through an individual’s mindset and understanding which is through common sense. To understand sociology in-depth and detailed manner we need to unlearn the things we understood and perceived from a distinct view of cultural basis about the society, we need to observe and conclude the morals in depth with a thorough understanding in a broad way. Emile Durkheim, a French Sociologist also contributed a lot to the understanding of sociology and common sense, in his study of Suicide he worked on a comparative study to understand why suicide takes place, and what makes an individual commit such a thing. He explained suicide is more of a social fact than a psychological fact and that one cannot be sure of its cause and reason just with the mere understanding of people and their behavior. There are various threats to suicide and some of them are beyond one’s common knowledge of reasoning the cause. Common sense is a general perception while sociological concepts deal with empirical understanding which means we need some scientific investigation or interpretation to learn better about society, social relationships, and social systems in a sociological manner.
Another writer, James Finn Garner in his “Politically correct bedtime stories” displayed the role of Women in Society, how women are treated and what beliefs and myths do reflect on people’s behavior towards women, the existence of sexism, partiality, discrimination based on gender role and provides us glimpses of knowledge and ideas on equality and the right to live, justice and liberty. Most of the Society follows Patriarchal norms where Men hold primary power, and supremacy and are dominant whereas Women stay under their rule and law, and work for them, the actions women take becomes a mirror reflection of men’s words. Although so much has changed through the past years, many women are now educated, earning, holding decent jobs, and living life on their terms some as single mothers or even bachelorettes but we cannot deny the fact that inequality still exists in many corners of the society. The matriarchal society exists but in most cases it is just for its namesake, for example, Meghalaya is a matriarchal state in India where women own the property and share in their name, In a patriarchal society, after the marriage or marital rituals, women have to go to their in-laws' house or her husband’s house to live there for the rest of her life but in a state which follows matriarchal norms will have a different way of doing so, husbands of these women shifts into women’s home rather than bringing the women to their house after the marriage. The order in which a female position is higher than that of a male makes a society a matriarchal form of Society but we need to observe how much power these women hold in the true sense, these women get the share and properties in their name but it is the men who actually look after and hands over the property and runs the resources of the household, thus this shows us a clear picture on how matriarchy lies under patriarchy or in simple words it can be best explained as, “Patriarchy dominants Matriarchy” Female are known to be physically weaker than male and thus most females are pressured by their opposite sex that is male. Despite Society’s old ill thoughts on women in society, Garner idealized the modern rights of women as a completely equal being on this planet and raised his voice against the oppressive patriarchal norms of society in an indirect manner in the form of writing. He enhanced the virtue of feminism adding to women's empowerment and potential, his writings are powerful and it beautifully explains the importance of the equal status of women in society.
Allan G Johnson in “The forest, the Tress, and the One Thing” focuses on individual participation and their contribution to the making of society’s social system. In “Sociology and common sense “ Andre Beteille deepens the understanding of Sociological thinking by comparing it with common sense and generalizing the broad concept of studying Society. “Politically correct bedtime stories” written by James Finn Garner, comprises two stories: “Little Red Riding Hood” and the other “Rumpelstiltskin”, the former story narrates the independence and potentiality of women, strong and free women without the need for a man and the latter story speaks for the rights of women and their personal rights. Garner showcases the intention of a feminist through his writings and stands for equality, freedom, women's rights, women's empowerment, etc. The three mentioned writers focused thoroughly in-depth and on the important insights on different topics of society, understanding and covering various societal issues but the one thing that is common in their writings is the intention of bringing a good change in society and for the betterment of the people living in it. Same intentions but on different aspects based on Society through Sociological thinking.
There are many other sociologists, thinkers, writers, and people from different occupations who firmly agree with Johnson’s concept of individual participation in the social system, Beteille’s way of thinking in a broad manner for society, and Garner’s support of feminism. A lot many disagree too but it is widely accepted because Sociology is a subject that is open to everyone and people’s different opinions matter and are most welcomed.
The mentioned books provide us with fascinating, interesting knowledge and ideas about sociology and the works done in this field. People carry clashing opinions on everything and for everything, some may agree with these ideas and explanations whereas some may not and of course, people are free to do that. Every thought and every action is fundamentally related. These books contain many points which are eye-openers for many, going through these books will get you to look at things from a different perspective that you would have never considered before.
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