SOICOLOGY AND

COMMON SENSE
Topic 1.c
Paper – 1
Sociology and Common Sense
Need to ponder
If sociology is study of obvious or
application of common sense?

But common sense lacks validity and

presents itself as a mere assertion
 Common Sense
Weber
Routine knowledge we have of our everyday
world and activities

Alfred Schutz
Organised, typified stocks of taken-for-
granted knowledge
And generally not questioned
 Point of Similarities
Sometimes folk wisdom is close to socio
For ex give a person a bad name and it will
be blamed for many things more

Howard Beckers
Labelling theory of deviance
Common sense is often related to social
relationships, social setting or institutions
which fall under purview of sociology

Common sense gives raw material for

sociology

Common sense can even be supportive of

sociological theories
 Point of Differences
Common sense is status quoist but sociology professes active change
It even debates structure and agency intellectually
(man-society dualism- man creates society or vice versa)

Sociology is sceptic while common sense is enforced through tradition

Peter Berger: “debunking” attitude towards world taken for granted.
Irreverent attitude towards religion (Durkheim, Weber and Marx)

Common sense explains many things irrationally

For ex poverty is due to wish of god

Sociology is verified, self-correcting and academic discipline

Common sense is assumptive which sometimes is discontinuous/ paradoxical

(for example opposite attracts as well as fight)
Also, common sense not coherent across countries and eras.
Common sense has specific roles and duties
assigned for genders, poor, tribal
(stereotypes)
Margaret mead study of tribals in papua new
guinea region found certain gender role
reversal contrary to common sense

Common sense is highly value laden

Sociology attempts to be objective and
scientific

Common sense lacks validity and reliability

Post modernist claim that sociology is not superior to
common sense as there is nothing as eternal truth

Anthony Giddens has said that sociological

investigation often becomes common sense
For ex sociological investigation of marital breakups
have made people believe that marriage is a risky
business

Phenomenonlogists
attempting to study “what” people do and not “why”
people do certain things
 Poverty

Common Sense
problem families, low intelligence

Sociology
Structure of inequality in society, chronic
irregularity of wages
 Gramsci – Creation of Common Sense

Role of “common sense”, i.e. dominant ideas about society and

about our place in it, in producing cultural hegemony

For example, the idea that one can succeed monetarily if one just
tries hard enough, is a form of common sense that has flourished
under capitalism, and that serves to justify the system

For, if one believes that all it takes to succeed is hard work and
dedication, then it follows that the system of capitalism and the
social structure that is organized around it is just and valid

It also follows that those who have succeeded economically have

earned their wealth in a just and fair manner, and that those who
struggle economically in turn have earned their disenfranchised
state

This form of common sense fosters the belief that success and
social mobility are strictly the responsibility of the individual, and
thus obscures the real class, racial, and gender inequalities that
are built into the capitalist system