What do Sociologists do?

• Study society
• Systematically (doing something in a way that is done according to an agreed set of methods or
organised plan.)
• New ways of looking at things (viewing the world in new perspectives) within and out of their milieu
(a persons social environment)

Are we Free, or does Society Determine Us?

• Agency: The idea that people make their own decisions and are responsible for their own actions
1. Consciousness
2. People make choices
3.
• Structure: "A regular pattern of behaviour in society."
1. People face contraints (limitations or restrictions)
2. Bolstered by religious or moral beliefs, material interests, rewards and punishments.

Sociologies Relationship with Common Sense:

• Engage with daily experiences
• Knowledge is a contested terrain
• Does impact society

Each sociological term has already been laden with meanings given by common sensical knowledge.
This is why the two are so intimately related.
However, it is important to draw a boundary between the two as to keep sociological identity. This
implements sovereignty of sociology.

Sociological Eye (Bauman & May)

• This gives us the ability to recognise the impact society has on us and how the individual
perspective works to prevent people from noticing the impact.
• Disciplined way of thinking
• Attention to unnoticed facets
• Focus on Understanding
At the same time, sociologists are part of that experience so, however hard they may try to stand
aside from the objects they are trying to study - life experiences as objects 'out there' - they can't
break off completely from the knowledge they seek to comprehend.

How does Sociological Knowledge Differ?

• Commitment to responsible speech (not hurting others just because you want to express yourself.)
• Broader field of exposure (system relating)
• Engaging with all evidence/viewpoints
• Defamiliarise (make something unfamiliar or strange, get out of your 'comfort zone')

The four ways the differences have been considered:

1. Sociology, unlike common sense, makes an effort to subordinate (lower in rank or position) itself to
the rigorous rules of responsible speech
2. The size of the field from which the material for sociological thinking is drawn. Mlore fleshed out
conclusions come from multiple sources and comparisons.
3. Sociology and common sense differ in the way that each makes sense of human reality in terms of
how they understand and explain events and circumstances.
4. Finally, the power of common sense depends on its self-evident character: that is, not to question
its precepts and to be self-confirming in practice. In its turn, this rests upon the routine and habitual
character of daily life.

Sociological Knowledge: more about understanding society through a logical approach.

Common Knowledge: stems from personal experiences and can only be relevant to a particular
situation.
Tacit Knowledge: the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual gains through experiences that is
often difficult to put into workds or otherwise communicate.

Sociological Imagination:
• Linking history and biography
• People tend to be caught up in private lives (personal troubles)
• Understand impact of context; such as public issues (looking at outside aspects which have affected
the situation)

Link Between History and Biography:

• Relationship between individual and society is a key concern
• The way society is organised/patterned endures over time
• The context shapes how people act (looking at meaning, social acceptances, commodification [the
action or process of treating something as a mere commodity] ect.)
History is not merely history as it impacts the everyday and how lives are lived. (C. Wright Mills, The
Promise, pg4)
We have to think, 'How do our individual biographies intertwine with the history we share with other
human beings. (Thinking Sociologically, Zugmunt Bauman, pg 7.)

Summary:
• There is a relationship between lived experiences and the broader social context
• People have agency, make choices, but within constraints