Sept 11th 2018

LECTURE 3
Outline of today’s class

 The Sociological perspective

 The Sociological Imagination

The Sociological Perspective

 invites us to look at our familiar

surroundings in a fresh way.
The Sociological Perspective

encourages us to examine the social

world that we take for granted

to examine our social environment

with the same curiosity that we might
bring to a foreign culture.
 “Things are not what they
seem”
Peter Berger

The sociologist uncovers the hidden

aspects of society
“things are not what they seem”

 Social reality has many layers of

meaning
 Examples??

Harmonious family

Well integrated community

No race problems
Debunking

 The “unmasking tendency”

 Seeing through the “facades of

social structure”
 This is only possible if we are
able to step outside of our
society

 Look at our society as if we are

strangers
The Sociological Imagination
 C.W. Mills

The task of Sociology is to :

Understand the relationship between

individuals and the society in which they live
 It is the:

 Intersection between biography

and history

 One has to have the knowledge of

the historical context
example

 Time and effort put into appearance

 On the one hand its ‘personal grooming’

 On the other hand, there are social origins for

this behavior

 There is an ideal produced by society and

shaped by a particular context
Troubles and issues

 Troubles: privately felt problems that spring

from events in one’s life

 Issues: affect large numbers of people and

originate in the institutions of society
 Individual experience

Social structure

Social structure: the organized pattern of

social institutions and social relationships
that together make up society.
Example?

 Unemployment

Personal troubles Public Issue

loss of identity causes
financial issues who?
depressed which
groups?
The sociological imagination

Allows us to go beyond personal experiences

and observations

Helps to understand broader public issues