Day 3 Lecture Review : What Is Sociology? (2) ㅡ 김민준 (Kim Min Joon)

 1. Practical Use Of Sociology (applied sociology)

In sociological issue, many agencies are involved in this field. Commentators, social critics, researchers mention about many incidents in their vocational perspective. This approach to each event is called 'interdisplinary activity'. (combining of two or more academic disciplines into one activity ㅡ  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdisciplinarity) For example, we can learn about social inequality in two perspectives ; in sociological view, inequality is made by the Establishment. In economical view, social asset which is not redistributed properly makes collapse of middle class.
Other Example, politicalsociology studies issues with political and sociological perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

* Topic qusetion related to sociobiology : WHAT is more important? : Gene or Enviroment?

ㅡ I think our enviroment is more important than our genes. For instance, when criminls finished their term of imprisonment, they will return to society. But they usually commit a crime again. It's not because they are inborn-bad people, but society discriminate their effort and doesn't give enough chance to them. But it doesn't mean genes are not important to our action. To be exact, Peter Richerson said "human behavior is a product of two different and interacting evolutionary processes: genetic evolution and cultural evolution. " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_inheritance_theory)

2.  Sociologist Introduction

(1) August Comte (1798 ~ 1857) : made the term 'sociology'. He usually studied about principle of sociological theory, process and law of social advance, and methodology of positivist approach.

He suggested 'Law Of Three Stages' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_three_stages)

1. Theological stage : refers to explanation by personified deities. During the earlier stages, people believe that all the phenomena of nature are the creation of the divine or supernatural.

2. Metaphysical stage : extension of the theological stage. Metaphysical stage refers to explanation by impersonal abstract concepts. People often tried to believe that God is an abstract being.

3. Positivity stage : known as the scientific stage, refers to scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison. Positive explanations rely upon a distinct method, the Scientific method for their justification




(2) Émile Durkheim (1858 ~ 1917) : He formally established the academic discipline and — with Karl Marx and Max Weber — is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.

 

 

 

 

His famous writing is La Suicide. It suggested that comming suicide is influenced by social enviroment. Suiciding is not just a sum of personal conduct.

Durkheim explores the differing suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, arguing that stronger social control among Catholics results in lower suicide rates. According to Durkheim, Catholic society has normal levels of integration while Protestant society has low levels. Overall, Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact, explaining variations in its rate on a macro level, considering society-scale phenomena such as lack of connections between people (group attachment) and lack of regulations of behavior, rather than individuals' feelings and motivations.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim#Suicide)