Social analysis means taking the time, habit, to question what is happening in the world around us. It means asking questions about society and looking for answers about what's going on and who it affects. Social analysis not only helps us develop a critical awareness of the world, but also to lead us toward social justice. When analyzing these questions it often brings out other links, or connections between different social issues, and this helps us dig beneath the surface, and find out what is really going on in society.
For example, when discussing coffee, one might want to find out were it comes from, how are the workers treated, what process it goes through to get to you. You also might want to ask yourself about the health hazards of caffeine, sugar, or whitener etc. Social analysis tries to make clear how basic needs of life are being transformed into commodities. It helps show us where the market is violating people's fundamental rights, like clean air, clean water, and proper health care.
Social analysis also helps us become critical, which means becoming conscious, aware, and questioning. It helps us develop an attitude to want to get to the bottom of things. As well it may also lead to unsuspected connections between issues. Social analysis also leads to actions on behalf of justice, and opens up the need for political analysis, which is in turn a basic task of developing the organizations of civic society and finding workable solutions.
Commodification or reification, is the tendency to reduce a person, relationship or turning something into an object of economic value, a commodity to be sold in the marketplace. For example, the basic need of decent, affordable housing has been commodified into a consumer item, which is only available to those who can afford it.
Social costs, are costs caused mainly by industries, businesses, and large corporations, such as air and water pollution, as well as soil