Sociological Thinking

“If Sociology does its work properly we have a better chance to make society fit for a changing world.” – Albrow (1997, xii)

Sociology is primarily the study of individual men and women’s social lives as well as the study of singular groups and entire societies both on a local and national level. There great is a focus on social rules and processes that both bind and separate these societies. Although there are various different theoretical models associated with Sociology, they all revolve around similar principles, understanding why and how things are the way they are and what direction they are going in, this idea is applied to any size of social group. Modern Sociology focuses on a wide spectrum of social issues, from macro-structures
The rejection of these ‘common sense’ ideas forces a wider exploration of the factors that can influence and ultimately affect social trends and patterns. ‘Common sense’ answers in relation to social questions can often include; biological, psychological and moralistic arguments, all of which concentrate on natural and individual reasons rather than looking at a larger social idea. Examples of ‘common sense’ explanations can be easily seen within marriage and suicide. A naturalistic explanation of marriage is; it’s only natural for a man and woman to marry and spend their lives together because they love each other and want to raise a family. The Sociological explanation of marriage is more focused on monogamy and economic factors. Social factors such as conformity and financial aspects also play a major part in this explanation. Individualistic outlooks on suicide often view suicide as the most individual of acts and as mainly being committed by either unhappy or mentally ill individuals. Sociological views perceive suicide as a social pattern, being affected by factors such as religion, marriage and family, not by individual
Wright Mills in 1959. The principals are the same; Marx talks about lower classes being socially oppressed by the upper classes society as Mills talks of individuals being oppressed by society, over 100 years apart but still the idea remains similar. They both take into account social history, and the ways in which individuals can change their social circumstances, Marx wrote of social revolution and the fall of capitalism and the transcendence into Communism, Mills wrote of ‘quality of mind’ and the individual seeing past their individualistic assumptions and viewing things with a sociological perspective to better themselves, this can be seen as a revolution in itself. The work of Marx, not strictly a Sociologist but also a philosopher and historian, are highly political and incorporates the use of various other social sciences, his work often related to the category of ‘grand theory’ due to the large scale of his ideas. The work of Marx falls under modernist Sociology which usually focuses on 3 main elements; economic, political and