Using examples discussed by sociological studies, explain how sociology helps us to see beyond common sense views of society.

Using examples discussed by sociological studies, explain how sociology helps us to see beyond common sense views of society.
The notion of common sense is something many people take for granted; a part of life which everyone ‘innately’ understands. It is the knowledge of those who live in the heart of society who spend years living, growing, working and building upon their experiences, constructing a natural ability of common sense values. Many people believe it is an instinctive quality (something we all know about) acquired by the human race and that society would fail to function in its inexistence. (American Sociological Review). Common sense is largely qualitative, it cannot be measured or quantified and is centred on meanings and statements which tie us together as a whole, keeping us in check and conforming to the ‘norm’.
Shared values in society can be defined as common sense and this in turn can be very destructive to society as some people inherently discriminate on other cultures such as; sex, gender, race, ethnicity and social class. Therefore many sociologists would argue that common sense is not something which is relevantly “common” or of much sense to some people. Many statements which we regard to be common sense aren’t particularly universal or applied to everyone in a specific society, e.g. “opposites attract”, this statement does not reflect everyone universally and so people require a wider understanding of society and thus turn to scientific beliefs. (Cliff Notes)
Within sociology there are two very diverse approaches; positivism and interpretivism.
“Positivists believe that sociologists should use quantitative methods and aim to identity and measure social structures”. (Abbott, D 2010). They also believe that people’s behaviour is governed by external stimuli; that their ideas, feelings and emotions are irrelevant, thus sociology can construct and base theories on direct observation of human behaviour. (Durkheim, E)
In contrast to this view, Interpretivists take on an entire different outlook; they believe that because humans think and reflect, it is impossible to scientifically measure human behaviour. Interpretivists want to delve deeper than the behaviour of humans, they are more concerned with the reasons and meanings that govern behaviours.
Emilie Durkheim, a positivist sociologist begun a study of suicide in Europe (1897) in order to validate sociology’s scientific status and that suicide did not occur on the basis of shared ‘common sense’ opinions. At the beginning of his study Durkheim assumed that suicide was considered equally immoral in all countries (Douglas 1967); however Bayet (1922) argues this and found that in France there was a variation of attitudes towards suicide. Through official statistics Durkheim found that common sense views of suicide can be rejected and that suicide actually occurs from social facts which are tied to social structures. He believed that suicide was a result of social causes. Durkheim explored suicide rates among different groups and societies and argued that strengths of social control influenced whether people committed suicide or not. He found that among Catholics with a higher level of social control it resulted in lower levels of suicide rates and among Protestants where there is a lower level of social control it therefore resulted in higher rates of suicide. He also found that suicide rates were higher amongst single people, men and those without children.
Durkheim was one the first people to argue that suicide was the cause of social facts and not down to individual personalities. Durkheim introduced four types of suicide on the basis of ones relationship with its society. (uchicago.edu)
Egoistic suicide defines when a man becomes socially isolated from his society and feels he no longer has a place in the world he lives in, he is cut off from the outside. On the other side of the scale Altruistic suicide is when social integration is too high and groups are too close in proximity. Anomic suicide occurs when there is breakdown of social stability in such cases as bankruptcy, a situation which crops up suddenly. The last type of suicide is Fatalistic; this is due to overregulation in society, e.g. a slave or servant committing suicide. These types of suicide helps us to understand the reasons behind why people in society commit suicide, it takes away from the shared opinions and common sense views of society regarding suicide and gives light to a deeper meaning; that suicide is very much a result of social facts and how people react within their society. (www.preservearticles.com)

The area of gender and sex is very much filled with ‘common sense’ views. When a baby is born the first question that is asked is whether it is a boy or a girl. This is because boys and girls are seen to have very different natures and it is assumed they will acquire very different identities. Sociologists however dare to defy these common sense assumptions, they believe that gender roles are created by society and are not innate or natural. These diverse view of opinions is what is known as the nature/nurture debate, a long standing controversial dispute about the effects that biology and society have on the human race. First of all there is a distinction between sex and gender, sex is the biological differences between males and females; genes, hormones, genitals etc. Whereas gender refers to the cultural expectations attached to either males or females. In Britain (and more so a number of years ago) women were seen as sensitive and caring and therefore more suited to ‘feminine tasks’ such as childcare and house work. These gender assumptions have highly influenced our expectations and perceptions. Archer and Lloyd identified a number of gender stereotypes which included; affectionate, tender, childlike, softly spoken, gentle and cooperative in regards to women. However in contrast words such as undemonstrative, aggressive, ambitious, confident, competitive and dominant are all words associated with men. (1985)
Biological determinism supports the common sense assumption that gender is universal; Steven Goldberg (1977) argues that all men are born with an inbuilt tendency to dominate which is why they tend to occupy the top roles in society. However social constructionism argues that gender is nurtured; socially created. It states that each society creates its own gender expectations and drives males and females in the chosen directions. They believe that gender cannot be genetically programmed because there have been variations in different masculine and feminine behaviours within multiple societies through time.
Margaret mead conducted a study (1935) of three tribes set in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Amidst the Arapesh tribe, both sexes came across as ‘gentle’ and ‘submissive’ which both traits would be describes as feminine. Among the Mundugamor both sexes were aggressive, rough and competitive, traits which generally would fall into the column of the masculine stereotype. The third tribe; Tchambuli, the gender stereotypes were reversed to that of western societies, women were seen as the dominant one and the men enjoyed gossiping and were heavily involved with the childrearing.
What Mead found in each of these tribes were not only contrasting each other but supporting the views that gender is socialised and not innately born.
When a baby is born whether it is a boy or girl, it is born into a world where they will automatically learn their gender identities and roles from a variety of agents of socialisation. The first being their parents, they will dress them differently; boys in blue and girls in pink. Children are encouraged to portray different types of activity; boys to be boisterous and girls to be sweet. (Oakley 1972) From a young age children watch their parents inside the home, the mothers who cook the food and care for them and their fathers who go out to work.
School is another huge influential agent within gender socialisation. Based on Skelton’s (2002) study gender stereotypes were created and maintained in school. Girls were actively encouraged to act ‘passive’ and ‘good’, whereas boys were taught how to use an acceptable level of physical violence, they were encouraged to go outside and play football while girls were given dolls and clothes to dress up like their mothers. (Sociology in Focus)
These agents of socialisation together give the view that girls and boys should act accordingly and these notions are driven at a young age. It is in some sense hard to see past the common sense view of gender, it comes very natural to believe boys are more aggressive and girls more sweet, however we do see among other studies and official statistics such as women serial killers and men who have shown great sensitivity in their personality that we’re not born with an innate desire to inherit masculine or feminine traits because of what sex we are.
Another common sense view in society is that of deviance. How can deviance be defined? What is defined as normal or abnormal? In modern western society deviance is anything that is going against the shared norms and values of their culture. Running down the street naked would be declared as abnormal but can it be defined as deviant? Within many societies one act may be fairly acceptable to them but could be seen as a national outcry in another. Take for example the arrangement of a marriage of two people by their families whom have never met. In western society this would cause controversy, a breach in someone’s basic human rights, however in countries in the Middle East this is seen to be the ‘norm’; it is the reaction to the act that defines it as different or deviant, without the reaction there is no meaning. So what causes deviance amongst societies? Is it a common sense view that deviance just occurs? The absolutist approach states that deviance is an object reality. That it is to be studied to find what the cause is and so to find a cure for it. They also believe that deviance is caused by a faulty gene or physical defects.
The constructionist approach would say that it is the context of the act and how it is judged that makes it deviant. A solider at war killing the enemy would be seen a hero, however a man shooting his wife would be seen and treated as a cold blooded killer and sentenced to prison for punishment. It is not the act in itself that is seen as deviant but the reaction to it; common sense views of deviancy cannot be truly supported if another country willingly accepts the act and does not define it as deviant.

The idea of common sense is that many people believe and understand the world they are living in and the events that take place, often justifying it as ‘common sense’. However they have not really engaged in an attempt to understand the social world, they merely by pass all happenings and judge it with an umbrella term. Sociology is an attempt to understand the social world; the events that take place and the meanings behind them. Sociology tries to go beyond common sense views by trying to understand social phenomena by collecting and analysing empirical data. They gather data, construct theories and test those theories so as to assess the theory’s validity. Sociological knowledge is based on empirical observation and theorisation, thus sociology is more rigorous than ‘common sense’ views of the world and it is open to all meanings and behaviours of different cultures and societies through scientific analysis.