What is Sociology?

Question 0

Why is sociology a science?

Answer 0

Disciplined, systematic methods of data collection
Accumulation and sharing of knowledge
Theories

Question 1

Is sociology a natural science?

Answer 1

No-
society can not be studied in the same way as the natural world
No universal statements about how people are
Variations between cultures and historical periods

Question 2

What analogy did Peter Berger (1963) come up with?

Answer 2

The puppet analogy

Question 3

What does C. Wright Mills (1959) say the sociological imagination is?

Answer 3

The study of the relationship between history and biography in its social context

Question 4

Which sociologist discusses the difference between natural and human sciences?

Answer 4

Peter Bruce (1999)

Question 5

What does Steve Bruce (1999) suggest the study of sociology is?

Answer 5

People’s beliefs, values and meanings

Question 6

How does Zygmunt Bauman (1990) suggest that sociology helps us?

Answer 6

Sociology sharpens our senses

We discover how apparently ‘natural’, inevitable aspects of our lives are products of social action