preview

Invitation to Sociology: A Classic Overview Essay

Decent Essays

1. What kind of a person should a sociologist be?

A sociologist should be able to observe and understand the realities of human behavior and the social settings in which it happens without being influenced emotionally or personally.

What does Berger mean when he refers to sociologists as "Professional

Peeping Toms?"

When Berger refers to sociologists as "Professional Peeping Toms", he means to "unmask the pretensions and the propaganda by which men cloak their actions with each other." An example would be: observing how a family really interacts with each other, responds to their environment, etc., behind closed doors without them knowing so that they cannot fake the way they really live, behave and act as a …show more content…

3. How does a sociologist get new insights about the human condition, in other

words: how do they obtain their data?

A sociologist obtains their data by the scientific method as described above (utilizing the scientific method) observation, hypothesis testing, data analysis, and generalization. A sociologist would have to ask many questions. Knowledge of history, biological data, and environment are factors to be considered, therefore research would be important too. Seeing how all the facts are related, how the facts affect us, etc, would give new insights about the human condition.

4. Does a sociologist need a specific terminology (a special language)?

In paragraph six of Berger's article he states, "Sociological perspective can then be understood in terms of such phrases as "seeing through," "looking behind," very much as such phrases would be employed in common speech--"seeing through his game," "looking behind the scenes"--in other words, "being up on all the tricks."

Language is important in understanding from a sociological perspective, cultures, how we are linked to the past, and affords us the ability to communicate. Language gains wisdom. I would think using sociological terminology would give one the ability to use one word or a few words to describe a whole concept, idea, results of their particular research, etc.

5. What does it mean,

Get Access