The Sociological Perspective, By Peter Berger

1. The sociological perspective, as a way of thinking about the world, includes the sociological imagination from C. Wright Mills, the beginner’s mind from Bernard McGrane, and the idea of culture shock from anthropology. Explain what all three of these concepts have in common.

Sociologists develop theories to explain and analyze society at different levels and from different perspectives. Sociologists study everything from the micro level of analysis of small social patterns to the “big picture” which is the macro level of analysis of large social patterns.

Berger’s Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective is a book about sociology as a scientific methodology and a perspective through which the world can be explored. The author’s major thesis is that sociology is not limited to statistics, to which many people often reduce the importance of this science, and it is not even limited to being a particular scientific discipline that is part of social sciences, but it is a worldview in a way. Sociologists approach various “situation[s]…in which people orient their actions toward one another” (Berger 1963:27), i.e. social situations, from the perspective of these interactions and build a system of methods to analyze social processes.

Functionalism is a sociological approach that sees the institutions of society – which are sometimes likened to the human body, as the institutions, such as the police, hospitals, etc, work in union and they make specific contributions to the smooth running of society.

C. Wright Mills defined sociological perspective as the ability to “think yourself away from the familiar routines of everyday life” and “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.”

In Peter Berger's "Invitation to Sociology", the sociological perspective was introduced. Berger asserts that it is important to examine new or emotionally or morally challenging situations from a sociological perspective in order to gain a clearer understanding of their true meanings. This perspective requires a person to observe a situation through objective eyes. It is important to "look beyond" the stereotypical establishments of a society and focus on their true, hidden meanings. Consideration of all the hidden meanings of social customs, norms, deviations and taboos, allow one to establish an objective image about the truth behind it. This method can also be applied to understanding people. This questioning, Berger says, is the

The social scientist is not some autonomous being standing outside society, the question is where he (sic) stands within it . . . (Mills, 1959, p. 204) . . . learn to use your life experience in your intellectual work: continually to examine it and interpret it. (Mills, 1959, p. 216)

One sociological perspective is the Functionalist theory. Functionalism is one of the earliest sociological theories. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) was a professor and was interested in how society was possible and how society remains stable. This theory focuses on the macro-level of social structure rather than micro-level of everyday life. Functionalism sees society in parts which form a system, the parts depend on each other. Functionalist theory looks at the parts of society such as

What are the three major sociology perspectives in regards to social issues? They are Symbolic Interactionism perspectives, Functionalism perspectives, and Conflict Theory perspectives. These perspectives offer sociologists abstract examples for explaining how society affects people, and vice versa. Each perspective individually theorizes society, social forces, and human behavior.

Sociological Perspectives and Theories Sociologists try to explain how society orders itself but there are many different theories for this, which often conflict with one another. Some of these classic theories include Marxism, Functionalism, and Interactionism. There are also more modern or contemporary theories such as Feminism. Each sociological perspective has different beliefs.

The basic insight of the sociological perspective is that the world does not consist of a reality that everyone sees in exactly the same way and that each and every one of us possesses our own individual social construction of reality (the sum total of our life experience, observations and thoughts.) The Micro level of analysis is that which pertains to the individual and the macro level applies to the larger society.

The sociological imagination, a concept used by C. Wright Mills, is essentially the ability to perceive a situation or act in a much larger social context as well as examining the situation or act from many perspectives. In particular, it plays a paramount role in Donna Gaines ' Teenage Wasteland. It is a tragic story of 4 teens who together, committed suicide. The teens were deemed as “dropouts, druggies” [Teenage Wasteland 8.2] by newspapers and were still treated with disdain even after their deaths. However, using the sociological imagination, Gaines argues that this is not simply a suicide committed by “troubled teens” but other underlying themes are present.

The “Sociological Imagination” was introduced by C. Wright Mills in 1959. C. Wright Mills explains in the article “The Promise” the concept of the sociological imagination. The Sociological Imagination is the way of thinking focused on seeing the impact of social forces or social contact in our individual lives. The intent of the sociological imagination is to see the bigger picture within which individuals live their lives; to recognize personal troubles and public issues as two aspects of a single process. It also challenges the individualistic reasoning, for example, the talent, skill, hard work, and motivation. “The Sociological Imagination enables its possessors to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (The Promise, Page 3). It’s a way for a person to look at their life as a result of their interaction with society. It can explain why a life is lived, the way it is lived, and all events, decisions, successes, and failures that have occurred. I believe as part of the sociological imagination social locators are a major part of it. Social locators are categories that you belong to that you have no control over. Some of these social locators can be for example, gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location. Social locators in a certain sense creates our reality. Our social location determines our access to power, privilege, or our lack of power and privilege. Each group membership confers a certain set of social roles, rules, and power, which heavily influence our identity and how we see the world.

In Essentials of Sociology, by James M. Henslin we read that there are four origins of sociology. The origins are the Industrial Revolution, social upheaval, skepticism, and the power of science. This was known to be tradition vs. science. When tradition was tested and failed and science was used that gave birth to sociology.

Throughout the semester, we have learned about a variety of things that have changed the way I perceive people and the world around me that I never did before. One thing we learned about is sociological perspective. This is a perspective on humans and society as a whole. It means looking at society and how it is affected by humans, then looking at humans to see how the different changes in society have affected us. Before our Soc 101 class, I thought stuff just happened. The way perceive things and act as humans is because of the way society has socialized us. The three main sociological perspectives are the functionalist perspective, conflict perspective, and symbolic interactionism. The functionalist perspective claims that all parts of society