GENERAL SOCIOLOGY
Sociology: “Scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies” Anthony Giddens.
Sociologist: “Someone concerns with understanding society in a discipline and scientific way”.
SOCIAL IMAGINATION
• Break free of our personal circumstances, let go of our common-sense assumption.
• See and make sense of personal lives and social dynamics in wider context.
• Even the most mundane of thing.
Ex. Even a cup of coffee can give us some information about a society or person.
Everyday people is drinking coffee, something that may be a drug for the organism, if
only a few people in the society drunk coffee, this would be a drug.
GOAL = THEORY
• Not just WHAT is happening but WHY it’s happening.
• Dynamics that explain context A might be useful for explaining context B
Ex. Study of Erasmus student at the UAB finds that time in Barcelona corresponds with
a sharp increase in drug consumption, sexual promiscuousness, and adoption of
alternative lifestyle.
• Theoretical implications:
▲Youth and absence of family, social controls
▲Influence of new ideas, experience/ friendship networks on lifestyle decision
• Might help us to understand what happens to youth when the leave their religious
communities*
METHODS
• Not all explanations are good explanations
• Rules about how to establish cause and effect, and generalize help us determines what
theoretical we can draw and applicability to other situation
EMPIRICAL VS. NORMATIVE THEORIES
• How society is (Empirical): how and why? scientific
▲Domain of sociologists, anthropologist, economists, political scientist
• How society out to be (normative)
▲Moral, philosophy
Ex. Normative: should Donald Trump be the president?
should the country be governed by rich or by common people?
