Introduction To Sociology / Week 1 / Kwon Ah Yeon

1. summary 

 

  I have learned sociology is a study that analyzing human’s social structure and relationship in society. It is a characteristic of sociology to try understand the culture, history, and structure of the environment in which we belong rather than just looking at social phenomena. By learning sociology, we can get away from self-centered and narrow-minded worldview, improve society and understand it. So, sociology is an important part of human life.

 

  Sociology is also a brunch of social science in that it collects and analyze social environment through empirical data to understand social phenomena. Social science studies human culture through scientific methods, the biggest reason why social studies are distinguished from natural sciences is because there is a culture in human societies. Sociology is soft science because human culture is constantly evolving in society and it is impossible to predict human behavior perfectly.

 

  It is not easy to define in a word what sociology is. There is a wide variety of definitions available depending on what the research method is targeted and which method is used. But the common goal is to study human societies to understand not only micro- but also macro-structure.

2. What is interesting  

Learning about sociology, I could know that sociology is very closely related to our human society. It was also very interesting that sociology was not just a boring subject to study through books, but was advancing in line with the ever-evolving social changes. Society is changing and we must be able to keep up with the changes. In this respect, the development and expansion of sociology seems to be very useful and visionary.

3. Discussion Point

 I found that the definition of sociology can be derived from a variety of researchers. However, I wonder if the social studies cannot be unified into one with various definitions. Also, if data and statistical data collected by sociologists are used for negative operations, is it not the responsibility of the sociologists who derive and deliver these statistics?