Annotated Bibliography: The Field Of Sociology

In Mills’ publication, he describes the sociological imagination as “a quality of mind that will help them [humans] to use information and to develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going on in the world and of what may be happening within themselves”. (Mills, 2000, p. 5). Giddens, in his publication ‘Sociology: A brief but critical introduction’, concurs with Mills’ definition of the sociological imagination, and further states that three particular views are essential to understanding the social world: “an historical, an anthropological, and a critical sensitivity.” (Giddens, 1986, p. 13). Mills believes that the sociological imagination deals largely with two main components: the individual, and society.

2.3 Sociological perspective: Macionis (), analyzed that sociology is efficient study of human society. Society refers to public who live in a defined region and share a way of existence. Sociology’s analysis of society is a special point of view called a sociological perspective. To define the sociological perspective there is an additional way to define that is considering the general in the particular. It tells that that sociologist look for common pattern in particular human’s behavior.

The sociological imagination is a term coined by C. Wright Mills, an American sociologist. The state of mind allows us to view the world in a sociological perspective by connecting biography, or personal experiences, with social structure and history. The synthesis of the three allows the individual to examine their place in the historical moment and social structure and see how it connects with other people in history. To develop the sociological imagination, three components should be taken into consideration during analysis: biography, social structure, and history (Mills 2). In this paper, I will analyze my life using the sociological imagination.

Functionalism and The Bee Movie Amari Wilburn-Jones Introduction to Sociology February 16,2018 In the field of Sociology sociologist often view society from three major theoretical perspectives: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. Each theories/perspective is a way to view how parts of the world fit together and work. In this paper I will be analyzing The Bee Movie from the functional analysis perspective to see how the actions of people within a society can help or hinder the society as a whole.

Merton was passionate about social science. His interests lay in interactions and the importance between social and cultural structures and science. One of Merton’s contributions to sociology was the notion of “Self-Fulfilling Prophecy”. For Merton, he cited ‘Thomas

It is an area which many great sociologists have focused some of their work around, for example Durkheim and Marx. These sociologists are considered to be the ‘founding fathers’ of sociology. They were some of the first people to use the study of society and its interactions within as an academic study. Sociologists created such terms as ‘boundary maintenance’ – society exists in solidarity and conformity within a boundary. Outside such a boundary, there are incidences of crime and deviance.

According to the Dictionary, Sociology is defined as the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. This means that people are willing to study social problems throughout the world and the society that they live in. In my life, I deal with my social class, Gender, Race, Religion, and the time I was born. Because of who I am, I definitely have been a part of a different upbringing and lifestyle that many sociologist may find interesting.

Introduction The Sociological Imagination Defined The sociological Imagination is a form of analytic thinking, a concept that enables one to take into context the set societal patterns that affect and impact both an individual and the wider society. These patterns are characterised as personal troubles and/or societal issues. Sociologist C. Wright Mills was one of the initial social scientists to have written on this concept, in one of his books titled The Sociological Imagination (1959). According to Mills (1959), the task of sociology was to understand the relationship between individuals and the society in which they lived.

The way I collected data for my research studies, interacted with my research participants, the nature of my research questions, data analysis and dissemination of the findings, I explored that I am qualitative-minded. I believe that knowledge is socially constructed and both are interlinked.

Karl Marx, a well-known sociologist and economist was keen on social welfare and initiated the socialist, Marxist movement which helped the poor and the underprivileged. Darwinism also rose during this period of time and it contradicted the ideas of Karl Marx as Charles Darwin’s theory was based on the fact that evolution took place due to the “survival of the fittest”. Some of the great thinkers were influenced by the French Revolution. Few of them were Auguste Comte, Hebert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim. This eventful period of history was termed “The Great Transformation” by Karl Polanyi, an Austro-Hungarian philosopher.

While working on a previous project having to do with urban life, I found a critique by Professor Gomes of Howard 's Department of Sociology, titled, A Critique of The Truly Disadvantaged: A Historical Materialist (Marxist) Perspective. I enjoyed reading the critique and agreed with the analysis from Professor Gomes’s prospective. Reading the critique was one of the things that attracted me to Howard’s sociology department and being a student of Professor Gomes would be exciting because he would be a great mentor going into my future career.