SOCIOLOGY DOES NOT STAY STILL

Even it it looks like it does.

If you are somewhat up to speed as to what sociology is, that is, as a social science, and how it compares to and differs from the other social sciences, then it is time to also consider that it changes at a rapid rate.

Sociology, at least how you will find it in this class, is event orientated. As C. Wright Mills noted, it is the relationship between history and biography (you and your time). It is relevant to your epoch (historical moment). This history is being made every day.

Each new event, whether it be a new armed conflict, an economic crisis or sudden change, or a new movement whether it be political or religious or something else, is a part of your time now.

Sociology, then, being also a perspective as well as a social science, is both a record of change and a record of how that change is perceived. So you will be encouraged, and even prodded, to get up to speed on some of the more important issues of the day. Your day that is.

Consider that on a daily basis our civil rights, our voting rights, our right to privacy, our right to health care, our right to feel safe from violence, our right to safety in the work place, etc., are continually being challenged locally, and at the state and federal level.

Examples are often found in what appear to be rather mediocre and banal news stories. But, with the sociological imagination, you can see implications that, unfortunately, the majority of the populace cannot.

Animal stories.

As well, new (or newer at least) theoretical perspectives are employed. In an introductory class, usually it is the old classics that are explained in some detail. But from time to time I may challenge you with concepts like "identity politics," or "intersectionality," or "critical theory," or "historical deconstruction(ism)," and the like. The reason is not to make the class more difficult, but to actually make it more relevant to you. You'll see.

The point is, that it is quite valuable at times to digress a bit into tangential topics. That is, to look at events and social phenomena as interrelated and as possible influences on one another.

Or to take a current event and explore its relevance to themes covered in this class.

Whether you are online, or f2f, or hybrid, I ask you to push hard to seek relevance for yourself. Sociology is not merely looking at the world through a magnifying glass piece by piece, but identifying patterns that may actually be predictive.

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