Download Reading Sociology

Introduction to Sociology
Lectures: Prof. Carlo Barone
Discussion Sessions: Coline Ferrant
Sciences Po – Menton Campus
Spring 2016
Reading Sociology
Tips
Making the most of sociological texts needs elaborating reading methods and strategies.
This methodological sheet gives some tips to help you read sociological texts in a critical, pleasant,
and efficient way. That way, you will develop your sociological eye, your reading and learning
pleasure, and your time and effort management skills.
Throughout your academic and professional life, you will deal with different kinds of texts,
which likewise need elaborating reading methods and strategies. Some of the following tips are of
general application; others are specific to sociological texts. You may thus think about how the
following tips could be helpful for your other courses this semester.
Familiarize Beforehand, Read Differentially, Have Guiding Questions in Mind
If you familiarize with the text beforehand, you will be more comfortable reading it. The
same goes for many things in life. If you stroll around a city beforehand, you will be more
comfortable living in it. If your partner briefs you about your mother-in-law beforehand, you will be
more comfortable dealing with her.
You may scan – sketch the text structure (pay attention to the section titles and subtitles),
read the first and last sentences of the sections or paragraphs, identify the types of non-text content
(figures, tables, pictures...). You may make inroads here and there – grab a paragraph and read it
from beginning to end, grab a figure or table and decipher it (pay attention to captions).
Then turn to in-depth reading. Nevertheless, do not assign the same importance to all printed
stuff. Differentiate between key developments and parts that clarify or illustrate. Read, annotate,
and take notes intensely on the former; more cursorily on the latter.
Do not just scroll your eyes on the text. Have guiding questions in mind. You may elaborate
them from the text title, the session topic, or points made in the lecture or past discussion sessions.
Take into Account Types of Scientific Literature
As all scientific research, sociology comes into the world through diverse modes of
publishing. Below are brief descriptions of the most common types.
Research Articles
Research articles are the standard type of scientific literature. Sociologists thereby report
findings from their own, original empirical research. Most research articles are published in peerreviewed journals (i.e., they were assessed anonymously by other sociologists who are experts in
the same topics or methods). The journal is usually a good proxy for the quality of the research
(e.g., an article published in the American Journal of Sociology or in the American Sociological
Review is likely to be of exceptional quality).
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Books
Sociological books take four main forms. Most report findings from the authors' own,
original empirical research (they may be seen as extended research articles). Others present original
conceptualizing and theorizing based on a store of past empirical research (either conducted by the
authors, or other sociologists, or both). Others, usually edited, gather original contributions around a
common topic, concept, theory, or method – so as to give an up-to-date, technical overview to an
expert readership. Others are textbooks or handbooks on a topic, concept, theory, or method – so as
to give a comprehensive, didactic overview to a general readership.
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Review Articles
Review articles give a state of the art in research on a topic, concept, theory, or method. The
main journal for review articles is the Annual Review of Sociology.
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Book Reviews
Reviews of sociological books are usually short (a few pages), written by other sociologists
who are experts in the same topics or methods, and published in peer-reviewed journals.
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Grapple with Concepts, Theories, Methods, and Empirical Results
Sociology is neither a by-product of philosophy, nor erudite essayism, nor ideological and
normative judgment. Sociology is about making sense of the social world in an empirically sound
way, using solid methods, and concepts and theories as means (not ends).
Concepts and theories are not an end in themselves, but are meant to describe, understand,
and explain reality. Track the concepts the authors handle. What are they (e.g., class, lifestyles,
distinction, taste of necessity, taste of luxury)? How do the authors define them? In which
theoretical framework do the authors set them? Theories are three-scale – narrow theories that are
close to the results (e.g., the upper classes distinguish themselves by tastes of luxury), intermediate
theories (e.g., social classes distinguish themselves by lifestyles), general theories (e.g., social class
is relational and multidimensional).
Sociology is an empirically-bound science that aims to make sense of reality. Nevertheless,
reality is not simply out there, waiting to be observed in a direct, raw way. Sociology thus resorts to
specific methods of data collection and analysis. The choice of methods depends on many factors,
including topic, theoretical framework, purpose, but also feasibility, time, and funding. Sociological
data are ultimately not a gift of nature, but a scientific construct. Hence the need for criticism on the
quality, relevance, soundness, biases, strengths and weaknesses of the methods that the authors use
to construct sociological data. Distinction is usually drawn between quantitative methods and
qualitative methods. Quantitative methods (e.g., descriptive statistics, regression, geometric data
analysis) allow to collect little data on a very large number of cases. Criticism of quantitative
methods includes sample representativity, non-response bias, social desirability bias in survey
questions and nomenclatures... Qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, ethnographic observation,
focus groups) allow to collect rich data on a small number of cases. Criticism of qualitative methods
includes generalizability of the results, relationship between the sociologist and informants, ethics...
Enjoy the results. Are they interesting, stimulating, surprising, disappointing? Do they help
you to make a clearer sense of the social world?
Ask yourself about the empirical, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological soundness of
the text. How relevant are the concepts, theories, and methods? How are they more relevant than
others? What other concepts, theories, and methods could the authors use? What other aspect of the
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social word, for now unseen, could the authors thereby make sense of?
Identify Research Questions and Reasoning
As in all scientific research, sociology poses specific research questions, and address them
through specific reasoning.
Research questions are multi-scale and entangling – specific topics (e.g., what are the social
inequalities in food lifestyles in Paris and Chicago?), theoretical stakes (e.g., on lifestyles, class,
race, ethnicity), and a big, overall, quite abstract concern (e.g., how people shape and experience
their lives in context?).
Distinction is usually drawn between two types of reasoning: deductive and inductive. In a
typical deductive reasoning, the authors address a theory, choose a topic, deduct hypotheses, test
these hypotheses using relevant methods, discuss the results, and get back to the theory (either to
validate it, invalidate it, or change it). In a typical inductive reasoning, the authors start with a topic
that they investigate using relevant methods, discuss the results, and infer a general theory.
Ask yourself about the soundness of the text's research questions and reasoning. How
relevant are the research questions? How do the authors entangle multiple scales of questions? Do
the authors reason logically?
Locate and Relate in Science
As in all science, sociology aims to advance knowledge, and holds heated debates. Authors
typically aim to bring in a specific contribution that may be empirical, conceptual, theoretical,
methodological. They may bring in new concepts, theories, methods, or challenge established ones.
Locate the text among these debates; relate it to others whose theories, concepts, methods,
and results dialog. Beforehand, grapple with the concepts, theories, methods, and results of the text,
and identify its purpose and reasoning.
Rely on references and online resources, as well as the course materials (readings, lectures),
in-class discussions, and other courses. This vast array of available information may be daunting.
You need to elaborate strategies and methods to navigate them successfully, rather than being
submerged by them. Collect and analyze information in a focused, close way. Googling the text or
the author names is fine to begin with, but may not ultimately prove time- and effort-effective. If the
text is a chapter in an edited book, consider the entire book. If the text challenges another text,
consider this other text. If the text is mentioned in a lecture, or in another course, consider the other
texts mentioned.
Appraise Classics as Classics, and Contemporaries as Contemporaries
Sociologists care about their classics. Classics laid basic, founding questions, and brilliant,
profound insights. Reading classics allows to find tools to think about contemporary issues.
Likewise, reading classics allows to understand their posterity, to the extent that the whole of
contemporary sociology dialogs with classics.
Classics are more challenging to read than contemporaries. Classics intervened in a
scientific field radically different to that of today. Their ways of conceptualizing and theorizing,
empirical work, types of methods, and style of writing, thus sometimes diverge widely to
contemporary social science practice. Appraising the concepts, theories, methods, and empirical
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results of classics using contemporary criteria for scientific rigor is then anachronistic. You may
rather locate classics in the scientific field of their time, and appraise their posterity in contemporary
sociology.
The distinction between classics and contemporaries is neither clear-cut, nor universal.
Some works sociologists mostly appraise as contemporaries happen to be older than other works
mostly appraised as classics. For example, between the main sociological approaches in postwar
American sociology, functionalism have aged much more rapidly than interactionism. The same
work can be appraised as a classic in one national scientific field, and as a contemporary in another.
For instance, Pierre Bourdieu is becoming a classic in French sociology, but is still mostly appraised
as a contemporary in American sociology.
Read, Annotate, Take Notes – Again and Again
I cannot but recommend that you take and keep annotations and notes. You may use PDF
annotation tools (e.g., PDF Viewer), reference management software (e.g., Zotero, Mendeley), notetaking software (e.g., Evernote), and word-processing software. Annotate and take notes to help you
think about, criticize, memorize, summarize. Keep your annotations and notes not only to prepare
for the course assignments, but above all to build a terrific knowledge base for future reference,
throughout your academic and professional life.
I also recommend that you annotate and take notes several times over, rather than in a oneshot fashion. It is a longer-term strategy, but ultimately a more time-, effort-, and pleasure-effective
one. You will develop, clean up, outline your thinking on the text sooner, and thereby build a record
of your progress in thinking. Such record may provide raw material for your course assignments.
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