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Chapter One
The Sociological Imagination:
Insights, Themes and Skills
Objectives
• To introduce some of the key
features of sociology.
• To introduce the three core themes
that will be used throughout the
book.
• To discuss briefly the roles that
theorising and research play in
developing sociological knowledge.
What is sociology?
– Definition:
• “Sociology is the study of human social life,
groups and societies. It is a dazzling and
compelling enterprise, having as its subject
matter our own behaviour as social beings.
The scope of sociology is extremely wide...”
(Giddens, 1997: 2)
– Three key themes:
• The social and the personal
• The local and the global
• Differences and divisions
The social and the personal
– Mills’s contrast between personal
troubles and public issues
• Link between personal life and public
setting
– Key points:
• The strong and varied influence of social
situations and meanings on our sense of
personal belonging
• The culturally variable ways in which ‘self
and society’ are imagined in different
groups or societies
The local and the global
• Sociologists are interested in
connections between local and
global worlds
• Globalisation:
– Highlights the way the social world is
changing over time
• We live in an increasingly interconnected
world
• For example, rationalisation and
McDonaldisation
Differences and divisions
• Sociologists are interested in:
– Social groups, their place in the social
structure, their interrelationships and
their particular experiences and selfimages
– How social differences frequently
become social divisions
• Gender, class, ethnicity, age, ability,
sexuality etc.
Sociological inquiry
• Sociologists use a variety of
research methods to explore the
social world
– Documentary analysis
– Ethnography
– Participant observation
– Surveys
– In-depth interviews
Sociological inquiry
• Sociologists use theories to attempt
to explain why things happen as they
do
– All research is done within a framework
of theoretical interpretation
– Theorising is about abstraction
• It involves developing concepts and
arguments which answer ‘why’ questions
Summary
• Sociology is the study of human
social life, groups and societies
• Three key themes:
– The social and the personal
– The local and the global
– Differences and divisions
• Sociology involves a combination of
research and theorising