Sociology is the systematic study of society and social interaction. In order to carry out their studies, sociologists identify cultural patterns and social forces and determine how they affect individuals and groups. They also develop ways to apply their findings to the real world.
over the internet. Students can study with teachers and pupils from the other side of the globe.
Governments find it harder to hide conditions inside their countries from the rest of the world.
Sociologists are researching many different aspects of this potential global culture. Some are
exploring the dynamics involved in the social interactions of global online communities, such as
when members feel a closer kinship to other group members than to people residing in their own
country. Other sociologists are studying the impact this growing international culture has on
smaller, less-powerful local cultures. Yet other researchers are exploring how international markets
and the outsourcing of labour impact social inequalities. Sociology can play a key role in people’s
ability to understand the nature of this emerging global culture and how to respond to it.
Critical Sociology
The critical perspective in sociology has its origins in social activism, social justice
movements, revolutionary struggles, and radical critique. As Karl Marx put it, its
focus was the “ruthless critique of everything existing” (Marx 1843). The key
elements of this analysis are the emphases on power relations and the understanding
of society as historical—subject to change, struggle, contradiction, instability, social
movement and radical transformation. Rather than objectivity and value neutrality,
the tradition of critical sociology promotes practices of liberation and social change
in order to achieve universal social justice. As Marx stated, “the philosophers have
only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it” (1845). This is
why it is misleading to call critical sociology “conflict theory” as some introductory
textbooks do. While conflict is certainly central to the critical analyses of power and
domination, the focus of critical sociology is on developing types of knowledge and
political action that enable emancipation from power relations (i.e., from the
conditions of conflict in society). Historical materialism, feminism,
environmentalism, anti-racism, queer studies, and poststructuralism are all examples
of the critical perspective in sociology.
One of the outcomes of a systematic analysis such as these is that it generates
questions about the relationship between our everyday life and issues concerning
social justice and environmental sustainability. In line with the philosophical
traditions of the Enlightenment, critical sociology is sociology with an
“emancipatory interest” (Habermas 1972); that is, a sociology that seeks not simply
to understand or describe the world, but to use sociological knowledge to change
and improve the world, to emancipate people from conditions of servitude. What
does the word critical mean in this context? Critical sociologists argue that it is
important to understand that the critical tradition in sociology is not about
complaining or being “negative.” Nor is it about adopting a moral position from
which to judge people or society. It is not about being “subjective” or “biased” as
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