What Separates Sociology from Common Sense - Essay Example

? [Supervisor Sociology Discuss what separates sociology from common sense. Be sure to give some examples of how sociological research might dispel commonly accepted views. Common sense, as the name implies, is related to one’s general understanding about different occurrences. Sociology, on the other hand, is a scientific discipline that studies the society systematically. Sociology ideas can be successfully transposed to other contexts since they are determined after testing the beliefs against acquired evidence (Giddens 3). For instance, to demonstrate this point we’ll talk about a commonly accepted view about women who contract HIV. HIV positive females are generally regarded as irresponsible. Such a belief cannot be projected onto an HIV positive woman who has always shown responsibility in her workspace. Statements of common sense are assumed to be true however sociological research proves those statements as true or false. Sociological ideas are valid since they are backed by reliable information sources like interviews, text books and experiments. Sociological research goes beyond the obvious state and produce counterintuitive results. For this reason, sociological knowledge is considered superior to common sense when both have opposing ideas about a similar phenomenon (Giddens 7). For instance, the common sense suggested that couples who cohabitate prior to getting married have reduced chances of getting divorced. But the sociological research dispelled this view point and rather dug out circumstances and situations that are responsible for divorce. Describe how the Internet can be used to conduct social research. Is the Internet a good or bad place to conduct social research? Explain. Internet has played a vital role in connecting the different parts of the world. In order to make the social research successful, it is important to reach the sample population effectively. A geographical and prejudicial hindrance has been significantly eliminated by the Internet and has proved to be prolific for the purpose of conducting research. Internet can be used to conduct time efficient and quality effective social research. It provides incredible data sources that can be studied to arrive at certain conclusions. There are online journal databases that can be accessed to obtain information needed for sociological research. Typing in the keywords that suit your query directs the researcher to relevant databases and full length articles (Coomber, 2). Internet also allows the sociology researchers to conduct wide scale surveys. Response rate of Internet surveys is quite high especially in Europe. E-Mail surveys are considered a good option since they maintain anonymity between the experimenter and the subject which is effective for obtaining unbiased responses (Coomber 2). Identify the various types of social norms and give an example of each. Describe the various sanctions associated with violations of the various social norm types. Social norms make up an important element of living in a society. They usually direct us towards adopting acceptable behaviors. The social norms are generally divided into three categories. The first type of the social norms is termed as Folkways (Coomber). These norms are referred to as customs and relatively weaker norms that undergo mild enforcement in the society. Examples of Folkways norms could be wearing appropriate dress that must be modest enough. Another example is correct manners like saying please when you are requesting for something and giving paper money to the shop keeper is also considered a good manner. Appropriate eating habits also fall under folkways, for instance, you must chew food without making unpleasant sounds. Violation of folkways does not bring up any legal or moral consequences (Coomber 3). The second and stricter type of social norms is called Mores. It is considered immoral not to follow mores. Usually their violation evokes punishment. Some of the examples of these strong social norms include bigamy, which is considered illegal in many parts of the world. Incest is also considered a violation of mores and results in disapproval. The religious beliefs also fall under mores. For instance, in India, few sects consider it a more to eat cow’s meat and the society is allowed to socially abandon that person. Law is another form of social norms that is enforced by a legal body. Violation of such norms may result in legal action like paying a fine or even going to jail. Some examples of law include over speeding, kidnapping and involvement in fraudulent deeds. In case of violating a traffic rule, you will have to pay a fine however, grave crimes like murder result in stricter penalties like death penalty or life-time imprisonment. Explain the differences among innovations, discoveries, inventions, and diffusion. Give examples of each to clarify the differences between them. Innovation refers to an introduction of entirely new concept that wasn’t even thought about before. Cloud computing is nothing but a technological innovation that has transformed the communication patterns entirely. Innovations are not patented. It is about using brand new processes and methods that have never been used before in the society. Already existing ideas are molded to bring about a change with value. Innovations are often made to achieve an objective. For instance businesses come up with innovatory processes and products to achieve highest market share (Nevpryaga 1). In contrast to innovation, invention is about utilizing already existing knowledge and resources to create something novel. Inventions, in contrast to innovations are patented. The powered machines are an example of invention (Nevpryaga 13). Invention is greatly reliable on discovery which refers to coming across processes or phenomenon that already exist. A discovery can be defined as an understanding of natural phenomena as well understanding of logical relationships. For instance, the presence of DNA in the chromosomes is a natural phenomenon and finding out about them had been a discovery (Nevpryaga 14). In contrast to all of the above terminologies, diffusion refers to the spreading of innovations, inventions and discoveries throughout the society. This is done by copying the processes and methods introduced by others. At diffusion point, an innovation or an invention is available for general use. For instance, McDonalds was the first fast food chain to introduce fast food hamburger which was later adopted by Burger King as well (Nevpryaga 14). Works Cited Coomber, Ross. "Using the Internet for Survey Research." Sociology Research . 1997. 2 (2). Giddens, Anthony. Central Problems in Social Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979. Print. Nevpryaga, Yekaterina. "Invention as Patentable Subject Matter." Masters Thesis. 2001. Web. Read More