What is Sociology?

Running Head : Reflections on Sociology

Reflections on Sociology

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Johnson 's perspective

Society is more than just a collection of individuals . Rather , the society has features that are more than just the sum of all the individuals connected to it . Johnson 's (1997 ) book The Forest and the Trees , presented a highly readable account of what sociology is all about and what s the discipline is interested about . Social life is complex and at times confusing , and in to understand it , a level

br of understanding of sociology may be necessary

Johnson , through his book , seeks to present the discipline of Sociology as simple as possible without compromising the important contributions of the field to the society and in the thinking of people . He cites examples and anecdotes which exemplify his idea that sociological thinking is very much active in the minds of people , only that a lot of people are not aware of this . Johnson takes complex sociological issues such as gender relations , capitalism and family relationships environmental destruction and the role of humans in it . He uses simple language so that his audience , which is most likely composed of undergraduate students , can understand easily the sociological concepts and ideas he is expounding on

Johnson 's of the complex relationships and statuses of people involved in a family is new to me . He said that there are only three people participating in the family system yet the roles in the family becomes as much as eight . His explanation is simple yet the implications are profound . The way that Johnson explains his ideas is his strength . His use of examples and anecdotes is also superb in highlighting the issues and ideas he focuses on . His idea of the paths of least resistance is not very clear and might have required a greater level of clarity and deeper explanation

Analyzing Social Problems

Following the title of the book , Johnson would want to look at the forest more than just a collection of individual trees . What needs to be explored is the nature of the relationships going on between the different individuals and sectors in the society . These relationships may show the processes of social interactions . As such , the role of people in these processes can be identified and the social problem can be analyzed in a more systematic way

Johnson proposed the idea that individuals are always connected to some things that are larger than themselves . These larger ' things may be understood in terms of a system that produces the outcomes in the society . In these systems within the society , there are power relations - there is the privileged class who takes their privileges for granted but is there theless

These privileges govern the rules through which the privileged class relates to other people within the society . These factors that affect these relationships are important in ascertaining the source of conflict and problem in the society . Although some problem may be systemic and difficult , observation...