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| Freedom? |
Sociology is about confronting and challenging the morality
of our fragmented society because, when we pry beneath the surface, we quickly
realise that everything we have been socialised into is an ideal, and that very
few people can live up to the unrealistic standards of society's institutions.
Studying Sociology will lead to the eventual realisation
that the world is penetrable by insight.
It is not necessarily a happy experience, nor a negative one. Instead, it is supremely insightful. Meaning becomes an abstract social thing, and
not a fuel for your life as we have been led to believe up until this point. Whatever social problem comes up, you can
imagine the great causal chains which supports, but also holds back, groups of
people. An analytical mind can be a
burden, but also a liberator. Once you
can see the ball and chains that restrict people, you can begin to free
yourself from them. If you can at first
liberate yourself through knowledge of the ephemeral beauty of life, you can
eventually emancipate others by subtly altering the structure of their
individual lives to include things that will release them from this socially
constructed trap. Now that you know
better, you have to do better.
The knowledge and observations you see will undoubtedly
exclude you from much of society. TV
becomes intolerable, magazines appear to be filled with the same things over
and over again and your sense of humour becomes fucked. And worse off, the individuals who partake in the
mass media will be forever changed in your mind’s eye. Nothing about them has changed from before,
not really. But your opinion and
judgement of them will. Some for the better, others for worse. This can make the world shatter for those who
are not prepared for the truth. But ultimately,
"better the hard truth, than a
reassuring fable" - Carl Sagan.
Compassion. The
ability to empathise and understand one another. This is what Sociology, in my opinion, is all
about. To understand the human
condition, and to use that knowledge to better ourselves. Technology might well be hurtling forward at neck
breaking speeds. Leaps and bounds. Progressing at an epidemic rate. But if Sociology has taught me anything, it’s
that people will always be people.
What Sociology gives you is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it does reveal just how
unpleasant the world can be, yet, on the other hand, it is empowering and can
provide the impetus to become politically involved in movements for gradual (or
radical revolutionary) social change.
No-one gets into Sociology to watch the world burn. Every sociologist is a firefighter, constantly
trying to find that one little thing that they might be able to save. I think that every sociologist has that same
irrational sense of optimism buried deep inside, under all the anomie and
disillusionment. It’s why we bother
studying it in the first place. If we
can find the problem, then we can try to fix it.
Sociological research encourages interest in human
interaction, which in turn can be focused back onto the social world,
broadening our minds to new perspectives of behaviour. We can engage in social activism, writing,
protesting and marching, or simply just discussing theoretical perspectives to
find a solution to the current social problem we have encountered. It isn’t easy, but when progress is made, it
is worth it. The progress of Sociology
makes us happy. The knowledge about our
social environment does not.
As a sociologist you are unavoidably doomed to seeing the
misery of the masses. But you should be
liberated and enraged enough to want to do something to change this social
structure. Be inspired by the social
engagement and rage of Foucault, Marx, Weber, Durkheim, Oakley, Firestone, Parsons,
Bourdieu and countless others that have allowed you to comprehend the social
state of which you are a part. You may
not necessarily be happy, but you will be fulfilled and invigorated with a new understanding
of life. We must, no matter the
situation, have hope.
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