Assignment Sample

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Sociology - academic science or applicative science in the service of society? Let's start with the sincere, brief confession of a sociologist: \"Sociologists are often in an unenviable position when they have to explain exactly what they are doing. When they ask me, I usually say: I'm a sociologist. It provides me with a conversation with another person. When I do not want to talk, I just say: - I'm giving up at the NY State University, or I'm saying - I'm a professor, or - I'm doing research. But, often, comes the question - what do you teach? And again I'm left to think fast and satisfying, if not meaningful, answer. One time, my four-year-old niece visited my family for the first time. She wanted to see my office. I showed it to her - books, chairs, table, accessories. Then she said - show me what you are doing when you do. You can imagine her excitement. But from that experience I did not learn anything. So a few years later, when the teacher's son asked the parents to come and describe what they were doing, he agreed to volunteer. The other fathers were already in attendance. One was the mayor, the second carpenter, and the third soldier. The reactions of the children were great judging by the desire of my son to appear. I'm just lucky. After all, how often do we get the opportunity to present sociology to children attending second grade? When I did not really impress them, I told them I was a professor at the faculty. That, of course, sounded very similar to being a school teacher, worse than being a sociologist. Finally, desperate to preserve the child's dignity and social standing among peers, I asked them if they wanted to look in the briefcase of a sociologist. They jumped from the chair and gathered around the table. My son breathed. Then, in my office at the university, my cousin visited me from abroad. We have not been seen since childhood.  1

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE After I showed him several projects I worked on and showed him papers and loads of results, he asked me - do you think anything will do anything to do with this? It is very difficult to explain sociology to someone who is not a sociologist, even to children and families who fully accept us as persons (Wimberley, 1998, p. 10). How often do you hear this: Sociology? \"This is a great thing, but what can you do with it?\", Steele asks in his article in which he tries to outline the mechanisms for empowering sociology as a profession (2000, p 1). Because of the simple, almost impossible definition of society, the subject that sociology deals with, and its breadth, it is faced with perceiving and challenging its science. When trying to explore and describe everything we live in, sometimes it happens to be quite prosaic, which is why sociology leads to a balanced position with common sense. In addition, there is an impression that sociologists are not known as experts. Economists, psychologists, ethnologists have clearly defined areas of work, but not sociologists, they seem to be able to do everything and nothing. Sociology is very wide, it has many different areas, but it is precisely because of this that it is in the phase in which its concepts are abandoned and they form new, more specific social sciences that then build new specialists who are more specialized and thus more easily employable. In addition, when taught, it is unclear how one should be taught in order to give students a \"basic set of\" knowledge, because the area in which sociology deals enormously. According to theoretical standpoints, sociology is in crisis, it is large and disintegrated, unrecognized, and its existence is questioned because it is science, and its science is in many cases questioned. This and all related questions will be discussed in this thesis. It will try to distinguish the most burdensome the sociology currently encounters, point to the relation of sociology as science within the walls of the university and sociology as applied, public science. Finally, in the empirical part of the paper, they will try to find out what this topic is like by those who are sociologists dealing with their employment and those who are educated to make society better today sociologists and sociologists. From Comte's queen of all sciences to Urry and Wieviorka's sociology in the movement that lost its subject of study, sociology passed a huge path. It seems that sociology has much in common with its primary, broad and complex subject of study - society. It studies that some labeled groups are socially accepted as ethnic, gender or sexual minorities, but it itself is a labeled science whose experts are often called upon and not taken seriously (Best, 2003). It attempts to deal with social problems and provide answers to social problems and challenges, but it itself sees itself as a social problem (Best, 2003). She tries to give and explain a clear distinction between science and ideology, but she has also found numerous times replaced for ideology or its concepts have been used by various ideologies, from fascism to communism.  2

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Is society whole, one being for itself, which casts Durkheim's social fact on us, which one we can try, but will not be able to resist, or is it just a set of individuals? Is sociology a complete science, or is it too fragmented, and if so, can it be compiled, and that its scientists, sociologists, do not rely on those debris? Raymond Boudon says that a person becomes a psychologist if he has problems with himself, and a sociologist if he has problems with the society in which he lives (Boudon, 2013). Nothing in the world is as it seems and we all know that things are not just black and white. It seems to me that sociology is doing a very valuable and grateful job - it scratches and digs deep under the surface of things, all in order to clarify them. We live in a society that gives us a significant impression on us, which we are most often not aware of. From the media to the media, from state policies to sexism, from imposing lifestyles to fostering hatred; some things work, and we accept, because the only thing we know is that \"it must be so.\" But sociology is one that shows that there are other ways and we are not always cornered. Like any science, it is subject to change, but sociology opens the mind to the world as well as the world of the mind. Sociology needs to sharpen its blade ... Some questions to which the world needs new answers are many years of unknown, and they are completely new. Solving both of these and others, as in previous times, requires a healthy dose of what Mr. Wright Mills famously referred to as sociological imagination - he is trying to at least try to show that things are not as they are, and that nothing should be taken for granted. Finally, as Turner (1998) described it, the majority of sociologists and sociologists began the path of discipline because they were interested in people and concerned about humanity. Most sociologists, to varying degrees, wanted to make the world a better place; rarely they wanted to be quantitative methodologists or researchers who would develop and use new methodologies and the latest statistical techniques, and they did not really teach sociology to become top theoreticians working on abstract models and the theory of the functioning of the world (Turner, 1998). Like sociology itself, and the story of its survival in science and survival as an expert, once it opens, it becomes, perhaps not the Pandora's Box, and then at least the land of miracles. The work will attempt to highlight the above most problematic areas and propose mechanisms for the growth and development of sociology, so that students and students of sociology can demonstrate that they do not learn sociology due to sociology, but to learn to acquire knowledge that will make them a driving force for better society. By asking \"what sociology is studying?\" Even when it is able, to some extent, to clarify what society is, that is, what could be covered by society, does not end the doubts that bear the question with itself. Take for example the issue of emigration of young people. When asked why young people are leaving Croatia, it almost seems to us that the answer to this question is quite clear. 3

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Young people are leaving Croatia because they cannot find a job; for this reason I cannot earn money, cannot base my family or live a life she would like. This answer seems to us to be completely clear, correct and ultimately sound-social. The common sense is what experience and the linking of what we know and what we are watching tells us that it should be right, but we cannot be absolutely sure about it because it is not something that is based on verified scientific facts. So common sense and science are two things that are different and which certainly are not synonyms. Such thinking is much simpler when thinking about natural sciences in which the causes and consequences of the relationship are much clearer. Social sciences, and especially sociology, are met with a much larger scope of study objects found in a given socio-historical context and which carry many factors that can affect a larger or lesser extent of what we are studying and therefore sociology is encountered with another problem that closes at the academic boundaries and does not allow her to go as a science that could take some concrete steps in solving social problems. Sociology is often seen as an equivalent to common sense. When sociologists discuss a topic, people usually get the impression that they have been able to say the same to a certain topic on their own as some \"expert\" said. The word expert is here under the alleged meanings of course, just so, to show the impression that people are getting. That it would not all remain healthy in the sense of linking sociology and common sense, and many scientists have written about that topic. Healthy reason is defined as the knowledge possessed by those in the center and are part of the social situations and processes that sociologists seek to understand them more closely; common sense can be synonymous with so-called. folk wisdom or may be synonymous with knowledge by engineers, politicians, journalists, or those who work with other people and must anticipate and interpret the behavior of some people or groups of people (Taylor, 1947). The question is: what is the relationship between sociology and common sense? In his book titled \"Sociology and common sense,\" David Thomas (1978) speaks of sociology and common sense in interaction and accordingly sets four theories: a) Sociology needs to be interrupted with a healthy mind; b) sociology must be based on common sense; c) sociology and common sense are incomparable; and d) sociology and common sense are identical. As will be seen through the work of scientists who have dealt with this topic, there are attitudes that may be appropriate to each of these four theses. In the article \"Killing the Messenger: Social Problems of Sociology\", Joel Best (2003) is somewhat comical, trying to draw attention to the problem of not knowing sociology, and thus sociologists and sociologists as serious scientists whose job is to promote society. He immediately recounts the anecdote where President T. Roosevelt, trying to stop the miners' strike, agreed on their request for one member of the commission to be an eminent sociologist. If we imagine for a moment this claim, we can say that the workers have recognized the importance of experts to help solve the situation they encountered, but Roosevelt himself placed  4

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE Edgar Clark, who was the head of the railroad, with the argument that anyone who thinks about social problems can be as expert as sociologist (Best, 2003). Unfortunately, in our culture, sociology is rarely taken seriously; Even when they are recognized, according to Best, sociologists become objects of a joke (Best, 2003). She says that Diane Bjorkklund (according to Best, 2003) wrote reviews for over 80 novels in which characters are sociologists and almost none in one, sociologists are not overly impressive characters. Best very strongly concludes that sociologists are almost never \"heroes, but rather bad guys or fools\" (Best, 2003, p. 1). Best reveals what many think of sociology - it is equivalent to common sense, only because of the phenomena that we all know gives complicated names and as such is completely unnecessary: \"sociology is the scientific study of the obvious\" (Best, 2003, p. 2). And we do not forget the constant confrontation of sociologists with social workers or socialists, and the sociology with ideology, which Best says is skillfully covered with the crux of science, lacing liberals and irresponsible radicals, and blaming society. Watts (2011) says sociology has a long history of conflict with common sense. Through almost all of its history, sociology faces criticism that it has \"discovered\" what every intelligent person could actually figure out (Watts, 2011). But Watts notes that, as a sociologist, he has learned to be skeptical of common sense, especially when dealing with complicated social problems (Watts, 2011). Questions such as \"why some things become more popular than some others, or how much the media affects us\" is like everyone knows the answer. Many have the view that sociology is unnecessary or to deal with \"selling fog\" because when it comes to these issues everyone thinks they are \"experts\" and there is not much else left to wonder why this is so? Probably because all people have some experience in social situations or issues sociology deals with, for example, Most people have no experience with clash of atoms or the creation of chemical substances. Our experience or common sense often leads us to believe that we know the answers to all social issues, but we do not really know how complex they are, the importance of time, space, culture, socioeconomic, socialization, educational, gender and many other contexts in all this. Although Watts notes that every science must be empirical, and those in social science can come from the experience of the respondents, i.e. of common sense, this should not be taken for granted (Watts, 2011). Common sense is right, but usually only partially and often has the tendency to show the world more orderly and less complex than it really is. It illustrates this with simple but very perceptive examples of everyday proverbs: whether the distance of love fire is sparking, or whether it is old and wise: \"far from the eyes, far from the heart\"; is a better sparrow in your hand, or is it still necessary to take risks in order to profit and possibly catch a bigger bird? How Best (2003) says, even when they are established as experts, sociologists are seldom taken seriously. 5

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE \"The physicist, psychologist and sociologist walk down the street and mourn the dead body: - It is a mass of 80 pounds weighing and is not in motion - says the physicist; - it's a dead man - a psychologist states; and the sociologist only transcends the body and continues to walk in search of a group\" (Best, 2003, p 3). No Wirth says that the sociologist would stop, inspect the body in search of wallets, documents and similar things to identify the body and put it in the context of the society from which it comes (Wirth according to Best, 2003). 6

ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE References Wimberley, R. C. (1998). Applied Sociology? Even Musicians Give Concerts. The American Sociologists, (29) 4, p. 5 - 19. Steele, S. (2000). „Bugged“ by the New Millennium: Sociology in the Future – the Future of Sociology Need a Vision! Michigan Sociological Review, 14, p. 1 - 10. Best, J. (2003). Killing the Messenger: The Social Problems of Sociology. Social Problems, 50 (1), p. 1 - 13. Boudon, R. (2013) Sociology as Science – An Intellectual Autobiography (trans. Peter Hamilton). Bardwell Press:  Oxford. Turner, Jonathan H. (1998). Must sociological theory and sociological practice be so far apart? A polemical answer; Sociological Perspectives, (41) 2, p. 243 - 258. Taylor, C. (1947). Sociology and Common Sense. American Sociological Review, (12) 1, p. 1 - 9. Thomas, D. (1978). Sociology and Common Sense. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, (21) 1 - 4, 1 - 32. Watts, D. (2011). The Myth of Common Sense: Why The Social World Is Less Obvious Than It Seems“, Freakeconomics; URL: http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/29/the- myth-of-common-sense-why-the-socialworld-is-less-obvious-than-it-seems/ (Accessed 30.05.2019) 7