Diary of a Sociology Student: Rediscovering Sociology (or, What on earth am I suppose to be doing?)

I am returning to my postgraduate studies in Sociology after having been on leave of absence from the University for almost a year. Over the past several weeks, as I have been mentally preparing myself for this return, I have been asking myself the question: What is Sociology?

This is not just an attempt to construct meaningful self-descriptions when people ask me what I do (“err… I do research”). I am really quite concerned about what I am suppose to be doing as a student of Sociology. These questions have been playing on my mind, as I am sure, they have played on the minds of many students over the past two centuries as the discipline of Sociology has developed.

If I boil it down to the basics, I guess my working hypothesis is as follows: A sociologist is someone who tries to make sense of society using theoretical and methodological tools developed by an international community of people who ask similar questions and derive explanations in similar ways.

Sociologists hold an underlying assumption that there is something out there that governs human behaviour. In other words, we do not act the way we do, or think our thoughts, or make the decisions we do, with complete free choice. We are ‘guided’ somehow. Often, the forces that guide us are invisible to our own eyes – they constrain, shape, and regulate what we do.

Sociologists ask questions about the way people behave and live together, and try to provide explanations and answers for these. These explanations have to be logical, and sociologists have to justify them. If sociologists think critically – if they question the basis of what they think they know – they will highlight the basic assumptions they hold in coming up with their answers, including about what constitutes ‘facts’ and which facts are ‘evidence’ in their analysis. This is often done by referring to other social thinkers, who construct theoretical frameworks that guide the way they think about issues, ask questions and derive answers.

Making sense of society as a sociologist goes beyond having a personal exploration of the surrounding world. Sociologists try to taking a ‘third person’s perspective’, that is, as an outsider looking in. This requires a certain level of ‘mental distancing’. A sociologist must have the ability to look at ‘normal’, everyday behaviour (including his/her own) as if it were strange. They try to figure out why this behaviour is considered normal and acceptable. It is usually easier to do so if the sociologist is new to the phenomena he/she is studying, for example, if he/she is from a different culture, country, religion, and time period. However, It is difficult to be fully ‘distant’ from what you are studying – all sociologists are influenced by their own values and norms. A good sociologist either has to avoid being influenced as much as possible or has to recognize these influences explicitly. In other words, a good sociologist has to identify ways in which his/her social location and identity influences the way he/she makes sense of the phenomena he/she is studying.

A sociologist is different from a journalist or a writer. Other than the fact that a sociologist usually writes much longer articles, a sociologist is part of an intellectual community (or several such communities) and needs to locate his/her questions and answers within a larger body of work. He/she has to read what others have already written on the same subject, and take existing arguments ‘forward’. A sociologist can’t just restate what others have already said, even if he/she came up with the idea independently. A sociologist has to position his/her arguments in relation to what others have said, saying something ‘new’ that adds to existing debates.

Finally, a ’sociologist’ is a social concept, and as such is fluid in meaning. Of course, there is a particular history attached to the label ’sociologist’ and there are constellations of concepts, people, and bodies of work related to it. Nevertheless, the meaning of a ’sociologist’ – like ’sociology’ and ‘the social’ – changes between schools of thought, across communities, in different places, and over the course of time. The boundaries of the discipline of ’sociology’ are blurring with that of anthropology, psychology. geography, and other social sciences. It is hard even today to see the difference between a sociologist and other social scientists.

I still find it difficult to refer to myself as a ’sociologist’ – it sticks on my palate like peanut butter. I suspect this is because I am still figuring out what ’sociology’ means, and how I should personalise this; how I should incorporate it into my being. I still feel like I am pretending – trying to look busy and respectable as a student as I rummage around asking people questions, reading stuff, and figuring out what my thesis is about. I am told that the journey of discovery never ends, and that older sociologists, who have spent decades as professors of this discipline, also ask themselves what they are doing, particularly as the boundaries of ’sociology’ continue to shift.

For the moment, I will leave these questions open. In the meantime, the journey is exciting (although one often feels like one is mucking about), and the communion of fellow travelers sweet.