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Invitation to Sociology---Chapter 1


CHAPTER 1
Sociology as an Individual Pastime


Overview
Berger begins by trying to "clear the deck" about sociology and sociologists...trying to clarify just what it and they "aren't" before affirming what it and they "are." He starts by addressing six "ambiguous" images of sociologists...stressing that each image by itself is only partially true andeven when taken together, they don't really tap into this reality. He shows a clarity of thought on many issues within the discipline...even today...as well as within the social sciences in general. Then he portrays his passion for sociology which, it turns out, has been and still is shared by many of us.

I. AMBIGUITY OF IMAGES OF A SOCIOLOGIST
-----A. as a social worker
--------i.e. thepractice of helping people
--------fact is...sociological information is valuable to anyone...not equal to humanitarian information
----------can be used for fighting crime and for promoting crime
-------- "working with people"...not in the character of the information itself
-----B. as a theoretician for social work
--------Social Work is more influenced by psychology than sociology----------is a "practice"
-------- "Sociology is not a practice, but an attempt to understand." (p. 4)
--------Social Work would/could be informed by a better sociological understanding, though
--------BUT... "Sociological understanding can be recommended to social workers, but also to salesmen, nurses, evangelists and politicians--in fact, to anyone whose goals involve the manipulation of men, forwhatever purpose and with whatever moral justification" (5)
(RE: the "value-free" quality of sociology)
---does not mean sociologist doesn’t have or shouldn’t have any personal values
---does mean that sociologist must be aware of them in doing sociological work
----- "The sociologist tries to see what is there. He may have hopes or fears concerning what he may find. But he will try to seeregardless of his hopes or fears. It is thus an act of pure perception, as pure as humanly limited means allow, toward which sociology strives." (5)
---Further...what of the issue about the purposes to which a sociologist’s work is put?
-----asking about it is NOT a sociological question
-----IS a personal and human question...and should be asked as such
-----C. as a social reformer--------long-standing tradition in both Europe and America
--------BUT issue is the same as above concerning "social worker"
--------Nothing inherent in sociological information which leads to "reform"
-----D. as a gatherer of statistics
--------given the survey-like quality of much of sociological research...
--------given the "parasociological" work of public opinion and market research
--------Bergeradmits there is something to this image ("albeit regretfully") beyond "fantasy"
--------Since World War I (with some reversal since)... "American sociology turned rather resolutely away from theory to an intensive preoccupation with narrowly circumscribed empirical studies" (9)
-------Adoption of "the criterion of productivity"...as used in the business world
---------discusses what has come to beknown as the "publish or perish" system in academia
---------Productivity determined by number of articles and books "accepted" by journals
---------leads to work on "some little empirical study of a narrowly confined topic" (10)
----Berger then critiques the "image" by saying...
--- "Statistical data by themselves do not make sociology. They become sociology only when they are sociologicallyinterpreted, put within a theoretical frame of reference that is sociological" (11)
------"The interpretation, however, must be broader than the data themselves" (11)
-----E. as a scientist
--------i.e. "developing a scientific methodology that he can then impose on human phenomena" (12)
--------connected with the prior image as a statistician
--------involves development of a "jargon" which...