A Study Of The Development, Structure, And Functioning Of...

Alain Dumas Professor Mackinnon Sociology 111 December 9, 2015 Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. In other words, it is the study of social problems. We study sociology today â€Å"to see a larger social context of the lives we are living, and in this way give both understanding and meaning to personal experiences† (Personal Experiences and Public Issues). C. Wright Mills, an American sociologist, coined the term sociological imagination. Having this quality of the mind enables us to make sense of the intersection between history and biography and the relations between the two within society. This imagination is the â€Å"capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote transformations to the most intimate features of the human self† (Mills). Through the use of different sociologist’s sociological imagination, questions that arose through time were questions such as what is the structure of this particular society as a whole? What are its essential components? Struc tural functionalism, or functionalist theory, one of the big three theories in sociology today, says that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures: family, education, politics, and the economy (social institutions). Fortunately, only with the use of two social institutions from this theory and through culture can we understand William Julius Wilson’s article the â€Å"Economic Plight of Inner-City Black Males†Show MoreRelatedA Study Of Development, Structure, And Functioning Of Human Society851 Words   |  4 PagesSynthesis 1 Sociology. The study of development, structure, and functioning of human society. It is the basis which scientists use to analyses social interactions and behaviors of those around us. For example, when you are watching the news and see a statistic of how a certain people group tends to have a specific pater of thought, this come directly from sociology. 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