Invitation to Sociology

Peter L. Berger

 

The Nature of Sociology

 

Berger explains that the terms “society,” “social,” and “social problems” have many different meanings.

 

• A sociologist thinks of society as a large complex of human relationships, or as a system of interaction oriented toward the survival of the whole.  Thus, two people talking on a street corner are not a society, but two people stranded on an island are a society.
• A sociologist uses the term social to describe the quality of interaction.  Thus, although two men talking on a street corner are not a society, there interaction is social.  Society consists of a number of social events like this.  Society is a number of complex social events. Social situations are people orienting their actions towards one another.
• Problems that interest the sociologist may not be what other people call problems.  While others think of divorce as a problem and look to the sociologist for a solution, the sociologist understands the sociological problem by understanding what goes on in social interaction.  So a social problem is not why things go wrong, but how the whole system works together in the first place.  So the social problem in the case of divorce would actually be marriage. 

 

The Task of the Sociologist

 

Berger encourages the sociologist to “see through” society.  He gives an example of a large city with endless rows of houses to explain this.  We must look behind people’s closed doors to really find out what is going on.  The sociological frame of reference is always looking for levels of reality other than the official interpretations of society.  The goal for the sociologist is to “see through” the facades of society to find out what is really going on underneath it all.

 

• To understand the power structure of a community, for example, one might look on a web page to learn about whom holds positions of authority.  A sociologist would do that, but also want to learn about the informal power structure.  A sociologist will “look behind” the official mechanisms that govern the community while insisting there is another level of reality that needs to be investigated.
• Similarly, a manager at an industrial plant will prepare charts that show how the company is organized.  A sociologist will want to learn that information, but also want to learn the informal mechanisms by which the company operates. 
• A sociologist is more interested in looking beyond “love” and finding out the motives related to the institutional structure that causes people to marry.
• Berger explains that problems that interest the sociologist may not be what other people call problems. While others think of divorce as a problem and look to the sociologist for a solution, the sociologist understands the sociological problem by understanding what goes on in social interaction.  So a social problem is not why things go wrong, but how the whole system works together in the first place. So the social problem in the case of divorce would actually be marriage.