Question 1(a) · 10 marks · 186 words written
Opening
"Common sense is sociological nonsense" was said by Auguste Comte, who was against the use of common sense in sociological enquires.
Body · points
21st Century sociology - Post-modernist sociology -
- advocates for use of common sense in sociological studies.
- helpful in hypothesis building - as sociology studies societies and common sense comes from society.
- It aids’ sociological research through providing insights into the people's minds - how they understand the social world around them.
④ Sociologists can take ‘clues’ from common sense and check it through various sociological tools to understand its genesis.
⑤ Sociology can help in enriching common sense through ‘validation’ or ‘neglection’ of common sense values’.
Ex - common sense says a man is poor because he does not work - whereas sociology shows man is poor because of ‘social exclusion’.
⑥ Common sense advocated ‘woman are inferior to men and are submissive’.
Close · a summary
Sociological studies says ‘woman are NOT inferior’. Ex - Margaret Mead study 3 primitive tribes.
Thus, Sociology can aid common sensical knowledge and common sense can help in sociological studies, both are ‘complementary’ to each other in 21st CE.