Question 1(a) · 10 marks · 151 words written
Opening
Sociology as a discipline focuses on social action and social structures whereas Psychology focuses on the individual and their mental processes.
Sociology and Psychology have come closer in many ways:
Body · points and prose
→ Phenomenology : A theoretical framework practiced by Peter Berger, it analyses subjective phenomena and the creation of social structures through them.
→ Symbolic Interactionism of G.H. Mead delves into an analysis of the mind and creation of the self as social processes, thereby coming very close to Psychology.
However, to say that they are the same, would be an overstatement:
→ J.S. Mill: He refused to acknowledge the social, and claimed that analysing individual action through Psychology is enough to explain it.
→ Biological understanding: Psychology focuses on biological knowledge about the brain and its processes whereas sociology focuses on the action, motives and meanings.
Close · a summary
While sociology and Psychology have both benefitted from interdisciplinarity, they still remain as distinct disciplines.