1. How does Charle\'s Mills defend sociology? How is sociology morally confusing
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Question
1. How does Charle's Mills defend sociology? How is sociology morally confusing?
2. How does Mills differentiate between the classical and the historical traditions of sociology?
The major lifelong aim of C. Wright Mills was to keep sociology in the classic and
historical tradition. He asserts that sociology is intellectually and morally confused.
Most of the ideas of the classic sociologists were not open to empirical testing.
These ideas were interpretive, that oriented individuals to numerous ways of
examining social realities. The classic tradition that Mills longs for has been
replaced by anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics. These
disciplines have become so integrated, so as to allow us to examine the structure of
society in its whole. So, according to Mills, the crisis in social science today (written
some time ago) has two main features; the retreat into the supposed neutrality of
sheer fact and the classic tradition. Weber was responsible for sophisticating the
idea of class. In “The Classic Tradition” Mills mentions that individual malaise is
attributed to a condition called anomie, which of course was coined by Emile
Durkheim. Spencer’s main theme was evolution. According to Mills, the most
valuable legacy of Western Civilization is Classic Sociology.
Explanation / Answer
1. Charles Wright Mills defend sociology as study of human beings and their realities in the perspectives of both sociological and historical traditions. Instead of splitting sociology into different sections as anthropology, political science, social psychology and economics, Mills want a systematic study of human behavior under the umbrella term classic sociology as all the aspects as economic, social, psychological and anthropological aspects are intertwined with the daily realities of human behavior and cannot be separated.
According to Mills sociology is intellectually and morally confusing because social realities were subjected to numerous many ways of interpretation than allowing them to be interpreted in an empirical way.
2. By classic sociology Mills mean to study all aspects of human being in the society without dividing them into various categories. Mills argues that one aspect of social behavior effect the other aspects of society,hence, classic approach of sociology should study society and human interaction as the a whole.
Historic tradition is to understand various concepts of society in the light of history, that is how they were formed,their impact in shaping the society and their present status in the society. This will enable a deep understanding of the concepts of society and in understanding the human behavior in the society.
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