Methodological Analysis In Sociology

In sociology, researchers have always engaged with different types of methodological analysis in order to understand people. In fact, they were usually used to sociologically query society in a rather indirect way by merely using for example interviews, questionnaires or experiments and data collection. However, sociologists additionally understood that the specific and direct study of ordinary everyday life could further benefit their discoveries and, therefore, they started thinking about sociological concepts, such as society and self, with a focus on people’s daily way of being. In this essay I am going to explore the relevant advantages of studying ordinary life by explaining how and why it matters for sociologists. Moreover, I am going …show more content…
For example, the authors Wendy Wills, Kathryn Backett-Milburn, Mei-Li Roberts and Julia Lawton (2011: 725-740) outlined a study on Scottish families with young teenagers and their daily eating habits in order to create a relationship between this routine and the belonged class of each sample family considered. In fact, they discovered that the so-called middle-class usually engaged with very different habits from those of the so-called working class. For example, working class families were more likely to buy made meals that were ready to be eaten, whereas middle-class families usually prepared meals themselves and occasionally bought some ready sauces, but exclusively the branded ones. Moreover, generally among working class families there was no concern about consuming healthier food, especially among the youngest members of a family, while middle-class families instead almost obligated children to eat vegetables and wholesome food. As a consequence, the sociologists had been able to provide a portrait of two completely different social classes thanks to a close observation of the daily routines of common people who belong to distinct types of society. Therefore, this study once again evidenced the usefulness of everyday life because it was the tool for understanding specific aspects of society which would not have ever been thought …show more content…
From different perspectives and several empirical evidence, I have explained the reasons I have for holding this importance true. Also, I have critically mentioned other possible approaches to sociological studies which do not include the specific insight a sociologist could gain from either observation of daily behaviours and conventions, or of people’s response to a winter ritual, or of their eating and gaming habits. As demonstrated in the essay, the investigation of this wide range of daily common practices entails a concrete and solid awareness of society; this consciousness could not possibly be reached by the unsophisticated analysis of general sociological