I am a sociologist. When I tell people this, I usually get a strange look. “A what?” people will say. “Is that like a psychologist?” others will ask. These are good questions. You do not meet that many sociologists because most of us work at universities where we teach sociology classes. And some people can go to college, leave with a degree, and never take a sociology class. Here is my attempt to explain what a sociologist is, what we do, and how sociology is involved with Voices into Action.
A sociologist is a person who studies society. What is society? It is you, me, our families, neighbors, schools, workplaces, government, hospitals, the military, the media, and almost any other type of group you can think of. Basically a society is all of those things combined. If that seems like a pretty big “thing” to study, it is. Maybe that is why it takes 8-10 years of school to become a sociologist!
In reality each sociologist will choose one part of society to study. Voices into Action was started by sociologists and other people at NC State University who are interested in families, and food, and health. To learn about more …show more content…
None of us lives on an island alone. Instead, who we become, what we do, and how we raise our children is influenced by the people who raised us, the schools and churches we attended, the neighbors we grew up with, and the society we live in (growing up in the United States, for example, is very different than growing up in China). We are individuals to be sure. Every day each person gets up, gets dressed, and makes a bunch of decisions about eating, work, family life, etc. But how do we know what to do? How do we learn what foods we should eat for breakfast? How do we know what jobs are good (like a nurse), and what jobs are bad (like a bank robber)? In other words, most of what we do and know comes from what other people have taught
A sociologist is a person who studies society. What is society? It is you, me, our families, neighbors, schools, workplaces, government, hospitals, the military, the media, and almost any other type of group you can think of. Basically a society is all of those things combined. If that seems like a pretty big “thing” to study, it is. Maybe that is why it takes 8-10 years of school to become a sociologist!
In reality each sociologist will choose one part of society to study. Voices into Action was started by sociologists and other people at NC State University who are interested in families, and food, and health. To learn about more …show more content…
None of us lives on an island alone. Instead, who we become, what we do, and how we raise our children is influenced by the people who raised us, the schools and churches we attended, the neighbors we grew up with, and the society we live in (growing up in the United States, for example, is very different than growing up in China). We are individuals to be sure. Every day each person gets up, gets dressed, and makes a bunch of decisions about eating, work, family life, etc. But how do we know what to do? How do we learn what foods we should eat for breakfast? How do we know what jobs are good (like a nurse), and what jobs are bad (like a bank robber)? In other words, most of what we do and know comes from what other people have taught