The Sociological Umbrella

At almost two weeks into the school year, and already I'm feeling the weight of sociology beginning to sink in.  Before school started, I thought I had a pretty good idea as to what sociology is.  Sociology is technically defined as "the study of society", right?  What I learned over my 8 days in class, however, was that sociology isn't just about "society", it's about OUR society.  It's about how it changes.  It's about how it compares to other societies.  However, most of all, it's about society's relationship with US.  After all, we are the ones who shape society.  But then again, society shapes us as well, doesn't it?

Keeping into account the cyclical relationship between society and humankind, the only conclusion I can personally come up with is this:  Our society is a living, breathing thing. Growing and changing constantly, it has quickly become one of the most top-visited topics on my mind.

So I read this article by James M. Henslin, entitled What Is Sociology?:  Comparing Sociology and the Other Social Sciences.  I have to admit, it wasn't as fun as I had imagined a sociological article to be.  However, it did help put things into perspective.  One thing in particular really caught me by surprise:  I hadn't really thought about sociology having relatives.  Anthropology, economics, government, linguistics, the list goes on and on.  However, these relatives aren't brothers and sisters, but more like sons and daughters.  Sociology is kind of like an umbrella which covers all of the social sciences.  After all, society encompasses everything. 

This umbrella analogy really helped me understand sociology's vast role in the universe.  As it is ever-lingering over our world and all its contents, it is also being held up by mankind, as well as keeping him dry.  Hence the cyclical relationship between mankind and society.

When I think of an umbrella, I think of water.  I find this somewhat funny as my entire life revolves around water right now.  I spend at least 4 hours every day swimming in it, I drink about a gallon of it a day because of my constant swimming, and of course water also represents the millions of tears I've shed into my goggles because I can't believe I'm actually doing Varsity Swimming for yet another season.  Why do I do this to myself?  I don't know.  I guess because I want to be in-shape (sociology right there - the standard expectations for body image!), because I like the people on the team (social, without a doubt), and because it gives me peace of body, soul, and mind.  On that note, I will conclude this post with a goodbye.  That's all folks!