Understanding Reality through Sociological Imagination and Sociological Perspective– ‘Job Prospects’ of Sociology as a discipline

Society is going through changes during COVID-19 breakdown. It is changing the way of our everyday life. COVID-19 changes our social, physical, emotional, political, economic and environmental situations. As a teacher of Sociology, I can make you understand the changing situation and its impact on society in terms of sociological understanding which is different from common sense understanding. Everybody can understand the facts of social changes by getting information through media or through their experiences but Sociological understanding requires sociological Imagination and sociological Perspectives. Being a sociologist, I can’t accept something as fact because “everyone knows it”. Sociologists taste and record every piece of information, then analyze it in terms of the relationship with other data. We rely on the facts which are gathered scientifically for describing, understanding and predicting any social phenomenon.

Sociology provides a scientific understanding of society. The discipline provides an in-depth understanding about social process, social relationships, social interactions, social systems, social institutions, social structures and the entire social life. Now, in the COVID-19 situation, our pattern of relationship is going through changes, our institutions, systems, structures and many other social agencies are going through changes but the understanding of such changes and taking specific measures to cope with the situation requires sociological understanding.

Sociological Imagination and sociological Perspectives commonly provide us sociological understanding. Sociological imagination allows individuals to see the relationships between events in their personal lives (biography), and events in their society (history) (C.W. Mills, 1959).Mills said “Not you. The world around you.” Mills believed things only worked when you saw “the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.” He encouraged people to stop focusing on themselves alone and to look at the wider landscape of society.  During COVID-19 Lock down situation, we should not focus on our own problem of managing both household chores and work from home but we have to understand it’s not me only, but the entire teaching community is adjusting with the situation. We have to relate our personal challenges with broader social issues. By sociological Imagination, we will be able to identify and create our own strategy for copping up with various challenges and opportunities of COVID-19.

A sociological perspective provides the way of looking at the society and social behavior and also offers explanation for such pattern. The main focus of sociological perspective is-

• It is a scientific endeavor with resilient humanistic curve – As scientific discipline, it focus on the value-free and objective cause-effect relationship of social phenomenon
• It views society or social relations as structured- Sociology is concerned with how the structure of society is created, maintained and change.
• It investigates the process of society through which society shapes individuals and vice –versa- It investigates the connection between what societies makes of us and what we make of ourselves.
• It studies social phenomenon from holistic and relational point of view both- By this sociologists identify recurrent pattern of and influences of social behavior.
• It studies human behavior in a group context- In the case of COVID-19, we are seeing collective behavior, we can see rumors and misinformation, often spreading through various forms of social media. It helps to critically analyze Fake News and Negative Publicity.
• Sociological Perspective involves the investigation of the problem on micro and macro levels both- During COVID-19, at micro level, we are dealing with relationship with infamily members and the everyday interaction and at macro level, we are focusing on pattern of behavior and forms of organizations created by non-familial relationships such as online teaching that characterizes changing nature of educational institutions.

Society is going through various changes, be it through COVID-19 pandemic situation or global governance, as a social being we can’t escape the changing situation of society. Thus, importance of studying Sociology is increasing day by day. Sociology is comparatively new subject, still, the way it gives scientific explanations of the studies of society make her “Queen” of all social Sciences (Comte, 1856).

After studying sociology, you can be successful in your career through your unique expertise in the sociological understanding along with skills of innovation, critical thinking, analytic problem-solving, collaboration, communication, multicultural & global understandings, and expressive and convincing writing skills. Career impingement in today’s diverse global society necessitates the capacity to work cooperatively in different set ups but you have to market yourself. When you will look for any job, you have to have the confidence that you are your preeminent asset; your skill set is only as striking as your ability to market yourself. 

These can be the suggestive guidelines which will help to market the skills that one will attain from Sociology:

1. Highlight one’s understanding of diversified topics

Most of sociology students chooses career related to welfare officer, consultancy firms, policy makers which require an awareness and sensitivity towards diversified topics such as study of stratification, gender, social change, globalization, health, economy, environment etc. You have to note your familiarity with diversified topics.

2. Highlight one’s field work experiences

Students who are interested to get job in NGOs, social services or community services,  they have to focus on their field work experiences in various fields of society ranging from visit to slums to corporate training.

3. Highlight how sociology encourages leadership skills

Sociology is about the study of people in both large and small groups. Your study about industry and organization, social psychology, rural and urban sociology, criminology and others focusing on group should highlight how the training has ready you for a management-track position. The lesion of critical thinking along with learning of various sociological theories, social problems provides the experience of considering different viewpoints, recognize, and problem solving.

4. Highlight one’s data collection skills

As a job seeker in the field of teaching, research fellow, project fellow, urban planner etc. one has to focus on one’s data collection skills. In the research methodology classes, one is required to do one’s own research project, for example- making of questionnaire, experience of conducting survey through interview, rapport building with the sample etc. The focus group study method which the student will choose will be important for showing your leadership and teamwork ability.

5. Highlight one’s skill of data analysis and data interpretation

Being sociology students, when you conduct research, you have to learn how to analyze and interpret data after collation of data. You also know tabulation skills and along with statistical analysis your skill of data analysis by using SPSS  or STATA software is to highlight. You will also have to highlight your data interpretation skills by using theoretical understanding and sociological perspectives

You, being student of sociology can also get jobs as:

1. Civil servants and other govt. officials
2. HR professionals in various MNCs
3. Politics and governance
4. Content writers

This portrays the subject Sociology has various avenues and opportunities for students in the job market —- be it in the education sector, industrial sector and also in public health sector, both in national and international job market.