Introduction to Sociology - questions and answers

Authors Avatar

Selina Hall

Introduction to Sociology

Unit One Assessment

Section One

  1. Describe in full what Sociology is.

Sociology is a critical study of society and the social world we live in, It is a study of Me, You, People and Institutions. It investigates and analysis things such as social problems, social behaviour, culture, culture differences, human behaviour as groups and also on larger more predominant behaviour as a society on a whole. This study uses a lot of different methods in order to investigate the way society works and why humans do the things they do as a society.

  1. Identify and explain one difference between Sociology and Common sense.

Common sense is not based on fact, it is almost a set of beliefs learnt from experience and other peoples. Sociology is based upon research and scientific evidence.

  1. Identify two differences Sociology and Psychology.

Sociology looks at society on a large scale, where Psychology studies an individual. Psychology can be said to be a science that deals with individual mental behavior. Sociology on the other hand a science that deals with the development of human society.

  1. Describe one similarity between Sociology and Psychology.

Both Psychology and Sociology study human behavior, which is how they are similar. Having said that, Psychology goes a little deeper and tends to defines behavior as normal or abnormal.

5. Sociology is a critical social science. Describe what you understand by this statement.

Sociology is a critical science because it places society almost under scrutiny so it can analyze, challenge and turn over every leaf to get close to a better understanding of society and why/how it functions.

Section Two

  1. Give a full definition of the following terms:
Join now!


A) Culture
is a way of life within a particular society. It is what people follow, adapt to and learn from birth and social behaviour. With culture comes Beliefs, Traditions and Values.

B) Norms within society are similar to rules. In sociology a norm is a shared expectation of behaviour in specific situations. Let us take cueing up in a shop for instance, the norm would be to wait in an orderly line until your turn not bypass the cue and take your turn.

C) A Role is a way you are expected to conduct yourself given the particular ...

This is a preview of the whole essay