Sociology is the study of society, of the relationships between individuals, of the rules governing social lives, but also of how to break the rules (Babbie, 1994). The analyzed reading suggests that is no single perspective that is true or representative regarding all these aspects, and paradigms such as interactionism, functionalism or conflict are only several approaches through which they can be analyzed (Barbie, 1994). The article “An idea Whose Time Has Come” questions the validity of many of the mass media information fed to individuals on a daily basis and challenges the authority of rules, demonstrating that nowadays, more than ever, the study of sociology should be used for reaching a critical awareness.
Many of the examples that the author provides in this article are meant to arise the critical awareness of the readers, and to make them realize that they are living a day after another by simply complying to a system of social rules that they did not voted. In fact, the author speaks of social manipulation that occurs on a daily basis, and it is perpetuated by a mechanism that keeps individuals connected to a system of inherited rules that they do not consider challenging. Nevertheless, the reading also raises the concern that critical thinking can generate chaos, which would shudder the organization of societies. In such a context, dissensions would be more visible than the consensus, and societies would live in a continual conflict.
Although the article indicates that people are simply living by the rules, which leads to the perpetuation of the social patterns, as known for ages, such as driving on the right side in most countries, and on the left in countries such as England or Japan, the idea of social manipulation through media is not entirely real. Nor is the idea that most people live without acknowledging that they are the products of bringing forward the patterns of the inherited social standards.
The seeds of this phenomenon are visible in the current society, as more incidents that reflect the challenge of authority are seen throughout the world. Therefore, in relation with Babbie’s (1994) article, although many ideas are representative, the nowadays world is the expression of the idea that the time of sociology has come. The single concern is whether society can handle this situation.
References
Babbie, E. (1994) An idea whose time has come. California: Wadsworth Publishing.
