Introduction: What do we mean by thinking sociologically?

Sociology and its social settings

Sociology, while informing us of our social settings, is further derived from the same settings: 

All intellectual fields are profoundly shaped by their social settings. This is particularly true of sociology which is not only derived from that setting but takes the social setting as its basic subject matter” (Ritzer 1992: 6)

Sociological thought, like all thought, should be located within its social context. Sociological perspectives not only attempt to account for social change, but are themselves influenced or shaped by their own relevant social context. We can observe this when we will look at how sociology, as a discipline, came to be influenced by the processes forming ‘modernity’. For example, theories originating within the classical period of sociology, often viewed sociology as a scientific discipline concerned with the scientific study of observable social patterns making up social life. This can be seen in Durkheim’s theorising of a ’science of society’ or Engels describing Marx’s socio-political-economic theory as ’scientific socialism’. In all of this we can observe the imprints of the social processes, that made up ‘modernity’, affecting theories that initially came about to understand these very same processes. This will be a theme we will continuously return to.