I I NTROUDUCTION Have you ever wondered why a subject like sociology is called a social science? More than any other discipline, sociology deals with things that are already familiar to most people. All of us live in society, and we already know a lot about the subject matter of sociology — social groups, institutions, norms, relationships and so on— through our own experience. It seems fair, then, to ask what makes the sociologist different from other members of society.
Why should s/he be called a social scientist? As with all scientific disciplines, the crucial element here is method, or the procedures through which knowledge is gathered. For in the final analysis, sociologists can claim to be different from lay persons not because of how much they know or what they know, but because of how they acquire their knowledge. This is one reason for the special importance of method in sociology.
As you have seen in the previous chapters, sociology is deeply interested in the lived experience of people. For example, when studying social phenomena like friendship or religion or bargaining in markets, the sociologist wants to know not only what is observable by the bystander, but also the opinions and feelings of the people involved. Sociologists try to adopt the point of view of people they study, to see the world through their eyes. What does friendship mean to people in different cultures?
What does a religious person think he/she is doing when performing a particular ritual? How do shopkeeper and customer interpret each other’s words and gestures while bargaining for a better price? The answers to such questions are clearly part of the lived experience of actors involved, and they are of great interest to sociology. This need to understand both the outsider’s and the insider’s points of view is another reason why method is particularly important in sociology.