Introducing Society 1 · Section 17

and methods. It is therefore very important to understand that the distinctions of the disciplines are to some extent arbitrary and should not be seen in a straitjacket fashion. To differentiate the social sciences would be to exaggerate the differences and gloss over the similarities. Furthermore feminist theories have also shown the greater need of interdisciplinary approach.

For instance how would a political scientist or economist study gender roles and their implications for politics or the economy without a sociology of the family or gender division of labour. Sociology and Economics Economics is the study of production and distribution of goods and services. The classical economic approach dealt almost exclusively with the inter- relations of pure economic variables: the relations of price, demand and supply; money flows; output and input ratios, and the like. The focus of traditional economics has been on a narrow understanding of ‘economic activity’, namely the allocation of scarce goods and services within a society.

Economists who are influenced by a political economy approach seek to understand economic activity in a broader framework of ownership of and relationship to means of production. The objective of the dominant trend in economic analysis was however to formulate precise laws of economic behaviour. The sociological approach looks at economic behaviour in a broader context of social norms, values, practices and interests. The corporate sector managers are aware of this.

The large investment in the advertisement industry is directly linked to the need to reshape lifestyles and consumption patterns. Trends within economics such as feminist economics seek to broaden the focus, drawing in gender as a central organising principle of society. For instance they would look at how work in the home is linked to productivity outside. The defined scope of economics has helped in facilitating its development as a highly focused, coherent discipline.

Sociologists often envy the economists for the precision of their terminology and the exactness of their measures. And the ability to translate the results of their theoretical work into practical suggestions having major implications for public policy. Yet economists’ predictive abilities often suffer precisely because of their neglect of individual behaviour, cultural norms and institutional resistance which sociologists study. Activity ´ Do you think advertisements actually influence people’s consumption patterns?

´ Do you think the idea of what defines ‘good life’ is only economically defined? ´ Do you think ‘spending’ and ‘saving’ habits are culturally formed?