time-way back to the Epics, where the gods and demons took sides in the great battle where brothers killed brothers… Or would you rather stay where you are, right in the present, in the heart of this monstrous, teeming, bewildering city, and try to orchestrate its dizzying contrasts of sight and sound and milieu? Discuss the visuals What kind of pluralities and inequalities do they show? everyday life and also about others’ lives, about our own ‘society’ and also about others’ ‘society’. These are our everyday notions, our common sense in terms of which we live our lives.
However the observations and ideas that sociology as a discipline makes about ‘society’ is different from both that of philosophical reflections and common sense. Observations of philosophical and religious thinkers are often about what is moral or immoral in human behaviour, about the desirable way of living and about a good society. Sociology too concerns itself with norms and values. But its focus is not on norms and values as they ought to be, as goals that people should pursue.
Its concern is with the way they function in actual societies. (In Chapter , you will see how sociology of religion is different from a theological study). Empirical study of societies is an important part of what sociologists do. This however does not mean that sociology is not concerned with values.
It only means that when a sociologist studies a society, the sociologist is willing to observe and collect findings, even if they are not to her/his personal liking. Peter Berger makes an unusual but effective comparison to make the point. Activity The Economic Survey of the Government of India suggests that access to sanitation facilities is just per cent. Find out about other indicators of social inequality, for instance education, health, employment etc.
IV I NTRODUCING S OCIOLOGY You have already been acquainted with the sociological imagination and the central concern of sociology to study society as an interconnected whole. Our discussion on the individual’s choices and the job market showed how the economic, political, familial, cultural,