The task for sociology is to come to the help of the individual. We have to be in service of freedom. It is something we have lost sight of.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My students often ask me, 'What is sociology?' And I tell them, 'It's the study of the way in which human beings are shaped by things that they don't see.'
One of the key places where sociology should be used is in analyzing 'the world' of our times, so that we can be more discerning. To resist the dangers of the world, you have to recognize the distortions and seductions of the world.
The function of sociology, as of every science, is to reveal that which is hidden.
I had always looked down on sociology as this arriviste discipline. It didn't have the noble history of English and history as a subject. But once I had a little exposure to it, I said, 'Hey, here's the key. Here's the key to understanding life and all its forms.'
Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions.
I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment.
Much of my work strikes me as pretty unified: as a lawyer, working in several areas, I have thought about how to promote freedom of speech broadly for everyone.
Academic sociologists have been trained to conceive of their discipline - sociology - as the scientific study of society, and to remit to the sister discipline of psychology the study of individuals.
I believe in trying to get a balance between individual freedom on the one hand and social responsibility on the other.
Collective freedom provides the basic conditions for people to narrate their own lives, hold power accountable, and embrace a capacious notion of human dignity.