The online course that I chose to do is introduction to
Sociology. The reason why I chose this course is because this is what I will be
studying next year in university. This course is taught by Harvey Molotch a
professor at New York University.
The very first lecture, Harvey begins by telling his
students all these areas of learning and how they emerged and or are born from
sociology. Areas include communications, demography and various versions of
history.
Due to all these areas emerging and or being born from sociology a
philosopher by the name of August Comte expressed sociology to be the queen of
social sciences.
Harvey later gets into C.Wright Mills who is a professor at
Columbia University and his idea of sociology. Harvey introduces us with a term
“Sociological Imagination” which is an idea that it matters who is around, and
he begins his lesson from there.
He asks his students a simple question, why are we here? He explains
how there are various ways of answering this questions and how each answer
differs from another. He says that we have to look beyond the individual and
their own sense of how they got to be where they are. He then goes into how all
factors and forces shape our choices.
An example he gives
is of a motor boat. He says that we don’t move forward like a motor boat,
however as we go forward all of these other forces are shaping, buffering, and determining
that course of our existence, and only getting a handle of those forces will we
understand where we are and why we are there.
He then goes into how society has been emerged and he gives
us an example of doctors. Doctors from one specific country of which majority
are women get paid less than doctors in countries of which majority are men and
he explains that this is how the society has been emerged and shaped.
Harvey also
tells us that if sociologists nowadays follows sociological imaginations than
they would have full force. Sociological imagination calls for political action
and it’s about being engaged in the world not just understand the world but
change it.
His second lecture pretty much continues with the previous
lecture and he introduces us with Max Weber’s famous phrase “what we need is a
value free social science”. What he was basically trying to say was that if we
manage to do this (what Weber said) is the only time when we will successfully know what is going on around the world. Then he
goes into how sociologist do surveys and samples and what they end up doing is manipulating those statistically so that we can see some sort of a connection/a
cause and effect relationship. An example he gives us is the early death of
children and the high rate of poverty.
Later he gets to a critical point in sociology which is the
fact that sociologists do for society what medicine does for human health. They
protect society and solve their problems by knowing the social body.
One of the best advantages is that because universities and
colleges are starting to use more and more technology students are always up to
date. Being up to date is a great advantage mostly for the students, and because
they are fully aware of the technology that is being used they are prepared to encounter
the technology out in the workforce. 
