It can help you be more empathetic.
I scrambled through the course listing to find a last-minute option.
The only available courses for me were an intro sociology class and an intro psychology class, which I had already taken.
“Guess I’m taking sociology,” I thought to myself. “But what is it?”
The course description said:
“Sociology is the study of social life in all its forms. A variety of topics within the discipline will be explored throughout this course, such as social theory, social research methods, culture, with a strong focus on gender, sexuality, class, and racial inequality.”
It sounded interesting enough and I didn’t expect to get much out of it other than the credits.
But after the first week of classes, I was hooked. Everything taught in the class was interesting.
I registered for a handful more, and eventually switched my major to it because learning about how society treats the different classes of people was gripping.
Through learning about inequality and power dynamics in society, I understood the world more, and this made me a better person because I was more empathetic and understanding of people.
Instead of judging people based on one interaction, I started asking myself why this person was behaving in such a manner:
- What was their upbringing like?
- Is this behaviour part of their culture?
- Is this how their generation behaves?
- Do they have a mental illness?
- Or are they just having a bad day?
Asking questions like this helped me be more open-minded and empathetic to people because it helped me realize that I don’t know anything about anybody and I shouldn’t judge them because I had one bad interaction with them.
They could be going through difficult times with their family for all I know.
And this is how sociology can help you become a better person.
If you want to learn the core concepts of sociology, you can click here to check out my eBook SOCI 001 at my store.
Or you can check it out on Amazon here.
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