What is Double Consciousness?

How can it make you a better person?

In 1903, American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois introduced a concept about the African Americans’ ability to view events from both the African identity and the American identity in his book The Souls of Black Folk.

He called it Double Consciousness.

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife — this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self.”

What Du Bois is saying here is that minorities can view their community through the eyes of other communities as well as their own. 

What Is The Sociological Imagination?

And how can it help you be a better person?

Imagine this (no pun intended): You’re at a coffee shop and there’s a group of loud people sitting near the entrance.

Initially, you think that they’re obnoxious and should take their loud conversation elsewhere, such as their home.

But then you wonder why these people are being so loud.

• “Could it be a cultural thing?”
• “Is it because of the community I’m at? Maybe they’re regulars here.”

These types of questions are what sociologist C. Wright Mills calls the sociological imagination. 

How Sociology Can Help You Be A Better Person

(Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash)

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.

Book Bannings Are A Show of Power

Those who bully are often the scared ones.

Conflict theorists view power as a struggle for control between social classes.

Those with power are wealthy and influential and impose their dominance over the oppressed.

They use many tactics to achieve this and one of the ways is to control what the oppress consume.

An example is book banning.

Book-banning policies have spread across America and in Alberta, Canada. The government wants to censor what kids can read by forcing public and school libraries to remove books from their shelves.

They claim these books contain sexual content that shouldn’t be read by kids. 

And though there is some sexual content in them, these books are not solely about sex; they’re not pornography. 

Rather, they tell stories about groups with little or no power. The stories are about what it’s like to come out as LGBTQ+ to your parents, or about what it would be like if your entire gender were disenfranchised, or what would happen if individuals had the tools to think for themselves and were critical of the institutions of power.

The government is banning these texts because they fear representation (because anything other than straight is sinful) and civil disobedience (because they fear their citizens will employ their rights to criticize the government and rally to enforce change).

As Stephen King says, “Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control; about who is snapping the whip, who is saying no, and who is saying go. Censorship's bottom line is this: if the novel Christine offends me, I don't want just to make sure it's kept from my kid; I want to make sure it's kept from your kid, as well, and all the kids. This bit of intellectual arrogance, undemocratic and as old as time, is best expressed this way: ‘If it's bad for me and my family, it's bad for everyone's family?’”

And this is why power -specifically maintaining power- is the root cause of book bannings.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s thoughts on racism and journalistic corruption

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always fought for social justice. Here are his three thoughts on society.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an NBA legend. But aside from all the accolades, he has earned in the sport of basketball, he is also an advocate of social justice. He has headed many protests and wrote many books and essays on the matter.

Abdul-Jabbar was raised prior to and during the Civil Rights movement. As a young teen in high school, he attended many demonstrations to fight against the injustices against African-Americans. He also wrote many essays criticizing the maltreatment of minorities. He continued to express his displeasure while he was in college, during his time in the NBA, and after he retired.

Here are his three thoughts on racism in America and journalistic corruption:

What is Globalization?

The following on globalization and the different types of government are excerpts from my book, ‘SOCI 001: The Armchair Sociologist’s Guide to Sociology.’ You can click here to learn more about it. 

Globalization

Globalization is a process in which businesses or organizations spread influence internationally. This could mean selling their products abroad or having part of their operation in a foreign country.

For example, the sportswear company Nike, which is an American company, has factories in China. There, their shoes and apparel are made. Nike also has stores in China where citizens of the nation can buy Nike products.

Additionally, globalization is also the spread of cultures and traditions across the globe. An example of this would be foreign food and snacks. If you walk through most food courts in shopping centres, you’ll notice that there’s a large variety of food from different cultures. You’ll see American food, Asian food, Middle Eastern food, etc. This is one-way cultures are spread globally.

What is a social movement and how does one develop?

What is a social movement? You know when you’re watching the news (or seeing breaking news on social media) and hear the reporters talking about a recent march that was protesting against injustice (ex. Women’s March)? Well, they were talking about a social movement.

A social movement is a demonstration by large groups of people to either create or resist social change, fight for social justice, and/or to provide a political voice for an oppressed group. But social movements are much more complex than what you see on TV or on your mobile device. There are stages to it and there are different types of movements.

What is social constructivism?

Social constructivism is a social learning theory that was developed by psychologist Lev Vygotsky. With this concept, Vygotsky wanted to prove that learning didn’t just happen solely via being taught new information. Rather, he believed that cognitive functions are developed from social interactions, and thus learning also occurs when people (specifically young children) interact with others.

According to Vygotsky’s 1978 study, Interaction between learning and development:

“Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level and, later on, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals.”

Noam Chomsky on capitalism, terrorism, and education

Noam Chomsky, who is often referred to as “the father of modern linguistics,” is a linguist, philosopher, historian, and social critic. Additionally, he is the author of over 100 books, writing about war, society, and politics.

Here are Chomsky’s 3 thoughts on society:

1) “It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions – you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism.”

Chomsky, in this quote, is criticizing capitalism. He believes that even though Western societies are always preaching about freedom and claiming that all their citizens are free, they are not. They are not free because they are controlled by the institutions that they work for.

5 books every armchair sociologist needs to read

Armchair sociologist – this is a term used to describe a sociologist who practices sociology without going into the field and doing research. And because these types of sociologist are often at home in their thinking chairs, analyzing society, they need to read a lot of books so that they can learn and understand the different perspectives of society; they need to be able to put on a different set of lens (racial, economic, gender, etc.) when observing people and their behaviours.

So here are 5 books that will show every armchair sociologist the experiences of people as they move through society: