Sociology: How Can Human Behavior be Understood?

Sociology is the study of human behavior and societal structure. The sociological perspective, or what C. W. Mills refers to as the “sociological imagination”, is essentially a way of viewing the world. When you use the sociological imagination, you no longer see individual people behaving according to their personality, experiences and chemical make up. Instead, you see the social contexts that influence the person’s behavior. The norms, culture, and institutions of a society can affect a human’s behavior. The social location of a person—the groups they belong to, the time and place they live—also exert influences on humans.

Is there a method to the madness of human behavior? Do humans act in a rational way, based on given criteria? Can we “figure out” humans, run statistical models, and predict social events in the way we can predict scientific phenomena? To ponder this question, I watched the award winning music video for “Human Behavior” preformed by Bjork.  Inspired by the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and directed by Michel Gondry, Bjork answers my question:

“If you ever get close to a human…and human behavior…be ready be ready to get confused….

…there’s definitely definitely no logic.”

Darn! So how are we supposed to study something without any logic to it?

Herbert Spencer and other “positivists” of the time, would have begged to differ. His idea of social Darwinism suggested there was a definite logic to human behavior: as societies experience natural evolution, the most able individuals survive, and the least able die out. Ergo—society improves over time.

Unfortunately most sociology texts will note that Spencer’s ideas have been discredited, so we’re back to square one with Bjork:

“There’s no map…and a compass wouldn’t help at all”

Here’s where I’d argue with her—social theories provide our “compass” as a guide to studying human behavior. As for the map—we have a lot of uncharted territory but the map is ours to make.

The music video looks at human behavior from the perspective of non-human animals. Many sociologists have encouraged students to “examine human behavior as if you were an alien”. This perspective suggests we attempt to shrug off our personal opinions and assumptions and shift the focus to how social structure influences our behavior.

 This week we will delve into the very sociological frameworks that will help us make sense of it all and begin to watch human behavior using the sociological imagination.

After all…

“to get involved in the exchange ....is ever so satisfying…so irresistible”

And that’s human behavior!