SOCL 2211 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: The Sociological Imagination, Collective Behavior, Abstract Theory
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The debate: the structure/agency debate concerns differences of opinion among scholars about the relative influence that the social structure plays in influencing human behavior. He coined the phrase sociological imagination to describe his perspective. Yet, individuals are seldom entirely to blame for their failures or deserving of all the credit for their successes. Capabilities are expanded or restricted by the circumstances in which we are born and raised, by the conditions in our communities and workplaces, by the decisions and actions of others, and by politics and policies: definitions of sociology. The social science that attempts to understand social forces the forces outside us that shape our lives, interests, personalities, and actions (eitzen and zinn, 2001). Sociology explores the determinants of individual and collective behavior that are not given in our psychic or biological makeup, but fashioned in the broader arena of social interaction (walton, 1990) Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior.
