Sociology, a somewhat unpopular subject, is closely related to each of us. Because in sociology, there is the essence of slavery and freedom.
What impressed me the most was the overall control of society to the individual. Some people compare society to a big prison. It uses people’s desire to be accepted by the group to control people’s thoughts and behaviors, so that people who are unruly will also return to orbit.
Berg is guiding us through this broad journey in the broad context of both sociology and internal science. The first thing that comes into view is the main theoretical picture of sociology and the vision of sociology, which can inspire and enrich our understanding of everyday trivial matters. From a humanistic perspective, Berg points out the close relationship between this discipline and history and philosophy.
Then, this journey shows us the pursuit of sociology–“Sociology’s vision is to broaden the open vision of human life, and to get rid of the bounds of vision.”
The third stop, we entered the micro level of society, to see how each person forms a self-image and a world view. Here we find that our “self-portrait” is constantly changing, because “we often repeat the past experience. A new explanation. So we say how many views a person has and how many different life experiences he has.”
The next few chapters of “People in Society”, “Society in People”, and “Society as Play” are closely related, as if a series of serial shells, wave after wave and rebuild our three views. After a violent bombing, the world of the soul seemed to be quiet, and the society looked like this. To give a very simple example, think about the fact that every time you face a “turning point” in life, people around you, especially parents and teachers, and all kinds of elders who care about you will always learn to adapt to the new environment. When you graduate and face employment, on the day you go to society, they are more vocal in your heart and must be accustomed to society. The so-called adaptation is that, regardless of the runway that the society has set for you in advance, you just follow the run of everyone. Don’t derail, don’t deviate from the runway, don’t fall behind.
Each of us can ask ourselves: What do we want to do and what we want, is it completely spontaneous and derived from the heart? Or is it subject to the pressures brought by law, family, occupation, and identity, just trying to show what people expect? If you think about it, you will find that this control is everywhere. Being aware of this is the first step away from control and freedom.
This book keeps us skeptical and reflects on “common sense” before we can build our own world.
