Applying sociology

Sociology is too useful to be allowed to hide in universities.

Social theories of culture: we create meaning as we interact. That means we can learn and choose to interact in ways that create different meanings from the social norms. Is that a lever for changing social norms? Still not sure, but it makes it easier to work as equal colleagues in a world that says we cannot be when we know meanings aren't fixed.

 

Membership categorisation: if membership categories exist, can we play with the signifiers for categories to get ourselves put into a different category? Conclusion: yes. We call it 'wearing the right shoes'

 

Ethnomethodological disruption experiments: knowing about these takes the sting out of situations where we think we are acting normally but others act as if we are conducting a disruption experiment. It makes us proud to be naturally disruptive, rather than scared or angry at what had been incomprehensible or offensive reactions to us.

 

Wittgenstein: why do we end up in meetings where people are using the same words but seem to be talking at cross-purposes? Probably because we are picturing different things as we say the word. So let's go round the room and check what we are picturing. Job done. We know why we are talking at cross-purposes and can do something about it.

 

Goffman: front stage/backstage, framing, Othering. These concepts and language give us tools to understand and communicate effectively about how life works and in doing that, it makes it easier for everyone to see ways to play the game differently.  

 

Post-structuralism: the relief that dividing things into two groups (binary thinking) is an idea not a reality. This means we can escape the binary thinking that has stymied our attempts to be ourselves in a world that wants to divide us into 'disabled' and 'normal'.