What is Sociology? (According to Giddens in Modernity and Self-Identity)

Last Updated on March 1, 2017 by

This is a rough outline of some of the purposes Sociology might be put to according to Giddens, gleaned from a reading of his ‘Modernity and Self-Identity 

1. Doing research to inform the ongoing process of reflexive modernisation at an institutional level
2. Doing research into how flexible structures and what extent these structures are used (used by) to either constrain or empower people
3. Helping people to realise that they are still dependent on ‘structures’ and dispelling the ‘myth of total individual freedom’.
4. Encouraging people to consider moral and existential issues when they engage in the construction of self-identities and thereby helping people be more effective agents in the ongoing (re) constitution of society.