I've always thought, 'I love Sociology, but my god, sometimes I do think it's useless.' The past few weeks have TOTALLY changed my view though. I've been doing a lot of reading - for essays, not fun, annoyingly - and I just know so much more (I say so much, but that's probably/definitely a lie). I know this is the point of a degree, and I sound absolutely ridiculous writing this, but I don't care. I've been reading about various topics, such as: disability from Marxist and feminist perspectives, consumerism, food policy, food banks, social capital, health policies, racial and gender discrimination. These topics are hardly 'fun', but they're all so incredibly interesting. Especially the social capital part. I love Pierre Bourdieu, but his work is a wee bit heavy. I say a wee bit, it's a lot heavy, but so very worth it when you've finally understood a whole page :|. Great minds sometimes mean great difficulty when trying to read their work, which I do find very annoying. But Bourdieu is French, so I'll let him off....
Anyway, yes, the point of this blog! Why I like my degree. Sometimes it helps to write these things whilst you like whatever it is you usually dislike/have a weird relationship with...I know I'll read this blog at exam time and be like "REALLY SOPHIE, REALLY?!?! COME ON NOW!!!" I know this, and I will cope with my annoying self, as per usual.
Reasons I like my degree :)
- It's actually relevant to my life. I can use the knowledge gained from it in everyday situations. When I watch the TV, read the paper or a book, or read blogs online, I always look at in a sociological way. Which sounds geeky and annoying, but I like it, I appreciate whatever I'm watching/reading on another, slightly cooler, but still weird, level.
- It gives me something to talk about. Sociology is everywhere. It's not like a book that some people have read and some haven't, and those who haven't are completely excluded. You can talk about sociology to anyone, and make anyone understand. If you don't do sociology, you can still understand it and I like that.
- It makes me care about things I used to never give a shit about/didn't know about them to be able to give a shit about them.
- It's made me realise a lot about my own situation in life and the situation of other people. I just feel more informed about the society we live in, and how it programs us, and vice versa.
- I only have 9 and a half hours of contact time a week. BOOM. (That had to go in this list, sorry)
- I've never met anyone who is a twat about sociology. I say this because a lot of people are snobby about the degree they do and it says a lot about them as a person. Especially at this uni, urgh.
- Sociology involves lots of other things, like history and politics. I like this, stops me from being bored. Bitta variety.
I'M DONE WITH WITH BLOG NOW.
Writing this blog hasn't given me any encouragement to do my essays though...ha. Typical.
For those of you who understand what this picture means...
This is how I feel when I get a book out, take it all the way home and it's useless.