Motivations and Self-Perceived Career Prospects of Undergraduate Sociology Students

Sociology undoubtedly plays an important role in the world of sciences, as it provides an opportunity to examine the society in which we live and our social relationships using widely accepted means with real scientific value. As Giddings has noted, 'sociology tells us how to become what we want to be' (Giddings, 2011). However, discussions of the social sciences can be controversial, as they are sometimes perceived as ‘inferior’ to natural sciences. To alleviate this discrepancy, it is essential to supply professionals with useful knowledge in the field of sociology, understand their motivations and ensure the best career prospects for them. In this pilot study, 18 sociology B.A. students answered seven open-ended questions in the form of a short essay regarding their motivations in terms of faculty choices, initial expectations and the fulfilment thereof, their aims in the study of sociology, preferred areas of employment, willingness to undergo further training, five-year plans and their opinions about the prospects of newly graduated sociologists in Hungary compared to graduates from other areas in terms of the usefulness of knowledge gained, perceptions of their professions and earning opportunities. According to the results of this study, the future plans of the participants were very different, but all of them believe that an undergraduate sociology degree provides extensive knowledge about the functioning of society and has helped them to form attitudes that they consider to be extremely valuable on the labour market.

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Defending the Difference

10.1093/oso/9780198796220.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Point Of View ◽

True Nature ◽

Natural Entities ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Methodological Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

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Assessing Contemporary Crises: Aligning Safety Science and Security Studies

10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1733 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bibi van den Berg ◽

Ruth Prins ◽

Sanneke Kuipers

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Security Studies ◽

Nation States ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Safety Science ◽

Key Topics

Security and safety are key topics of concern in the globalized and interconnected world. While the terms “safety” and “security” are often used interchangeably in everyday life, in academia, security is mostly studied in the social sciences, while safety is predominantly studied in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine. However, developments and incidents that negatively affect society increasingly contain both safety and security aspects. Therefore, an integrated perspective on security and safety is beneficial. Such a perspective studies hazardous and harmful events and phenomena in the full breadth of their complexity—including the cause of the event, the target that is harmed, and whether the harm is direct or indirect. This leads to a richer understanding of the nature of incidents and the effects they may have on individuals, collectives, societies, nation-states, and the world at large.

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PhD research in social sciences amid a pandemic: introduction to a situated and reflexive perspective

Fennia - International Journal of Geography ◽

10.11143/fennia.99200 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 198 (1-2) ◽

pp. 227-229

Author(s):

Simone Tulumello ◽

Kátia Favilla

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Specific Focus ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Short Essay ◽

The University

This short essay introduces a forum made up of six Reflection pieces on what it means to carry on a PhD research in the social sciences amid a pandemic. Sparked by discussions held during the 2020 edition of the "Open Day" of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, this forum collects solo-authored and collective texts that focus on a number of dimensions along two main threads: the problems, uncertainties and potentialities of researching in these times; and similar reflections with specific focus on gendered dimensions. Together, though situated (all these researchers work in or about Portugal and Brazil), we hope these experiences will speak to peers around the world that are dealing with the pains and challenges of these times.

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The Cop21 Process from the Point of View of the Social Sciences

Research in Economics and Management ◽

10.22158/rem.v1n2p123 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 123

Author(s):

Jan-Erik Lane

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Policy Implementation ◽

Social Systems ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Point Of View ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Energy Emissions ◽

The Universe

<em>Thus far, all the debate about climate change in the myriad of UN conferences and special meetings has been about the application of the theories of the natural sciences to the global warming phenomena. Now, that there is a decision by the governments of the world countries to go ahead with a radical decarbonisation policy in the 21st century, the lessons from the social science theories must be taken into account. The COP21 project is a case of policy implementation, but implementation is difficult. Greenhouse Gases (GHG) like CO2:s stem from the anthropogenic sources of carbon emissions from the factors that drives not only the universe but also all social systems, viz. energy. This article spells out the energy-emissions conundrum of mankind.</em>

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Recent Developments in Political Geography, I

American Political Science Review ◽

10.2307/1947223 ◽

1935 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 785-804 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Richard Hartshorne

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Economic Geography ◽

New World ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

The Political ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Recent Developments ◽

English Speaking ◽

Cultural Features

The border position of geography between the natural and the social sciences is fairly generally recognized. Concerned primarily with differences in the different areas of the world, geography studies both natural and cultural features. In some universities, it is included among the natural sciences, in others among the social sciences. In England and America, geographers have particularly cultivated that portion of their field which leads naturally into economics, i.e., economic geography. Much less attention has been paid to the relations with history, although various geographers and historians have studied what has variously been called historical geography or geographic history. Even less have geographers in the English-speaking countries concerned themselves with that portion of their subject which bears upon the political areas of the world. The territorial problems of the war and postwar period, however, stimulated activity in this field both in England and America, the most notable product of which is Bowman's The New World, consisting in large part of the materials gathered for the American Commission to the Peace Conference.

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Emphaty as the foundation of the social sciences and of social life: a reading of Husserl's phenomenology of transcendental intersubjectivity

Sociedade e Estado ◽

10.1590/s0102-69922002000200016 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 563-585 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Frédéric Vandenberghe

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Detailed Analysis ◽

Social Order ◽

Social Life ◽

Communicative Action ◽

Transcendental Phenomenology ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Human Sciences ◽

The Social ◽

The World

Starting with an overview of possible solutions to the problem of social order, the author presents a non-acritical reconstruction of Edmund Husserl's transcendental phenomenology of intersubjectivity as a sympathetic alternative to Habermas's theory of communicative action. By means of a detailed analysis of the concept of empathy (Einfühlung), he shows that Husserl's phenomenology of intersubjectivity offers a triple foundation of the sciences. As a warrant of the objectivity of the world, it grounds the natural sciences; as a presupposition of sociality, it founds the social sciences; as mediated by culture, it grounds the social sciences as human sciences.

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Individuality and liminarity: some considerations concerning rites of passage and modernity

Vibrant Virtual Brazilian Anthropology ◽

10.1590/1809-43412017v14n1p149 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Roberto DaMatta

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Classical Tradition ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Social Life ◽

Rites Of Passage ◽

The Other ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Critical Link

Abstract This article explores a critical link between two concepts which are central to the social sciences: the idea of liminarity, engendered by the anthropological tradition of self-centred and self-referred monographic studies; and the idea of individuality, a key concept within the classical tradition of the socio-historical studies of great civilizations (as well as being the crucial and familiar category of our civil and political universe). The author seeks to show how a bridge can be established between these two concepts, which may at first appear distant, by focusing on certain under-discussed aspects of rites of passage. He argues that the ‘liminal’ phase of rites of passage is tied to the ambiguity brought about through the isolation and individualization of the initiate. It is thus the experience of being ‘outside-the-world’ that brings forth and characterises liminal states, not the other way around - in short, it is individuality that engenders liminarity. Rites of passage transform this experience into complementarity, into an immersion within a network of social relationships, which the ordeals, in contrast, establish as a model for the plenitude of social life.

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Guide to Africa Bibliography

Africa Bibliography ◽

10.1017/s0266673120000033 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. xxix-xxx

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Development Studies ◽

Environmental Sciences ◽

African Government ◽

The Social ◽

To Receive ◽

Cover Material

This bibliography records publications on Africa of interest to students of Africa, principally in the social and environmental sciences, development studies, humanities and arts. Some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are included. The criterion used is potential relevance to a reader from a social sciences/arts background. The whole continent and associated islands are covered, with selective coverage of the diaspora. This volume aims to cover material published in 2019 together with items from earlier years not previously listed. The editor is always very glad to hear of any items omitted so that they may be included in future volumes. He would be particularly pleased to receive notification of new periodicals, print or online. African government publications and works of creative literature are not normally listed.

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Benson and Miller in Perspective

Social Science History ◽

10.1017/s0145553200022999 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 3 (3-4) ◽

pp. 242-244 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Bruce Kuklick

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Social Policy ◽

Applied Science ◽

The Other ◽

Social Knowledge ◽

The Past ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

The One ◽

Stock Of Knowledge

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.

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