Yale R. Magrass
Phone: 508.999.8402
Office: Group 1, Room 392A
ymagrass@umassd.edu
Interests: Social theory, historical and political sociology, methodology, social impact of science and technology
Prof. Magrass feels strongly about what sociology should be.
Sociology is more than facts to memorize. It is a way of looking at who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. There is not really a single body of knowledge which constitutes sociology. It borders on all the other social sciences, psychology, political science, economics, history, philosophy, art, literature, the humanities, and even the natural sciences. Auguste Comte, the person who invented the word, sociology, call it the "queen of the sciences" because he saw it as a capstone, as a means of integrating the concerns of other disciplines. If anything characterizes sociology, it is its perspective, its way of posing questions and seeking answers. Sociologists often do not expect definitive answers, but instead seek deeper and subtler understandings which can lead to a never-ending spiral of questions. Sociology is a forum for debate which can lead to disagreements as profound as agreements. One thing a sociology student must learn is how to present an argument. Studying sociology should enhance a student's skills in critical thinking, building logical coherent arguments, analyzing, interpreting, recognizing bias and perspective, and conducting research. Sociological analysis can unveil possibilities that are not intuitively obvious and even contradict the common sense understanding most students have been taught to accept on face value, often without much reflection.
Sociology seeks to understand how the individual is molded by those around him/her and the particular point in time and space in which s/he lives. It does not, however, see the individual as simply a passive victim of his/her environment, but rather as someone who also shapes his/her surroundings. UMass Dartmouth students live in America, a capitalist-democracy at the beginning of the twentieth-first century. Most of them have been raised in families, by parents who are themselves products of an earlier twentieth century America. Through schools, they have developed a certain way of seeing the world. They have been influenced by a circle of friends, also part of this society, whom they, in turn, influence. To some of then, the way they live seems automatic, almost natural. However there have been people who would have found the way early twentieth-century Americans live and think bizarre. Sociology encourages to appreciate the uniqueness of their culture and ask: Why is it this way? Could it be otherwise? Did somebody plan it that way? If so, who and why? Is society as it designed to benefit some more than others? What is their personal stake in society as it is? Could they or should they work to make it into something different?
To learn more about Prof. Magrass, download his vitae.
