Assignment

Ankit prasad (MA sociology)

Andre Beteille tried to explain how for sociologist applying common sense can lead to dilution of the
understanding of the concept and also fails to find reason which is not visible directly. In this article
“sociology and common sense” he explains how sociology is a discipline not only subject. Although
sociology has been taken as a discipline since independence, it is still struggling in comparison to other
discipline for various reasons. The most common reason he said that is “compared to natural science or
even economics, sociology is regarded by the majority of students as a soft subject chosen principally by
those for whom other, more attractive or more difficult options are closed”.1 I have also experienced
the same thing, after completing my 12th I chose sociology not by interest. The reason for choosing
sociology was same, I was advised that it is easy so I can give more time in my father business. He
further explained how use of only common sense and fluency in language can lead to tough situation for
example students generally from India know something about caste, religion, kinship and Hinduism and
he can write about it to some extent with common sense but he will face problem dealing with problem
like kinship in Africa. Beteille explained how in the span of 30 years of his career things has been
changed. Earlier the hosts were interested in discussing general topics like theories of evolution, time of
lineage system. But now the hosts want to hear mostly about cate, reservation, communalism and
secularism. I have observed this pattern in many of my class where students seem less attentive in class
while discussing theories but on the other hand they will become very much interested when the
discussion will happen on current scenario. Beteille explained that this happens because for this he does
not need to go through imperial material related to topics because he thinks he can apply his common
sense.

Beteille shows by the work of Durkheim on suicide that how he lay bare the illusion of understanding
created by common sense. We can see how he systematically pursued his study and collected data to
show that how suicide is a social fact. In conclusion we can observe that what separates the sociology
from common understanding. And also, we can interconnect sociology from various institution of life by
systematic approach even though this process is tough and time taking but occasionally it can lead to
important breakthrough.

[NOTES]
1. Beteille, A. (1996). Sociology and Common Sense. Economic and Political Weekly. 1.
Beteille, A. (1996). Sociology and Common Sense. Economic and Political
Weekly, 31(35/37), 2361-2365. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4404557