Sep 26, 2012 19:09
I love both my majors. Really. Until recently, I was in a dilemma over which one to make my main major (oh look, aliteration!). But my sociology professors this semester have totally won me over. Psychology is cool too, especially when there's so much crap in your family and knowing some stuff helps you and your family understand it a little better.
But psychology can only benefit a minority of the population, those who suffer from DSM-defined illnesses. In order to actually prevent these problems, it's actually up to the sociologists to figure out ways of changing societal views, anything from perceptions about beauty (that lead to eating disorders, BDD, etc.), and success (linked to depression), and so on. Granted, culture takes a long time to take root and it's difficult to change it for the better, but actually identifying the root of the problem is the first step in changing the world for the better.
If you think about the bigger picture, psychology benefits only places where people can actually be diagnosed with psychiatric illness - ie. where the healthcare system is sophisticated enough. On the other hand, sociology tries to figure out why some countries are better off than others, and why some people in a particular country is better off than others; in fact, why some healthcare systems are better than others, and why the DSM might not neceessarily be applicable across all cultures. It does not necessarily eliminate this inequality, but by identifying the real causes, the politicians can be given a direction to work towards.
I'm not saying that psychology is useless. I absolutely adore Freud - he's my favorite so far. Psychology's benefited me a lot - to understand my own emotions and cognitions. It's helpful when my mum's side of the family needs some specialized knowledge when it comes to dealing with issues regarding her mentally ill siblings. In fact, you can argue that since individuals are what comprise a society, and psychology is about the individual most of the time, it is actually more useful in helping us understand human nature. However, culture is what binds a society together, and most of the population chooses to adhere to norms, rather than take the risk of deviance, in fear of sanctions. Yeah, we all know about groupthink, but groupthink is born out of a culture, and culture is borne of society.
It's a world we live in, and even though the individual is important, we must not lose sight of the big picture. Perhaps it's just me, because I've always been distrubed by the inequalities I see in this world. Even worse, I am totally powerless to change it.
Hooray for psychology! But hooray even more for sociology! (:
Great. I sound like a geek.