The Importance of Social Research

Week #2 Assignment

The article that I have chosen is “The Importance of Social Research” by Babbie, Earl and Lucia Benaquisto. This article discusses how, in the author’s opinion, sociological research, instead of advances in technology, will solve many of the world’s major problems. The author covers many different problems and their solutions, such as war, hunger and overpopulation. Since the article is based on mostly what the author feels rather than actual facts, it is easy to see their perspective on the topic.
The area of sociology that this article covered has to do with technology. “Unfortunately, every technological solution has turned out to create new problems (Benaquisto 1).” They say this because there are many advances in technology that, while have solved old problems, have made new problems as well. Technology also changes the problems from one thing to another. The example that the author provide is used best in this quote. “At the beginning…the air we breathe (Benaquisto 1).” For example, new weapons created to defeat enemies have, in turn, allowed these such people to create new weapons of their own.
Overpopulation is another world issue that the authors discuss. They believe that overpopulation can be stopped and that it gets worse every year (Benaquisto 1). They also believe that it is a social issue and that the technology is already in place in order to solve this problem. “Those causes include….the perceived importance of perpetuating a family name, cultural tradition, and so forth (Benaquisto 2).” Many people believe that this is what you are supposed to do. We are born to reproduce. The men carry on the family name while the women take their husband’s name. This is how society works and this is how it has always been done.
There is also the issue of hunger. Since this issue of hunger mostly takes place in third world countries, such as Ethiopia and other countries that make up Africa, most Americans are not affected by it. “The problems of overpopulation and hunger may seem distant to you, occurring somewhere “over there,” on the other side of the globe (Benaquisto 2).” The author believes that, in order to end hunger in the world, we need to focus more on how we feel about starvation rather than the technology that we could create to solve the problem. “People will continue to starve until we command our social affairs rather than be enslaved by them (Benaquisto 2).” This can be a very emotional topic for some people, especially when they see the commercials on the television.
The sociological perspective that the author comes from is conflict theory. This is because, as pervious stated, the author believes that all issues throughout society can be solved by changing ourselves and how we act instead of creating new technologies to solve them. “Social science research offers an opportunity to take on those problems and discover the experience of making a difference after all (Benaquisto 2).” This shows how much the author believes that, through the study of social sciences, problem solving can occur.