Click here to join telegram group
Common sense refers to the everyday, taken-for-granted knowledge that people use to navigate their social lives. It is practical, spontaneous, and often based on tradition, personal experience, cultural norms, and socialization. It helps individuals interpret situations quickly without deep reflection. For instance, the idea that “parents love their children” or “hard work leads to success” are common-sense assumptions guiding ordinary life.
Key features of common sense:
- Practical Orientation: It is used for day-to-day survival and decision-making.
- Subjective and Contextual: It reflects local traditions, beliefs, and values.
- Unsystematic: It is not derived from formal research; rather, it is experiential.
- Uncritical Acceptance: It often accepts cultural stereotypes and assumptions without questioning.
- Varies across societies: What is common sense in one society may be unusual in another.
Thus, common sense provides immediate meaning but lacks systematic verification.
Sociology and Common Sense Knowledge
Sociology, unlike common sense, is the systematic, scientific study of society. It seeks to understand social structures, institutions, and patterns of human behavior by using concepts, theories, and empirical research methods. While sociology also deals with the world of everyday life, it goes beyond appearances and subjectivity to uncover deeper truths.
The distinction can be better understood by comparing the two:
| Aspect | Common Sense | Sociology |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | Everyday experience, tradition, culture | Systematic observation, theory, research methods |
| Nature | Subjective, uncritical | Objective, critical, analytical |
| Validation | Accepted without proof | Tested by evidence and verification |
| Scope | Local and particular | Universal and generalizable |
| Example | “Poverty exists because people are lazy” | Sociology examines structural causes like unemployment, inequality, and policy failures |
Thus, sociology transforms “taken-for-granted knowledge” into systematically tested explanations.
How Are They Related?
Although different, common sense and sociology are closely related:
- Sociology emerges from common sense questions: Many sociological inquiries start from ordinary puzzles. For example, the common sense view may say “marriages are natural institutions.” Sociology asks: Why do marriage practices differ across cultures? How are they shaped by economy, law, and religion?
- Sociology critiques common sense assumptions: It often challenges stereotypes and prejudices embedded in common knowledge. For example, the belief that “men are naturally better leaders” is questioned by sociological studies showing the role of patriarchy and socialization.
- Common sense as “raw data” for sociology: Everyday beliefs and practices form the empirical material that sociology investigates. For instance, ideas about caste purity or gender roles, though common sense in society, become objects of sociological analysis.
- Overlap in accessibility: Sociological findings may eventually filter into public understanding and become new “common sense.” For example, today’s common acceptance that “domestic violence is a social problem” is partly due to sociological research influencing law and policy.
Illustrations from Sociology
- Durkheim’s study of Suicide: Common sense might explain suicide as a purely individual act of despair. Durkheim, however, demonstrated through systematic study that suicide rates are linked to social integration and regulation, revealing it as a social fact.
- Weber’s analysis of capitalism: Common sense suggests capitalism grew naturally from human greed. Weber showed instead that specific religious values (Protestant ethic) shaped a disciplined, rational pursuit of profit.
- Caste in India: Common sense traditionally viewed caste hierarchy as divinely ordained. Sociologists like M.N. Srinivas and Louis Dumont analyzed caste as a social system based on purity-pollution, economic power, and cultural hegemony.
These examples show how sociology questions, expands, and redefines common sense.
Conclusion
Common sense is essential for daily life, but it is limited, partial, and often biased. Sociology, while engaging with the same world, provides a systematic, objective, and critical lens to understand society. The two are not opposed but complementary: sociology builds upon, critiques, and refines common knowledge into tested insights. As C. Wright Mills suggested, sociology helps us move from “personal troubles” (common sense view) to understanding “public issues” (sociological perspective).
In this way, sociology transforms ordinary understanding into scientific knowledge, deepening our grasp of the social world.