What is the importance of the study of sociology in relaton to your respect discipline?

Question

What is the importance of the study of sociology in relaton to your respect discipline?

Answer 1

My BA is in Sociology, but I am nearing the end of my Master's in Business Administration. Sociology has impacted business training immensely.  First of all, business majors are more open than economists (although this has changed much in the past 10 years) to the idea that "markets" are people.  Social analysis can often yield more concrete, fruitful results than abstract "invisible hand" theories.  Sociological analyses are critical to Marketing. Market research is gathering information on people, their tastes and preferences, and their behavior - tastes, preferences, and behavior have a social component as well as an individual component. Sociology stresses the social side - economics and psychology stress the individual side.

On the other hand, business school operates from sometimes opposite assumptions than sociology. Sociologists like to show how PR is manipulative and harmful propaganda that keeps people in bondage to shallow consumerism.  Business school wants to take that knowledge of how PR works and get new ideas as to how they can get people to accept PR claims anyways. In some ways, business-oriented people have to abandon their inner ethics to be successful.  I believe it is inherent to the discipline - and yet, business school administrators are astonished to learn that most business admin majors feel they have to compromise their ethics to get ahead in life. Heck, I feel that I have to compromise my TRUE ethics to pass ethics classes!  I feel that the capitalist system itself is unethical in many ways - which makes one wonder - why am I in business school again? But, I digress...