Sociology and Second Place

The other day, Phillip and I were discussing what we would study if we could start college over again. Phillip said he would study engineering with a slightly different focus. I, on the other hand, would probably have changed my course list much more drastically. I learned some valuable things majoring in Linguistics, but I probably would have taken just a class or two* in it and chosen an entirely different major, like Sociology. That discipline intrigues me because it studies aspects of our behavior and interaction that we rarely notice unless someone draws our attention to them.

Morrie, the sociology professor in Mitch Albom’s book Tuesdays with Morrie, is an good example of how a sociologist can focus your attention on norms we often take for granted. For example, one evening Morrie was attending a college game. The home team was doing very well, and students in the stands began cheering, “We’re number one! We’re number one!” Morrie listened for a minute, then stood up and shouted, “What’s wrong with being number two?” Unable to think of a satisfactory answer, the students fell silent.

Is there anything wrong with coming in second? We don’t encourage mediocrity, but we do tell our kids that doing your best and having fun are more important than winning. If we’ve performed to the best of our ability and had a good time doing it, does it really matter whether we beat someone else in the process?

*It’s not that I disliked Linguistics itself. The trouble was that I was most interested in the sociological aspect of it - how we communicate and interpret what others say. BYU’s undergrad program focused more on the scientific nuts and bolts – syntax, phonetics, etc. Frankly, the question of whether my t’s are aspirated doesn’t light a fire in me.