1.6 Uses of Sociology

1. Self-knowledge of one's own society — Nepal's diversity makes the "sociological imagination" (C. Wright Mills' term: connecting personal biography to history) a daily necessity, not a metaphor. 2. Policy and planning — censuses, labour-force surveys, demographic and health surveys are applied sociology; plans (Unit 5.6) are built on them. 3. Law reform and the administration of justice — evidence-based legislation, PIL fact- finding, sentencing and corrections policy, understanding of crime (criminology) and of dispute behaviour (why cases settle, or never arrive: the "unmet legal need"). 4. Development practice — participatory appraisal, social inclusion audits, gender analysis. 5. Governance and management — organisations, bureaucracy (Weber again), service delivery. 6. Civic and professional formation — for the lawyer specifically: cultural relativism (fairness to clients unlike oneself), structural thinking (not blaming only individuals), and the humility that "law in books" ≠ "law in action" (Pound — Unit 3).