ABSTRACT
We live our lives and navigate our way through the social world as “individuals.” We deal with other people as individuals (whether friends, enemies, colleagues, bosses, or subordinates), and it is as individuals that we try to make our own sense of what we experience. However, sociologists do not see individuals as free actors, who have the power to do whatever they like. Sociologists do not deny the power of individuals to determine their own fate (to an extent, at least), but they are more concerned about the social and cultural parameters within which individuals live.
