system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What's the best way to attain basic understanding of social sciences without taking it up as an academic study?

I've been fascinated by snippets of social science through politics, shows like The Wire, concepts in film and literature, etcetera. But I've never taken social science/humanity subjects for A level, like most of my friends have. I'm reading through Bourdieu's Forms of Capital essay and I was wondering if there's some sort of recommended reading list, or a social science 101 rundown with topics. Sorry if wrong subreddit.
gpt
It sounds like your interested in Sociology, which is one of many social sciences, given your reading of Bourdieu.

What sorts of things are you interested in? Research books and journal articles? Classical theory? Contemporary theory? 

There are many topics available for exploration to sociologists. Are you interested in gender and sexuality? Race? Stratification? Class? Poverty? Education? Religion? 

Any good reading list will include at least *The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism* by Max Weber, *Capital* (Save this one for when you're pretty comfortable reading heavy texts, maybe start with *The Grundrisse*) by Karl Marx, *Rules of the Sociological Method* by Emile Durkheim, *The Sociological Imagination* by C. Wright Mills, and *Distinction* by Pierre Bourdieu.

To me, that's a good spread of sociological work. Sometimes, books will lack context or the things and ideas they put forth will not make sense. If that is the case, you can always ask on this sub and someone will clarify or provide context.