Lesson 1 - What is Sociology

Lesson 1:

What is Sociology?Intro to Sociology

Prepared by: Apurva Tolia

Three revolutions had to take place before the sociological imagination could crystallize:The scientific revolution (16th c.) encouraged the use of evidence to substantiate theories.

The democratic revolution (18th c.) encouraged the view that human action can change society.

The industrial revolution (19th c.) gave sociologists their subject matter.

SociologySociology is the systematic study of human society and social interaction. It is based on the idea that our relations with other people create opportunities for us to think and act

but also set limits on our thoughts and action.

What is Sociology?

Sociology is also the study of reifications, or social constructions.

Introduction to Sociology: What is Sociology? 4

Sociology•Howard Becker defined sociology as the study of people “doing things together.”


Sociology•This reminds us that society and the individual are inherently connected, and each depends on the other.


Sociology•Sociologists study this link: how society affects the individual and how the individual affects society.


A society is a large social grouping that shares the same geographical territory and is

subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

Society Is….

A society is a group of people who share a culture and live more or less

together. They have a set of institutions which provide what they need to meet their physical, social, and psychological needs and which maintain order and the values of the

culture.9

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Social structures are the more or less stable patterns of people’s interactions and

relationships.

Institutions are the principal social structures that organize, direct, and

execute the essential tasks of living.

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Some institutions are: Family,

Educational, Economic, Religion,

Law, Political Systems

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Sociological Imagination

• The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society.

Cool Insights from Sociology

•Humans cannot be understood apart from social context (i.e. society)



•Society makes us who we are by structuring out interactions and laying out an orderly world before us



•Society is a social construction, that is an idea created by humans (i.e. doesn’t exist in the biological world but only in the social world) through social interaction and given a reality through our understanding of it and our collective actions.


Society Influences You• Death…

Related to society?


Baby Names



Names that have gained the most popularity, 2004 – 2010

...Or, the names I’ll begin seeing all the time in 2022-2028

What Does Society Look Like?

• While the idea of society is familiar, describing it can be difficult. Ultimately society is made up of many different components, such as culture, race, family, education, social class, and people’s interactions.• People who share a culture and territory


Meaning through Interaction

• People actively and collectively shape their own lives, organizing their social interactions and relationships into a meaningful world. • Sociologists study this social behavior by seeking out its patterns.• Patterns are crucial to our understanding of society


Society

•Society is a group of people who shape their lives in aggregated and patterned ways that distinguish their group from other groups.


The Social Sciences

• Social Sciences are the disciplines that use the scientific method to examine the social world, in contrast to the natural sciences, which examine the physical world. • Examples of social sciences include ….?


How Sociology fits in


Levels of Analysis

•We can study society from different levels:•Microsociology is the level of analysis that studies face-

to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how they affect the larger patterns and institutions of society. •Microsociology focuses on small-scale issues.• Ex: Symbolic Interactionism


Levels of Analysis (cont)

• Macrosociology is the level of analysis that studies large-scale social structures in order to determine how they affect the lives of groups and individuals. • Macrosociology focuses on large-scale issues.

• Ex: Functionalism, Conflict Theory


How We Use Levels of Analysis

• Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach to studying issues of power in male–female relationships. • She found that in conversation, women ask nearly

three times as many questions as men do, perhaps because a speaker is much more likely to ask a question if he or she does not expect to get a response by simply making a statement.



•When conducting research, methodology involves the process by which one gathers and analyzes data. •Quantitative research translates the social world into

numbers that can be treated mathematically; this type of research often tries to find cause-and-effect relationships. •Any type of social statistic is an example of quantitative

research.



•Qualitative research works with non-numerical data such as texts, fieldnotes, interview transcripts, photographs, and tape recordings; this type of research often tries to understand how people make sense of their world. • Participant observation, in which the researcher

actually takes part in the social world he or she studies, is an example of qualitative research.


Take Away Points

•Humans cannot be understood apart from the social context they live in (society, culture and time + place)


Take Away Points

•The world around us profoundly shapes and influences who we are, how we behave and even how/what we think.


Take Away Points

•It is the job of the sociologist to understand how this process works and to what effect.


Lesson Quiz

1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a social science?

a. biologyb. political sciencec. psychologyd. economics


Lesson Quiz

2. Sociology is defined as:a. the scientific study of humans.b. the study of ancient cultures and behavior.c. the study of how the brain works.d. the study of human society and social behavior.


Lesson Quiz

3. __________ is the level of analysis that studies face-to-face and small-group interactions in order to understand how those interactions affect the larger patterns and institutions of society.

a. Microsociologyb. Macrosociologyc. Sociologyd. Social science


Lesson Quiz

4. A sense of disorientation that occurs when you enter a radically new social or cultural environment is called:

a. cultural mind.b. culture shakes.c. cultural fear.d. culture shock.


For Next Time:

• How we come to understand the social world• Theories and Theorists• Read more!


Lesson 1 - What is Sociology

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