SOCANotes (Finals)

84
Sociology Background 1/20/11 2:14 PM What is sociology? Latin/Greek word Socius = Companion / Society Logos = Study of Defined by books Macionis : The systematic study of human society Kendall : The systematic study of human society and social interactions Henslin : The scientific study of society and human behaviour Individual -> society : Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Society -> Individual : People go to university because society expects them to Systematic/Scientific : Application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge obtained by those methods Requires the development of theories that can be tested by research Goal of science o To explain why something happen -> Cause and effect o To make generalizations : to go beyond the individual case and apply it to a broader group/ situation o This involves looking at patterns (recurring characteristics or events) o To predict : to specify what will happen in the future using the current knowledge o applying both theoretical perspectives and research methods or orderly approach) to examinations of social behaviours. Relative knowledge Subject to assessment and amendment as time passes Eg. Divorce reasons do not stay the same – Used to be because of financial issues (no money) but now rising because of financial issues (too much money)

Transcript of SOCANotes (Finals)

Page 1: SOCANotes (Finals)

Sociology Background 1/20/11 2:14 PM

What is sociology? Latin/Greek word

Socius = Companion / Society

Logos = Study of

Defined by books

Macionis : The systematic study of human society

Kendall : The systematic study of human society and social interactions

Henslin : The scientific study of society and human behaviour

Individual -> society : Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.

Society -> Individual : People go to university because society expects them to

Systematic/Scientific :

Application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge

obtained by those methods

Requires the development of theories that can be tested by research

Goal of science

o To explain why something happen -> Cause and effect

o To make generalizations : to go beyond the individual case and apply

it to a broader group/ situation

o This involves looking at patterns (recurring characteristics or events)

o To predict : to specify what will happen in the future using the current

knowledge

o applying both theoretical perspectives and research methods or

orderly approach) to examinations of social behaviours.

Relative knowledge

Subject to assessment and amendment as time passes

Eg. Divorce reasons do not stay the same – Used to be because of financial

issues (no money) but now rising because of financial issues (too much

money)

Page 2: SOCANotes (Finals)

Contains two forces :

Social Statics : Maintain status quo

o Eg. Political Parties

Social Dynamics : Seek change and conflict

o Eg. Women’s movement in the 1960s

Why Study Sociology? Asses the truth of common sense

Sociology promotes understanding and tolerance by enabling each of us to

look beyond intuition, common sense, and our personal experiences.

Common sense knowledge : guides ordinary conduct in everyday life.

BUT, many commonsense notions are actually myths.

o A myth : a popular but false notion that may be used, either

intentionally or unintentionally, to perpetuate certain beliefs or

"theories" even in the light of conclusive evidence to the contrary.

By contrast, sociologists strive to use scientific standards, not popular myths

or hearsay, in studying society and social interaction.

Systematic research techniques (TOPIC 2) and are accountable for to the

scientific community for their methods and the presentations of the findings

Whereas some sociologists argue that sociology must be completely value

free - free from distorting subjective (personal or emotional) bias- others do

not think that total objectivity is an attainable or desirable goal when

studying human behaviour. (but Weber : must apply insight)

However, all sociologists attempt to discover patterns or commonalities in

human behaviour.

Empowers us to be active participants in society

Understanding the complex connections between our lives and the larger

patterns of the society and the world we live in.

Helps us to look beyond our personal experiences and gain insight into

society and the larger world order

Individuals can make use of sociology on a more personal level.

Peter Berger : Sociological inquiry helps us see that “things are not what they

seem."

Page 3: SOCANotes (Finals)

Provides new ways of approaching problems and making decisions in

everyday life.

People with a knowledge of sociology are employed in a variety of fields that

apply sociological insights to everyday life.

C. Wright Mills : Sociological Imagination

Individual ~ Society Link

o The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and

the larger society (both today and in the past)

Eg. One has financial problems, but even whole society has

financial problems

o Allows us to go beyond personal experiences and observations to

understand broader public issues.

o Enables us to understand the link between our personal experiences

and the social contexts in which they occur.

Eg. Divorce (personal) ~ Changing Values (society)

o View own society as an outsider would instead of only from

perspectives of personal experience and cultural bias [ Max Weber :

Value-free],

Eg. American Football vs British Football, Cockfight in Bali,

Distinguish Between Personal or (Social) Public Issues

o Personal troubles : private problems that affect individuals and the

networks of people with whom they associate regularly.

Must be solved by individuals within their immediate social

settings.

o Public issues : problems that affect large numbers of people

Require solutions at societal level

o The sociological imagination helps us place seemingly personal

troubles, such as losing one's job or feeling like committing suicide,

into a larger social context, where we can distinguish whether and

how personal troubles may be related to public issues.

E.g.: sociologists seek out the multiple causes and effects of

suicide or other social issues.

o They analyze the impact of the problem not only from the standpoint

of the people directly involved but also from the standpoint of the

effects of such behaviour on all people.

Helps us to live in a diverse world

Page 4: SOCANotes (Finals)

Promotes understanding and tolerance

New way of approaching problems and making decisions.

Helps us to see opportunities and constraints in our lives.

Development of Sociology : Auguste Comte Founder of sociology : outlined what a "science of society" should be and he called

this new discipline sociology.

Sociology must be scientific

Looking back on how knowledge about society had developed historically, Comte

saw three distinct periods or stages.

Three stage historical development

Theological Stage (Dark Ages)

o Beginning of human history to the end of the European Middle Ages

about 1350 C.E., people took a religious view that society expressed

God's will.

o People understood society in terms of their religious beliefs; social life

and events were seen as manifestations of Divine will.

o Controlled totally by the Church

Metaphysical Stage (Renaissance :15th Century)

o People saw society as a natural (cause and effect) rather than a

supernatural system.

o ¨Thomas Hobbes : society reflected not the perfection of God so much

as the failings of a selfish human nature.

o People began to think of social life as an expression of human nature.

Scientific Stage

o Copernicus, the Italian astronomer

o Galileo, the physicist and astronomer and the English physicist and

mathematician Isaac Newton.

o Comte's contribution came in applying the scientific approach - first

used to study the physical world - to the study of society.

o ¨The discoveries of seventeenth and eighteenth-century scientists

such as Newton and Galileo gave rise to the third stage-the scientific

stage in which science replaced religion and philosophy as the means

of understanding society.

Page 5: SOCANotes (Finals)

Comte : The various disciplines passed through these three stages at different

rates, and sociology was the last to reach the scientific stage.

Represented the apex of the sciences, dealing with the most complex subject

matter: human beings and their social interactions.

Despite the complexity of the social world, however, it, like the natural world,

was governed by a set of invariable laws.

Positivism

Despite the complexity of the social world, however, it, like the natural world,

was governed by a set of invariable laws.

By applying the scientific method to the study of society, sociologists would

not only discover these laws, but could use them to realign the everyday

operation of society (Pickering, 1993).

THUS

Positivism : knowledge must be derived from observable facts, rather than

from superstition, fantasy, or some other non-empirical (non-verifiable)

source = positive knowledge

Applying scientific method to the social world.

Lead to more rational human interactions, improve society

o Eg. Predict likely results of different policies so that the best one can

be chosen

Birth of Sociology Major historical events rarely just happen.

Result of powerful social forces.

Striking changes in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Three kinds of change were especially important in the development of sociology:

the rise of a factory-based roman industrial economy,

the explosive growth of cities,

new ideas about democracy and political rights.

Industrialization

Agriculture and handmade products >> manufacturing and related industries

Page 6: SOCANotes (Finals)

Industrial Revolution in Britain (1760 -1850), repeated throughout Western

Europe.

By the mid-nineteenth century, industrialization US

Massive economic, technological, and social changes occurred as machine

technology and the factory system shifted the economic base of these nations

from agriculture to manufacturing.

A new social class of industrialists emerged in textiles, iron smelting, and

related industries.

A New Industrial Economy

o Middle Ages in Europe : people ploughed fields near their homes or

worked in small-scale manufacturing

o End of the eighteenth century : inventors used new sources of energy-

the power of moving water and then steam-to operate large machines

in mills and factories.

o Labouring at home or in small groups >> large and anonymous labour

force, under the control of strangers who owned the factories.

o Took people out of their homes, weakening the traditions that had

guided community life for centuries.

Urbanization : Growth of Cities

Urbanization : process by which an increasing proportion of a population

lives in cities rather than in rural areas.

Why?

Enclosure movement : landowners fenced off more and more farmland to

create grazing areas for sheep, the source of wool for the thriving textile

mills.

Without land, countless tenant farmers had little choice but to head to the

cities in search of work which became centres of industrial work

People from very diverse backgrounds worked together in the same factory.

People shifted from being producers to being consumers.

o Eg. Families living in the cities had to buy food with their wages

because they could no longer grow their own crops to consume or to

barter for other resources.

Similarly, people had to pay rent for their lodging because they could no

longer exchange their services for shelter.

Page 7: SOCANotes (Finals)

These living and working conditions led to the development of new social

problems: inadequate housing, crowding, unsanitary conditions, poverty,

pollution, and crime.

Wages were so low that entire families-including very young children-were

forced to work, often under hazardous conditions and with no job security.

As these conditions became more visible, a new breed of social thinkers

turned its attention to trying to understand why and how society was

changing.

Moving through streets crowded with strangers, they faced a new and

impersonal social world

Political Change

Europeans in the Middle Ages viewed society as an expression of God's will:

From the royalty to the serfs, each person up and down the social ladder

played a part in the holy plan.

But as cities grew, tradition came under attack. In the writings of Thomas

Hobbes, John Locke, and Adam Smith, we see a shift in focus from a moral

obligation to God and king to the pursuit of self-interest.

In the new political climate, philosophers spoke of personal liberty and

individual rights.

Echoing these sentiments, our own Declaration of Independence states that

every person has "certain unalienable rights," including "life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness."

Huge factories, exploding cities, a new spirit of individualism-these changes

combined to make people more aware of their surroundings.

The new discipline of sociology was born in England, France, and Germany-

precisely where the changes were greatest.

Page 8: SOCANotes (Finals)

Sociological Perspectives 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Sociological Perspectives : Peter Berger Sociological inquiry helps us see that “things are not what they seem."

Seeing the general in the particular.

sociologists look for general patterns in the behaviour of particular people.

o Eg. People marry because they are in love

Although every individual is unique, a society shapes the lives of people in various

categories (such as children and adults, women and men, the rich and the poor) very

differently.

We begin to see the world sociologically by realizing how the general categories into

which we fall shape our particular life experiences.

Eg. In a classic study of women's hopes for their marriages, Lillian Rubin

found that higher-income women typically expected the men they married to

be sensitive to others, to talk readily, and to share feelings and experiences.

Lower-income women, she found, had very different expectations and were

looking for men who did not drink too much, were not violent, and held

steady jobs.

Obviously, what women expect in a marriage partner has a lot to do with

social class position

This text explores the power of society to guide our actions, thoughts, and

feelings.

We may think that marriage results simply from the personal feelings of love.

Yet the sociological perspective shows us that factors such as age, sex, race,

and social class guide our selection of a partner.

It might be more accurate to think of love as a feeling we have for others who

match up with what society teaches us to want in a mate.

At first, using the sociological perspective may seem like seeing the strange in

the familiar.

Consider how you might react if someone were to say to you, "You fit all the

right categories, which means you would make a wonderful spouse!"

We are used to thinking that people fall in love and decide to marry based on

personal feelings.

But the sociological perspective reveals the initially strange idea that society

shapes what we think and do.

Because we live in an individualistic society, learning to see how society

affects us may take a bit of practice.

Seeing the strange in the familiar

Page 9: SOCANotes (Finals)

18 – 30 year olds going to university as society ‘forces’ them to

Page 10: SOCANotes (Finals)

Sociological Theories 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Sociological Theory Statement of how and why facts are related

Explain the behaviour in real world

Eg. Emile Durkheim : low integration = suicide

How to build a theory?

What issues to study?

How to connect the facts

Sociologists make use of three major theoretical approaches:

Structural-functional perspective

Social-conflict perspective

Symbolic-interaction perspective

Structural Functionalism Definition

Aka functionalism and structural analysis, is rooted in the origins of

sociology.

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various

parts, each with a function that when fulfils, contributes to society’s

equilibrium.

Based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system.

The central idea of functional analysis is that society is a whole unit, made up

of interrelated parts that work together.

Main goal

Figure out “what makes society tick.”

Page 11: SOCANotes (Finals)

Auguste Comte and Charles Herbert Spencer : society = kind of living organism.

Comte : need to keep the society unified at a time when many traditions were

breaking down.

Spencer : society = human body.

Society is composed of interrelated parts, each of which serves a function and

contributes to the overall stability of the society.

Societies develop social structures or institutions that persist because they

play a part in helping society survive.

If anything bad happens to one of these institutions or parts, all other parts

are affected and the system no longer functions properly.

This stable system is characterized by societal consensus, whereby the

majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs and behavioural

expectations.

Hadith :

Hazrat Nu`man bin Bashir (May Allah be pleased with them) reported:

Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The believers in their mutual

kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of

the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and

fever". [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

What do structural functionalists examine?

Social Structure

o Any relatively stable pattern of social behaviour.

o Social structure give our lives shape.

o How the parts of a society fit together to make the whole.

Social Function

o The consequences of any social patterns for the operation of society as

a whole.

o What each part does, how it contributes to society.

Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) People are the product of their social environment

Behaviour cannot be understood fully in terms of individual biological and

psychological traits.

Page 12: SOCANotes (Finals)

Believed that the limits of human potential are socially based, not biologically based.

The Rules of Sociological Method : societies are built on social facts.

Social facts are patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist

outside any one individual but that exert social control over each person.

Durkheim believed that social facts must be explained by other social facts-by

reference to the social structure rather than to individual attributes.

Was concerned with social order and social stability

Viewed society as being composed of many parts, each with its own function.

o Normal state : All parts fulfil functions

o Abnormal state or pathological stage : Not all parts fulfil functions

Was concerned about the dangers of alienation, loneliness and isolation might pose

for modern industrial society.

Shared Comte’s belief that sociology should provide direction for social change.

Rapid social change and a more specialized division of labour produce strains in

society.

Lead to a breakdown in traditional organization, values, and authority and to a

dramatic increase in anomie.

Suicide : Relationship between anomic social conditions and suicide, a concept that

remains important in the twenty-first century.

o 3 Types of Suicide

Egoistic

Weak social integration/attachment

Altruistic

Intense attachment to primary groups and strong social

integration gives them something positive to die for

eg kamikaze pilot, terrorist suicide bombers

Anomic

In response to sudden changes, don’t know how to handle

Eg. sudden wealth / poverty

-> Sign of Anomie ie not grateful

o Apakah anomie?!

Page 13: SOCANotes (Finals)

Normlessness

The loss of direction felt in a society when social control of

individual behavior has become ineffective.

The state of anomie occur when people have lost their sense of

purpose or direction in society, often during a time of profound

social change.

In a period of anomie, people are so confused and unable to

cope with the new social environment that they may resort to

taking their own lives

Robert K Merton Function

Any social structure probably has many functions, some more obvious than

others

The beneficial consequences of people’s actions

Help keep a group (society, social system) in equilibrium.

Manifest function

If an action is intended to help some part of a system

Intended/ overtly consequence recognized by the participants in a social unit

Latent functions

Unintended consequences that help a system adjust.

Unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by

participants

o Eg. University’s role in certifying academic competence and excellence

o Eg. University’s role in holding down unemployment and serves as a

meeting ground for people seeking marital partners.

Dysfunction

An element of process of a society that may actually disrupt the social

system/ society or reduce its stability.

Page 14: SOCANotes (Finals)

Consequences that harm a society: they undermine a system’s equilibrium.

BUT still continue because provide certain functions that some members of

society needs, eg prostitution

EXAMPLE of all three in the Industrial Revolution

Manifest : Employment and economy increase

Latent : Boost development in neighbouring areas

Dysfunction : Increase in crime rate

EXAMPLE of all three in Educational Institute

Manifest : Provide education and teaching skills

Latent : Meeting place for future spouses

Dysfunction : Increase in crime rate

Talcott Parsons (Harvard Sociologist) Society : vast networks of connected parts, each helping to maintain system as a

whole (like a spider web)

All social structure keeps society going!

If a part does not contribute, it is not passed on to the next generation

Eg. Physical punishment on children

Focuses on

social structure/institution

o Family, economic, marriage, family, education, political

Structure’s social function

o Consequence of social pattern for the operation of society as a whole

o Eg. Family

Page 15: SOCANotes (Finals)

Young treat parents well = young treat elderly well

o Eg. Political

To enforce rules and regulations, maintain peace and stability

Conflict Perspective Also known as social-conflict perspective.

Society

Composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources.

an arena of inequality (resources and rewards are unevenly distributed

among the population) that generates conflict and change.

Also known as social-conflict perspective.

Continue struggle.

Assumes that social behaviour is best understood in terms of tensions between

groups over power of the allocation of resources

Also, interested in how social institutions may help to maintain the privileges of

some groups and keep others in a subservient position.

People on top try to protect their privileges while disadvantaged try to gain more for

themselves.

The struggle between the “haves” and the “haves not”.

Social structure ≠ promote operation of society

Benefits some, hurts some

Factors

Race : Whites vs Blacks

Gender : Men vs Women

Wealth : Rich vs Poor

Age

Power

Page 16: SOCANotes (Finals)

Education

Social Prestige

Sociological research should not be separated from sociological practice :

irresponsible to do so!

Use the knowledge gained to develop strategies for making society better.

A "good" society is a society in which resources, rewards, and opportunities are

distributed equitably.

KARL MARX (1818 – 1883) Founder of conflict theory

Witnessed the Industrial revolution

Key to human history is class conflict between entire classes over distribution of

society’s wealth and power

Believed that conflict, especially class conflict is necessary in order to produce social

change and a better society.

In each society, some small group controls the means of production and exploits

those who are not in control

Industrial societies : bourgeoisie (small group of capitalists who own the means to

produce wealth) VS proletariat (the mass of workers who are exploited by the

bourgeoisie.

The capitalist class controls and exploits the masses of struggling workers by paying

less than the value of their labour, treat them as productive property

Results in worker's alienation - a feeling of powerlessness and estrangement from

other people and from oneself.

Prediction : working class would become aware of its exploitation, overthrow the

capitalist and establish a free and classes society.

Class consciousness

Subjective awareness of common vested interests and the need for collective

political action to bring about social change.

Shared identity based on their position in the means of production.

Class consciousness worker realizes that all workers are being exploited by

the bourgeoisie and have a common stake in revolution.

Page 17: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Problem at that time : They did not perceive themselves as exploited

workers whose difficulty could be solve by collective action.

For Marx, class consciousness was part of a collective process- proletariat

comes to identify the bourgeoisie as the source of oppression.

Proletariat will overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie and the government

and will eliminate private ownership of the means of production through

workers’ revolution.

Workers must become aware of their oppression and see capitalism as its

true cause.

They must organize and act to address their problems. This means that false

consciousness must be replaced by class consciousness

False consciousness

An attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their

objective position.

A worker with false consciousness may adopt an individualistic viewpoint

toward capitalist exploitation

o “I am being exploited by my boss”

o “I am poor because I am not smart, or have no skills. They are rich

because they are hardworking and clever.”

The force that will hold back the class consciousness and workers’ revolution.

Workers mistakenly thinking of themselves as capitalists.

Superstructure vs Infrastructure

Page 18: SOCANotes (Finals)

Economy as the foundation of the social system

Economy as the society's real foundation

The infrastructure (infra- Latin, meaning below)

Other social institutions in the society are built on this foundation.

Superstructure will try as best as possible to support infrastructure

o Legal protect economy… Burglary laws

o Family… allow capitalists to pass down property for generations

o Religion… allow usury

Page 19: SOCANotes (Finals)

Max Weber (1864 – 1920) Also concerned about the changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

Disagreed with Marx’s idea that economics is the central force in social change,

Weber acknowledge that economic interest are important in shaping human action.

Even so, economic systems were heavily influenced by other factors in a society.

Cannot analyze our social behaviour by the same type of objective criteria we use to

measure weight or temperature.

Must learn the subjective meanings people attach to their actions - how they

themselves view and explain their behaviour.

Concerned that large-scale organizations (bureaucracies) were becoming

increasingly oriented toward routine administration and a specialized division of

labour, which he believed were destructive to human vitality and freedom.

Rational bureaucracy rather than class struggle, was the most significant factor in

determining the social relations between people in industrial societies.

Bureaucratic domination can be used to maintain powerful (capitalist)

interest in society.

Rationalization- “ the process by which the modern world has come to be

increasingly dominated by structures devoted to efficiency, calculability,

predictability and technological control.

Symbolic-Interaction Perspective Society : product of the everyday interactions of individuals.

Sociological framework in which human being is viewed as living in a world of

meaningful objects. (attach meaning to something)

Material things, actions, other people, relationships and even symbols.

Analyzes the society in less general terms and more as the everyday experiences of

individual.

George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) who first emphasized the importance of

symbolic communication for understanding human interaction.

Herbert Blumer developed Mead's ideas into the theory of symbolic interaction.

Page 20: SOCANotes (Finals)

Pointed out that people's actions derive from their interpretation of what

goes on around them, and much of this interpretation is learned through

interacting with others.

Structural functionalism and conflict theory : top-down approaches to the study of

social life and social organization,

Symbolic interaction : may be viewed as a bottom-up approach.

Start with the assumption that culture, organizations, and social structures

are created through daily communications and interactions among people.

Reality is therefore is simply how we define our surroundings, our obligations

towards others and our identities.

Focuses on the process of interaction (immediate reciprocally oriented

communication between two or more people) and the part that symbols play in giving

meaning to human communication.

Symbols as an especially important part of human communication.

Does not have intrinsic meaning

Meaning assigned to it by the people who decide that the word, sound,

gesture, or object has significance.

Draws our attention to the ways in which routine behaviours and taken-for-granted

beliefs help make social order possible

Eg. Non-verbal communication

o Gestures

o Facial Expressions

o Body Postures

Without symbols,

our life would be no more sophisticated than that of animals.

we could not coordinate our actions with those of other people.

Relationships and societies won’t exist.

Symbolic interactionists analyze how our behavior depend on the ways we work out

their relationships and how they make sense out of life and their place in it.

Symbolic interactionists point out that even the self is a symbol, for it consists of the

ideas we have about who we are.

Page 21: SOCANotes (Finals)

Misconceptions of Sociology 1/20/11 2:14 PM

The benevolent interest in people/sociology is particularly humanitarian

malevolent.

Misconceptions Theoretician for social work.

Actually social work in America has been far more influenced by psychology

than sociology in the development for its theory.

Social work is a practice in society BUT sociology is not a practice, it is an

attempt to understand

Sociologists have no values

since Max Weber said that the ideal sociologist should be value-free.

BUT value-free just means that a sociologist should only limit his values to

one – scientific integrity – when playing his role as a sociologist, to control his

bias.

Analogy = good spy report everything and not just what his superior wants to

hear

Sociologists as a social reformer

Auguste Comte : sociology as the doctrine of progress – secularized successor

to theology as the mistress of the sciences BUT died

Sociologists reach to a certain understanding, but these understanding can be

applied with opposite intentions

o Eg. Understanding of racial prejudice : applied by those promoting

hate groups, and those promoting tolerance

Same confusion as social worker

Sociologists as a gatherer of statistics about human behaviour

After World War I : American sociology turned resolutely away from theory t

an intensive preoccupation with narrowly circumscribed empirical studies.

Refined their research techniques , hence statistical figures figured

prominently

BUT important to note that the political and economic structure of American

academic life encourage this pattern throughout all academia, not just

sociology.

Statistical data by itself is NOT sociology

o Only becomes sociology when are sociologically interpreted, and put

within theoretical frame of reference that is sociological

Page 22: SOCANotes (Finals)

The numbers are only meaningful to him only in terms of their much broader

understanding of institutions and values in our society.

Mainly concerned in developing scientific methodology that he can then

impose on human phenomena

Intellectual barbarism : use outlandish jargon in sociological writing

BUT it has to be done because

o Sociology is scientific since its birth

o the English language is extremely limited in its vague nature, so

sociologists have to come up with a precise, unambiguous definition if

his work is to continue with such scientific vigor

o Invent new words to avoid semantic traps of vernacular usage

This affects other fields as well!

Sociologists as a detached, sardonic observer, and a cold manipulator of men.

Image arises ironically with the triumph of sociology’s own efforts to be

accepted as a genuine scientist

Send form etc, never in direct contact with subjects in order to try to be

value-free

So who really is a sociologist? Someone concerned with understanding society in a disciplined way –

operations bound by certain rules of evidence

Person intensively, endlessly, shamelessly interested in doings of men – their

institutions, their history, their passions.

Quest for understanding bring him around the world of men without any

respect for boundaries

Open doors to listen to voices

Doesn’t care of who his subjects are and where they lead him to, as long as he

finds answers to his questions

Wisdom in sociology – things are not always what they seem

Page 23: SOCANotes (Finals)

Sociological Inquiry 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Introductions to Social Inquiry Sociological perspective incorporates theory and research to arrive at a more

accurate understanding of the “hows” and “whys” of human social interaction.

Thus, Social research

key part of sociology.

indicates that our common sense and daily assumptions about the world is

frequently incorrect.

debunking - the unmasking of fallacies (false or mistaken ideas or opinions) in the

everyday and official interpretations of society.

To answer a question, need to move beyond guesswork and commonsense.

To find out, research on every aspect of social life via the use of empirical approach.

Systematic collection and analysis of data.

Aka conventional model, or the “scientific method”

Based on the assumption that knowledge is best gained by direct, systematic

observation.

SCIENCE

A logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation.

Scientific knowledge rests on empirical evidence, that is, information we can

verify with our senses.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum objectivity and

consistency in researching a problem.

Two basic scientific standards must be met:

o Scientific beliefs should be supported by good evidence or information

o These beliefs should be open to public debate and critiques from other

scholars and alternative interpretations should be considered.

Researcher needs to study the reality without changing it in any way, and they strive

for objectivity (personal neutrality in conducting research).

Page 24: SOCANotes (Finals)

Carefully hold to scientific procedures and do not let their own attitudes and

beliefs influence the results.

Requires precise preparation in developing useful research.

Otherwise, the research data collected may not prove accurate.

Two types of empirical studies: Descriptive studies

Attempts to describe social reality or provide facts about some group,

practice or event.

Studies of this type are designed to find out what is happening to whom,

where and when.

Explanatory studies

Attempts to explain cause-and-effect relationships and to provide

information on why certain events do or do not occur.

Theory and Research Cycle The relationship between theory and research has been referred to as a continuous

cycle.

Theory

Set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain and

predict social events.

Attempts to explain why something is the way it is.

Research

Process of systematically collecting information for the purpose of testing an

existing theory or generating a new one.

Helps us question such assumptions about suicide and other social concerns.

Page 25: SOCANotes (Finals)

Relationship

Theory gives meaning to research; research helps support theory.

Theories unsupported by data are meaningless.

The theory and research cycles consists of deductive and inductive

approaches.

Inductive Approach

Researcher collects information or data (facts or evidence) and then

generates theories from the analysis of that data.

Uses reasoning that transform specific observation into general theory.

A researcher’s thinking runs from the specific to the general.

“I have something interesting data here, I wonder what they mean?”

The steps involve:

o Specific observations suggest generalizations

o Generalizations produce a tentative theory

o The theory is tested through the formation of hypotheses

o Hypotheses may provide suggestions for additional observation

Page 26: SOCANotes (Finals)

Deductive Approach

Researcher begins with a theory and uses research to test the theory.

Moves downward, in the opposite direction.

Reasoning that transform general theory into specific hypothesis suitable for

testing.

a researcher’s thinking runs from the general to the specific.

“I have this hunch about human behavior; let’s collect data and put it to the

test.”

Working deductively, the researcher first states the theory in the form of a

hypothesis and then select a method by which to test it.

To the extent that the data support the hypothesis, we conclude that the

theory is correct, if the data refute the hypothesis, we know that the theory

needs to be revised or perhaps rejected entirely.

This approach proceeds as follows:

o Theories generates hypothesis

o Hypothesis lead to observations (data gathering)

o Observations lead to the formation of generalizations

o Generalizations are used to support the theory.

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Qualitative Research

Attempt to study the social world from the point of view of the people they

are studying.

Approach : Relies on the field and naturalistic settings (Process oriented)

Logical Orientation : Inductive

Hypothesis : Generate

Research Value : Authentic without claiming to be value free

o As the sociologist himself cannot be value-free 100%

o Go to the natural setting itself

Sampling : Purposive (evolving)

o Focuses on small groups and communities rather than on large groups

or nations BUT

o Don’t specify how many sample

o Subject will serve your purpose

Page 27: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Don’t extract small number from pool, all will become sample

Eg. People who move out from kampung but stayed there all

his life can still be asked

Measurement : Researcher is primary instrument (insider’s view)

o Participate in all of subject’s activities

Data Reduction : Words, categorizing, themes, observation

o Eg.: A study in which the researcher systematically analyzed the

contents of suicide notes to determine recurring themes, such as

feeling of despair or failure, in the notes of suicide victims.

Data Presentation : Verbatim records of interviews, pictures and personal

experiences of researchers

Data Analysis : Citing/Categorizing/

Quantitative Research

The goal is scientific objectivity and the focus is on data that can be measured

numerically.

Approach : Relies on controlled, experimental setting (outcome oriented)

Logical Orientation : Deductive

Hypothesis : Test

Research Value : Reliability claim to be value-free

o No personal judgement

o Data speaks for itself

Sampling : Random (Pre-determined)

o Aka Systematic Random

o Make use of large samples BUT

o Pre-determined : before start data collection, sample already

determined definitely

Measurement : Psychosocial/Physiosocial (outsider’s view)

Page 28: SOCANotes (Finals)

o No contact between subject and researcher

Data Reduction : Numerical and statistical data

o Emphasize on complex statistical techniques

o Numerical measurement of people’s behaviour

o Generally use surveys, secondary analyses of existing statistical data,

and experimental designs.

Data Presentation : Relationships in graphs/tables

Data Analysis : Statistical inference/estimation

Page 29: SOCANotes (Finals)

Social Research Process 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Social Research Model1. Select and define a research problem

2. Review the literature

3. Formulate the Hypothesis

4. Develop Research Design

5. Collect and Analyze Data

6. Draw conclusion and report finding

Select and Define Research Problem

Aka Statement of the Problem

1st Step : select and clearly define a topic.

o State as clearly as possible what you hope to investigate - that is,

define the problem

2nd Step: Define the problem,

3rd Step : Specify what the researcher wants to learn about the topic. – reason

for doing research, and hence, the direction/focus of the research

Virtually any aspect of human behaviour is subject to scrutiny by sociologists.

May examine macro-level issues

o effects of economic changes on work patterns and racial differences in

marriage patterns.

Or, on the micro level

o stylists' and customers' interactions in a beauty salon and women's

exchanges at garage sales.

o Even at the micro level, however, an underlying goal of the research is

to uncover the links between the individual and society.

Page 30: SOCANotes (Finals)

Reviewing the Literature

Helps to clarify issues and focus the direction of your own research.

Narrow down the problem, identify areas that already known and learn what

are the areas need to be researched.

Pinpoint the questions that you will want to ask and find out that the problem

has been answered already.

Refine the problem under study, clarify possible techniques to be used in

collecting data and eliminate or reduce avoidable mistakes.

Formulate Hypothesis

Hypothesis

o A speculative statement about the relationship between two or more

factors known as variables.

o A statement of the relationship between two or more concepts.

Concepts

o Mental construct/ abstract elements that represents some part of the

world in simplified form.

o Something that exists in the mind, cannot prove existence in real life

E.g.: Society, community, family, economy, social integration,

loneliness, income, religion, occupation, gender.

Eg. Ridhwan T Abduallah

o Sociologists use concepts to describe people as when we speak of

someone “race” or “social class”.

o When formulating a hypothesis, you may need to convert concepts to

variables.

Variable

o Any concept with measurable traits or characteristics that can change

or vary from one person, time, situation or society to another.

o Variables are the observable and/or measurable counterparts of

concepts.

Page 31: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Relationships among variables

Must identify how variables are related, looking into the

relationship in which change in one variable causes change in

another.

The most fundamental relationship in a hypothesis is between

a dependent variable and one or more independent variable.

o Independent Variable

The variable that causes the change

Is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable.

The variable hypothesized to cause or influence another

variable.

E.g.: age, sex, race and ethnicity are often used as

independent variables.

o Dependent Variable

The variable that changes.

Is assumed to depend on or be caused by the independent

variable (effect)

Its action depends on the influence of the independent variable.

Developing Research Design

Means by which you collect your date is called a research method (or

research design).

Some of the research methods:

o Survey,

o field research (observation, participant observation/ ethnography,

case study, unstructured interview)

o secondary analysis (analyzing statistics, content analysis)

Page 32: SOCANotes (Finals)

o experiments.

Collect and Analyze Data

Decide what population - person about whom you want to be able to draw

conclusions - will be observed or questioned.

Necessary to select a sample of people from the larger population to be

studied.

Sample must accurately represent the larger population.

Population

o The target group to be studied.

Sample

o The individuals intended to represent the population to be studied.

o Selection from a larger population that is statistically representative of

that population.

o Random Sampling

Every member of an entire population being studied has the

same chance of being studied.

Represents your study’s population fairly; this means that you

can generalize your findings to the whole population, even if

they were not included in your sample.

o Probability Sampling

Participants are deliberately chosen because they have specific

characteristics

Possibly including such factors as age, sex, race/ ethnicity and

educational attainment.

Validity

o The extent to which a study or research instrument accurately

measures what is supposed to measure.

o Actually measuring exactly what you intend to measure.

o Refers to the degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the

phenomena under study.

Page 33: SOCANotes (Finals)

Reliability

o The extent to which a study or research instrument yields consistent

results when applied to different individuals at one time or to the

same individuals over time.

o Consistency in measurement.

o Yet, consistency does not guarantee validity.

Drawing Conclusions and Reporting Findings

Drawing Conclusions

o After analyzing the data, return to the hypothesis or research

objective to clarify how the data relate both to the hypothesis and to

the larger issue being addressed.

o Scientific studies, including those conducted by sociologists, do not

aim to answer all the questions that can be raised about a particular

subject.

o Therefore, the conclusion of a research study represents both an

ending and a beginning.

o It terminates a specific phase of the investigation but should also

generate ideas for future study.

Writing Report

o Share your findings with the scientific community.

o Review how you did your research.

o Show how your findings fit in with what has already been published

on the topic and how they support or disagree with the theories that

apply to your topic.

o Your finding will be available for replication - that is, others can repeat

your study to see if they come up with similar results.

Page 34: SOCANotes (Finals)

Data Collection Methods 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Survey Reserch Researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationships among facts

Most widely used

Make possible to study things that are not directly observable

o Attitudes, believes, emotions, perceptions

Describe a population too large to observe directly

o Big no. of sample

People who provide data: respondents

Questionnaires

o Printed research instrument containing a serirs of items in which

respondents respond

Statement agree/disagree

Can be face-to-face or phone

Most common is self-administered

Interview

o Data cllections encounter were interviewer asks respondents and

record answers

o Utilize structured interview (standardized questionnaire)

Advantage

o Describe large population without having to interview each person in

that population

Disadvantage

o Respondents may not tell the truth

Page 35: SOCANotes (Finals)

Secondary Analysis Researcher use existing materials and analyze data that were originally collected by

oerhs

Eg. public records, official reports, raw adata by other researchers

Written records?: books, diaries, poems, graffiti

Narrative and visual: movies, tv, adv, greeting cards

Material culture: music, art

Include content analysis

Systematic examination of cultural artifacts or various forms of

communication to extract thematic data and draw conclusions about social

life

o Look for regular patterns such as frequency of topic on TV shows

o

Advantage

o Data readily available

o Chance of bias reduced

Disadvantage

o Data incomplete, unauthentic, inaccurate

Field Research Study of social life In its natural setting

Observing and interviewing people where they live, work and play

Better understanding

Detailed information

Page 36: SOCANotes (Finals)

Can be conducted in two ways

Participant observation

o Process of collecting systematic observations why being part of the

acitivties of the group

o Insider information

o May be biased in interpretation

o Min time: 6 – 8 months

Ethnography

o Detailed study of life and activities of group by researchers who may

live with the group over a period of years

o Longer time

Experiments Carefully designed situation in which researcher studies impact of certain variables

on subject’s attitudes or behaviour

Create real-life situations

Study influence on variable

Cause and effect

Subjects divided into two groups

Experimental

Control

Advantage

Control over environment

Disadvantage

Artificial

Page 37: SOCANotes (Finals)

Culture – Basic Concepts 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Culture Definition

Hence includes what we think, how we act and what we own

Our link to the past and guide to the future

Is learned, shared and integrated

Importance of culture

essential for our individual survival and our communication with other

people

o must learn about culture through interaction, observation, and

imitation

o Sharing a common culture with others simplifies day-to-day

interactions

fundamental for the survival of societies

o A society is composed of interacting people who share the same

culture; interdependent

Page 38: SOCANotes (Finals)

o hold the same values and beliefs, speak the same language, practice

the same customs, and so on

o Members of the society learn this culture and transmit it from one

generation to the next

o enormously stabilising force for a society and it can provide a sense of

continuity

o distinguishes one group from another and gives group members a

sense of belonging

Elements of Culture

Material Culture

physical or tangible creations that members of a society make, use, and share

Raw Materials/Resources (tree, ore, oil) technology Usable items

(computers, books, guns)

o Technology

knowledge, techniques, and tools that make it possible for

people to transform resources into usable forms, and the

knowledge and skills required to use them after they are

developed

Page 39: SOCANotes (Finals)

Concrete and Abstract

important because it is our buffer against the environment (shelter)

Beyond the survival level, we make, use, and share objects that are

interesting and important to us.

Distinguishes a group of people such as their art, building, jewellery,

hairstyles etc

Non-Material Culture

Nontangible or nonphysical products that the members of a society create,

including values, belief , and the language to express them

Abstract or intangible human creations of society that influence people's

behavior.

ways of using material objects and customs, beliefs, philosophies,

governments and pattern of communication

Way of thinking: beliefs, values and other assumptions about the world

Way of doing: common patterns of behavior, including language and other

forms of interaction

Central Component: Beliefs - the mental acceptance or conviction that certain

things are true or real

Relations between the two

Cultural Integration: interdependence among the elements of a culture

ideas spawn new objects, and objects produce ideas.

Non Material Culture

Symbols

Anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a

culture

Shared social meaning

Man have ability to create and manipulate symbols, attaching meaning to

virtually everything

Can change over time

Transmit many kinds of ideas

o IE. Heart, swastika, siren, fist pump, gestures, brands, clothings

symbols may be specific to a given culture and have special meaning to

individuals who share that culture but not necessarily to other people

Page 40: SOCANotes (Finals)

Values

The collective conceptions of what is considered good, desirable and proper –

or bad, undesirable and improper in a culture

Culturally defined standards that people use to decide what is desirable, good

and beautiful and that serve as a broad guidelines for social living

influence people’s behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of

others

central values of a culture are constantly being reinforced in its members,

from their birth until their death

Typically come in pairs of positive and negative values

o Eg. Brave vs cowardly, hardworking vs lazy

provide ideals or beliefs about behavior but do not state explicitly how we

should behave

Beliefs

Specific thoughts or ideas that people hold to be true.

Norms

The established standards of behavior maintained by a society

Norms are the rules of a culture; they tell the members of a culture how they

are expected to behave in a given situation

must be widely shared and understood for it to become significant

o Eg. open door for person carrying things, give up seat, break traffic

rules

vary not only from culture to culture, but also situationally within a single

culture

o Eg. People kissin in public vs having sex in public

1st Categorization: Formal vs Informal

o Formal

Crucial

Generally have been written down and specify strict

punishment for violators

Eg. Laws – codified and enforced by proper sanctions

Page 41: SOCANotes (Finals)

Formal sanctions are clearly defined and can be

administered only by persons in certain official

positions who are given the authority to impose the

sanctions.

o Informal

Less important

Generally understood but not recorded

When people violate informal norms, other people may apply

informal sanctions

Eg. Frown, raise eyebrow

Sanctions: are penalties and rewards (reactions) for

conduct concerning a social norm

2nd Categorization: Mores vs Falkways

o Mores

norms that carry a strong social sanction (such as

imprisonment) if violated because the members of a culture

consider adherence to them essential to the well-being of the

society

strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations

widely observed and have a great moral significance

Distinguish right and wrong

highly essential to the stability of society

o Folkways

Informal norms or everyday customs that may be violated

without serious consequences within a particular culture.

provide rules for conduct but are not considered to be essential

to society's survival

routine or casual interaction

Distinguish between right and rude

pay less attention to folkways

o Taboos

norms so strongly held that to violate them is virtually

inconceivable and offensive

the strongest mores

often brings revulsion if violated

sanctions are severe and may include prison, banishment or

death

Page 42: SOCANotes (Finals)

Eg, Incest, canibalism

o Laws

formal and standardize norms that have been enacted by

legislators and are enforced by formal sanctions

civil or criminal

Languages

An abstract system of word, meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture.

Allow people to communicate thoughts and feelings with one another.

Express Ideas

o Includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols and nonverbal

gestures and expressions.

most complex symbolic system

Verbal (spoken) language and nonverbal (written or gestured) language help

us describe reality

vital to the preservation of human societies because it is the primary means

of cultural transmission,

o the process by which culture is passed on from one generation to the

next

source of power and social control; language perpetuates inequalities

between people and between groups because words are used (whether or

not intentionally) to "keep people in their place. "

reflection of our feelings and values

Page 43: SOCANotes (Finals)

Cultural Diversity & Universality 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Introduction Cultures do not generally remain static.

There are many forces working toward change and diversity.

Some societies and individuals adapt to this change, whereas others suffer culture

shock and succumb to ethnocentrism

Cultural Diversity wide range of cultural differences found between and within nation

may be result of

natural circumstances (such as climate and geography)

social circumstances (such as level of technology and composition of the

population)

Two different types of societies

homogeneous societies: Include people who share a common culture and

who are typically from similar social, religious, political, and economic

backgrounds

o Eg. Sweden.

heterogeneous societies: Include people who are dissimilar in regard to social

characteristics such as religion, income, or race/ethnicity

o Eg. United States

Culture BETWEEN societies, but also variations IN culture within a society

Cultural Universals All societies have developed certain common practices and beliefs

Basic needs that contribute towards survival

Eg. Material Non-Material Culture, Languages, Clothes,

Page 44: SOCANotes (Finals)

Anthropologist George Murdock

Compiled a list of more than seventy cultural universals

o Eg. athletic sports, cooking, funeral ceremonies, medicine, marriage,

and sexual restrictions

He found that these activities are present in all cultures, but the specific

customs differ from one group to another

o Eg. although telling jokes may be a universal practice, what is

considered to be a joke in one society may be an insult in another

Expression of cultural universals vary from one society to another; within a society,

it may also change dramatically over time

Eg. Incest

High Culture vs Popular Culture High Culture

Cultural pattern that distinguish a society’s elite

the beliefs, values, expectations, and artifacts of the society's elite groups

o they are not the whole of what sociologists refer to when they use the

term culture

o E.g. Classical music, opera, ballet, live theater, and other activities

usually patronized by elite audiences, composed primarily of

members of the upper-middle and upper classes, who have the time,

money, and knowledge assumed to be necessary for its appreciation

Popular Culture

Cultural patterns that are widespread among a society’s population

the beliefs, values, expectations, and artifacts of the society's masses

activities, products, and services that are assumed to appeal primarily to

members of the middle and working classes

o Eg. rock concerts, spectator sports, movies, and television soap operas

and situation comedies

Ideal Culture vs Real Culture To recognize the gaps between the "oughts" and the "is's" of a society

Page 45: SOCANotes (Finals)

Many of the norms that surround cultural values are followed only partially

gap always exists between ideal culture and real culture in a society

draws attention to the fact that within a single society there may be multiple

ways of life

competing lifestyles and points of view may also exist

Ideal Culture

values, norms, and goals that a group considers ideal, worth aiming for

made up of the shared values, beliefs, and norms that the members of a

society claim as their culture

o Eg. Success

Real Culture

the norms and values that people actually follow

values, beliefs, and norms reflected in the actual behavior and social practices

of the society's member

o Eg. Compared with abilities, most people don't work as hard as they

could or go as far as they could in school.

o Eg. Drive over speed limit but still consider self as good citizen

Subculture vs Counterculture Subculture

segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of the larger society

culture existing within a larger, dominant culture

Members of a subculture participate in the dominant culture while at the

same time engaging in unique and distinctive forms of behavior

Emerge from the functionalist tradition,

o this concept has been applied to distinctions ranging from ethnic,

religious, regional, and age-based categories to those categories

presumed to be “deviant” or marginalised from the larger society

Counterculture

Page 46: SOCANotes (Finals)

Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society

o reject the dominant culture and may try to change it in fundamental

ways, or at least live alternative lifestyles

o subculture conspicuously and deliberately opposes certain aspects of

the larger culture

typically composed of young people.

o less invested in the existing culture

o have the time to explore counter-cultural lifestyles

o stages in the life cycle marked by a need to assert independence and

establish an identity separate from parents and other generations

o Eg. Beatniks of the 1950s, the flower children of the 1960s, the drug

enthusiasts of the 1970s, and contemporary members of

nonmainstrearn religious sects, or cults

Page 47: SOCANotes (Finals)

Responses Towards Diversity & Variations 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Cultural Lag The period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to

adapt to new material conditions

Cultural change may occur unevenly

Pace

Dimension

Typical: When a change occurs in the material culture of a society, nonmaterial

culture must adapt to that change

material culture changes faster than nonmaterial culture, thus creating a lag

between the two cultural components

Sociologist William F. Ogburn (1966/1922)

referred to this disparity as cultural lag-a gap between the technical

development of a society and its moral and legal institutions.

Eg. technology moves quickly, generating new elements of material culture (things)

faster than nonmaterial culture (ideas, norms, values) can keep up with the pace

Cultural Shock Anyone who feels disoriented, uncertain, out of place or even fearful when

immersed in an unfamiliar culture

Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life

Two-Way Process

Eg. Dogs, Steaks

Ethnocentrism the practice of judging all other cultures by ones own culture

based on the assumption that one's own way of life is superior to all others

evaluating foreign cultures using the familiar culture of the observer as a

standard of correct behavior

Page 48: SOCANotes (Finals)

Ethnocentric person sees his or her own group as the center or defining point of

culture and views all other cultures as deviations from what is “normal”

Positive

creates in-group loyalties

promoting group solidarity and loyalty and by encouraging people to

conform to societal norms and valies

Eg. National pride instilled since young

Negative

discrimination against people whose ways differ from others

Eg. Westerners vs Cow vs Hindu

manifested in derogatory stereotypes that ridicule recent immigrants whose

customs, dress, eating habits, or religious beliefs are markedly different from

those of dominant-group members.

SO how do we respond?

multicultural understanding

cultural relativism

o Viewing people’s behavior from the perspective of their own cultur

o places a priority on understanding other cultures, rather than

dismissing them as “strange” or “exotic”

o looking at how the elements of a culture fit together without judging

those elements as superior to one’s own way of life

o Neutrality

o Downside: may be used to excuse customs and behavior (such as

cannibalism)

Sources of Cultural Change Discovery

Process of learning about something previously unknown or unrecognized.

finding and gaining knowledge about something not previously recognized or

understood

not creations of something entirely new, but rather revelations of something

that already exists

Page 49: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Eg. finding of the DNA molecule and the identification of a new moon

of Saturn

Significant factor: Sharing of newfound knowledge with others

often helped by the use of inventions

o Eg. No new satellites ≠ discovery of new galaxies

Discoveries are made as a result of purposeful study, but important

discoveries can occur by accident

o Eg Christopher Columbus

Invention

process of reshaping existing cultural items into a new form

reconfigure existing material and nonmaterial cultural items through

invention

o Eg. Guns, video games, and airplanes

Diffusion

transmission of cultural items or social practices from one group or society to

another through such means as exploration, war, the media, tourism, and

immigration

o When members of different societies come into contact with one

another, aspects of one society's culture may be absorbed or adopted

by-or forced on-the members of the other

Today, cultural diffusion moves at a very rapid pace in the global economy.

Page 50: SOCANotes (Finals)

Gender Stratification 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Gender & Sex Sex: Biological and anatomical differences between F and M

Mother = X chromosome

Father = X (female) chromosome or Y (male) chromosome

At birth, M & F differentiate by primary sex characteristics (genetalia)

At puberty

o Increased production of hormones results in development of

secondary sex characteristics

Physical traits that identify an individual’s sex

F: larger breast, wider hip, narrower shoulder

M: development of enlarged genitals, deeper voice, greater

height, more body and facial hair

Gender: Cultural and socially constructed differences between M & F

Found in meanings, beliefs, and practices associated with feminity and

masculinity

Most important in defining what females and males are, what they should do,

what sorts of relations do or should exist between them

Microlevel analysis of gender

Focus on how individuals learn gender roles and acquire gender identity

o Attitude, behavior activities that are socially defined as appropriate

for each sex and are learned through socialization process

Eg. Us: Male Tough, Female passive

Gender Identity

o Person’s perception of self as male or female

o Typically established between 18 months and 3 years

o Developed through interaction with others

Page 51: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Thus, most ppl form gender identity that match biological self

o Lead to Gender Confusion if don’t

Body consciousness

o How a person perceives and feels about his or her body

o Awareness of social conditions in society that contribute to his self

knowledge

Eg. Growing up, we become more aware that our physical body

shape subjects us to approval or disapproval of others

Eg. F: Small + weak = Good VS M: Small + weak = Bad

Social Significance of Gender Gender is a social construction with important consequences in everyday life

Leads to gender stereotype: men and women are inherently different in

attributes, behaviour and aspirations

o Eg. M: Strong, rational, dominant, independent, less concerned with

appearance

o Eg. F: Weak, emotional, nurturing, dependent, anxious abt appearance

Social significance of gender stratification obvious in eating problems

o Anorexia, Bulimia, Obesity

o Based on stereotypes, Becky W Thomson argues primary victims are

women

Also, Body building

o Predominantly male activity in the past, now women also

HENCE, Gender stereotype Gender stratification

Sexism Subordination of one sex, usually female, based on the assumed superiority of

the other sex

Page 52: SOCANotes (Finals)

Negative attitudes towards women (eg in work place)

Stereotypical beliefs that reinforce, complement or justify the prejudice

Discrimination: acts that exclude, distance or keep women separate

o Belief doing (attitude, action) Action (discriminate)

Sometimes men can also be affected

o Eg. Men not good cooks

Interwoven with patriarchy and matriarchy

Patriarchy

o Hierarchal system of social organization in which cultural, political,

economic structures controlled by men

o Aka Adat Temenggong

Matriarchy

o Hierarchal system of social organization in which cultural, political,

economic structures controlled by women

o Eg. Minangkabau in Negeri Sembilan

Most societies patriarchy

o Hence, men = natural heads of households, leaders etc

o Hence, Women = men’s subordinates, play supportive roles

Gender Socialization Learn gender-appropriate behaviour through socialization process

Parents, teachers, friends, media

o Eg. Many parents prefer boys to girls because of stereotypical idea

about relative importance of males and females to future of family

and society

Only male can support family

Page 53: SOCANotes (Finals)

Only male can carry on family name

Across cultures (eg Singapore, china), growing number of

female abortions

Parents and Gender Socialization

Parents act towards chilrden on basis of child’s sex

o Boy = perceived less fragile treat roughly

o Girl = cute, sweet, cuddly gentle

o Respond to girls crying more than boys

(hence infence gender role development by passing on their

own beliefs on gender))

Toys refelct parent’s gender expectations

o Boys: Computer games, trucks, sports equipment, war toys

o Girls: Barbie dolls, play make-up, home making items

Household chores

o Boys: Maintenance: mow/cut grass

o Girls: Domestic: shopping/cooking/cleaning

o Division influences future occupational choices

Peers and Gender Socialization

Help children learn prevailing

o gender-role stereotypes

o gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate behavious

Children more socially acceptable to their peers when conform to implicit

societal norms governing appropriateness (and otherwise) of behaviour in

social situations

Male peer groups put more pressure on boys as opposed to female peer

groups on females

o Girls wear jeans etc less riducule than boys wear dress etc

Page 54: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Distinction strengthens cultural message that masculuine activties are

more important and more acceptable

In a way, women are pressured to do masculine things

subconsciousy

During adolescent, peers more effective agents of gender socialization than

adults

o Male bonding that occurs is believed to reinforce masculine identity

and encourage gender-stereotypical behaviours

Eg. male peers tend to ridicule and bully others about

appearance

School and Gender Socialization

Kindergarten Colleges/Universities: School operate as gendered

institution

Teachers provide important messages about gender through

o Formal content in classrooms assignments

o Informal interaction with students

o Early years: teachers very influential due to more time spent per day

with them

o Quantity and quality of teacher-student interactions often vary

between education of girls and that of boy

Unintentional gender bias occurs in virtually all educational settings

o Showing favourtism toward one gender over the other

o Teachers devote more time effort to boys, more praise called on more

frequently

Influence student’s learing AND self-esteem

o Male students focus increase self-esteem THUS more active in class

participation

Mass Media and Gender Socialization

Powerful source of gender sterotyping

Children cartoon adult shos

o TV programs are sex-typed

o Male-oriented

Page 55: SOCANotes (Finals)

Male more aggressive, constructive, rewarded for actions

Female: respectful or manipulate through helplessness or

seductiveness ot get way

BUT in prime time TV, changes in the past 3 decades have reduced gender

stereotyping

o However, men still outnumber women as leading characters

o Men hold key positions, women?

Advertising very persuasive

o Study conducted shows male and female roles portrayed differently.

o Men away from home, shown working or playing outside home

o Women domestic chores

Mass Media and Power and Subordination

o Anthony J Cortese

o Women in advert: young, beautiful, seductive

Sell products, but also influence how we perceive ourselves

and others with regards to issues of power and subordination

Contemporary Gender Inequality Gendered division of Paid Work (workplace)

Industrialized countries: most jobs segregated by gender/race/enthnicity

Judith Lorber: employees are either gender segregated or all same gender

Labor market segmentation

o Division of jobs into categories with distinct working conditions

o Results in women having separate and unequal jobs

Consequence = Pay gap

Page 56: SOCANotes (Finals)

Employers think men hold breadwinner role, thus need more

money

Women only suplemental income

Gender-segregated work affects both genders

o Male enter female-dominated occupations have to justify themselves

o Eg. Nurses, distance from female colleagues, try to get to management

and supervisory positions

Pay Equity

Occupational segragation leads to pay gap

o Disparity between man and women’s earnings

o Earning ratio: Divide women’s income to men’s income to get

percentage

o Women at all level of education receive less pay than man

Pay Equity / Comparable Worth

o Belief that wages ought to reflect worth of job not the

gender/race/ethnicity of worker

Paid Work and Family Work

First big change in the relationship between family and work occurred during

Industrial Revolution and rise of Capitalism

o Marrid woman combines paid work in labor force and family work as

home-maker

Even with dramatic changes, sexual division of labour remains essentially

unchanged

o Married women = home-make PLUS breadwinner

o Thus women less time for housework

Especially families with young children

o Domestic responsibilities consume great deal of time and energy

o Cannot be put off or delayed

Sandwich generation

o Women who are caught between eeds of young children and elderly

relatives

Result: many women forgo leisure time and sleep.

Page 57: SOCANotes (Finals)

Politics & Government 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Page 58: SOCANotes (Finals)

Definition of Concepts Focus: How power is exercised within a society

Who has it

How it is used

Polity:

Social Institution (government) that

Distributes power,

Sets (by leaders of government) a society’s goals, and

Makes decisions

Considered to be one of two significant institutions in society – economic

institution

Max Weber

Every Society is based on power

o The ability to achieve desired ends despite resistance from others

The use of power is the business of government

o A formal (legitimised through laws, rules and regulations)

organization that directs (manages/organizes) the political life

(include marriage, education etc) of a society

o Demands compliance on part of population, but most governments do

not openly threaten their people (unlike authoritarian)

o People respect or at least, accept their society’s political system

Authority Every government tries to make itself seem legitemate in the eyes of the people

Authority: Power that people perceive as legitimate rather than coercive

Page 59: SOCANotes (Finals)

Three Types of Authority

Traditional Authority

o Power legitimized by respect for a long-established cultural pattern

People accept (usually hereditary) because it has always been

that way

Eg. Chinese emperors, aristocratic rulers in medieval

Europe, Javanese Tradition, monarchy system in UK

Power of tradition so strong some people view rulers as almost

God-Like

o Decline as societies industrialize

Remains strong only one everyone holds same beliefs

BUT in US big names like Rockefeller, Kennedy, Bush, so well

established that members may enter political arena with some

measure of traditional authority

o Source strength of patriarchy

Rational-Legal Authority

o Power legitimized by legaly enacted rules and regulations

In operation of a lawful government

o Bureaucracy (system of delivery based on different layers): type of

organization that dominates in modern societies

Erodes traditional customs and practices

Today’s high income society seek justive trough formally

enacted rules of law

o Rationally enacted rules guide the use of power in everyday life

Authority lies in officem not in person

i/o traditional monarch which rules for life

Charismatic Authority

o Power legitimized by extraordinary personal abilities (eg. ability to

influence others, debate etc) that inspire devotion and obedience

Page 60: SOCANotes (Finals)

Depends not on lineage but personality

o Turn audience into followers

Make own rules

Challenge status quo

Eg. Mahatma Ghandi and Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr

o Flows from single individual

Hence, leader’s death creates crisis

Survival requires

Routinization of charisma: transformation of

charismatic authority into some combination of

traditional and bureaucratic authority

Ie. Leaders led by descendent

Eg. Gandhi and children, Pope and 4 cardinals

Theoretical Analysis of Power Three Competing Models of power in society

Pluralist Model: The People Rule

o Closely linked to structural-functional theory

o Power spread among many competing interest goups

Ie. Power equally distributed, people some voice in system

o Politics is an arena of negotiation (give and take) with limited

resources no organization can hope to achieve all of its goals

o Hence, operate as veto groups:

Realize success but

Mostly keep opponents from achieving all their ends

o Political process rely heavily on

Page 61: SOCANotes (Finals)

creating alliances

creating compromises among numerous interest groups so

policies garner support

Power-Elite Model: Few People Rule

o Power concentrated amongst the Rich

(small upper class hold most of society’s wealth, prestige and

power)

o Coined by C. Wright Mills

o Members of power-elite hold 3 major sectors of society

Economy: Super Rich

Government: Top Politicians

Military: Highest Ranking Officers

o Move from one sector to another, building power as they go

Eg. Dick Cheney: Corporate Federal

Eg. Colin Powell: Military Federal

o Argue that US is NOT a democracy due to voice of elite overwhelming

average perons’s voice

Marxist Model: System is Biased

o Explains politics in terms of society’s economic system

US ≠ political democracy

o Bias rooted in system especially economy

Karl Marx: Economy shape politics (infra shape supra)

Hence, power elites appear due to economy

o Reforming political system ≠ true democracy

Problem lie not in people but in system

Page 62: SOCANotes (Finals)

Aka ‘political economy of capitalism’

As long as capitalist economy, most peple will shut out of

politics

War and Peace Most crucial political issue

Definition of War:

Organized (ie has tactics)

armed conflict (verbal fighting ≠ war) a

among the people of two or more nations

directed by their government

As old as humanity

o Even in Islamic History

o But undst crucial today as humanity now has weapons to destroy

entire planet ie. nuclear bomb

Quincy Wright’s Five Factors that Promote War

Perceived Threat

o Response to perceived threat

Eg. War in Iraq

Eg. Prophet realized threat from Roman Empire due to Jewish

spies

Social Problems

o Too much internal problems, divert public attention by attacking

external enemy – aka scapegoating

Page 63: SOCANotes (Finals)

Eg. War on Iraq divert attention from bad economy and

boost popularity of Bush

Political Objectives

o End foreign domination: Vietnam

o Increase global standing: Powerful nations ie US

Moral Objectives

o IE. Moral justification

Something bad will happen if war does nt happen

Rationalize their cause of war due to moral objectives: morally

it is good

o Leaders infuse military campaign with moral urgency

Eg. War of Iraq: Liberate from evil tyrant

Absence of Alternatives

o Series of negotiations/diplomatic arrangements still not solved

war

o Least favoured reason for leaders

Eg. North vs South Korea

UN supposed to find alternatives, but has limited success

Recent Approaches to Peace

Deterrence

o Balance of terror between superpowers

o Basic Principle : Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD, memang gila)

Page 64: SOCANotes (Finals)

Side launching first-strike against the other will face greater

retaliation

Policy kept peace between US and Soviet Union for 50 years

during more than 50 years of cold war

High-Technology Defence

o Tech = create weapons AND proetct

o Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Eg. Satellites and ground installations destroy enemy missles

once launched

o However critics say this will spark another arms race

Diplomacy and Disarmament

o Best path

Teams of diplomats work togethrer can increase security by

Reducing weapon stockpiles

o Limitiations

No nation wants to weaken and let down its defenses

Success depends on successful diplomacy

Eg. Countries sign contract to disarm, but so far none

done

Resolve underlying conflict

o Promote a more just world

Eradicate poverty, hunger. Illiteracy

Islamic Perspective

Page 65: SOCANotes (Finals)

Islam ≠ Machiavellian style politics

End does not justify means

Politics of principles and values (QS)

o Must be adhered to

o Not relinquished even in most difficut times

o Rejects dirty means even if the intent reach noble ends

“Allah is noble and accept nothing but noble actions” (Muslim)

Relationship btween states and citizens,

Leaders to govern afffairs of Muslims with honesty and justice

A binding obligation to put things in right place

o [4:58] Allah does command you to render back your Trusts to those to

whom they are due; and when you judge between women and men,

judge with justice…

Not lawful to favor relatives or commisison him with somethin unduly while

depriving the deserving

o “… By Allah, if Fatimah Bint Muhammad were to commit theft, I myself

would chop of her hand” (all)

Islamic Politics grounded

Justice

Fariness

Equality

With regards to rights, responsibilities and penalties

Based on truth and frankness of people about reality

o Allah will not look upon the untruthful ruler (Muslim)

International Relations

Fulfill treaties and respect its word

Treaties and agreements must be based on sincereity and truthful intetntion,

without dishonesty and swindling intending to take advantage

o Both must benefit

o Even between muslim and non-muslim

Page 66: SOCANotes (Finals)

Population and Urbanization 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Page 67: SOCANotes (Finals)

Definition of Concepts 12 000 years ago, earth populace; 5 million

today, earth populace: 6.7 billion

Demography: The Study of human population

Studies

o Causes

o Consequences

o How-ness

How

o Collect statistics

o Raise impt questions about the effect of population growth

o Suggest how it might be controlled

Fertility

Incidence of child-bearing in a country’s population

Menstruation menopause: >20 Children

o But fecundicity (max possible child bearing) sharply reduced by

cultural norms, finances and personal choice

Described using crude birth rate

o (Number of live birth in a year / society’s total population) X 1000

Mortality

Incidence of death in a country’s population

Page 68: SOCANotes (Finals)

Measured using crude death rate

o (Number of deaths in a year / society’s total populatin) X 1000

Infant Mortality Rate :

o (Number of deaths among infants under one year of age / 1000 live

births in a given year)

o Low infant mortality greatly raises life expectancy:

Average life span of a country’s population

Migration

Movement of people in (migration) and out (emigration) of a specified

territory

All nations experience internal migration

o Movement within their borders from one region to another

o Eg. Kelantan Kuala Lumpur

Sometimes voluntary

o Eg. education, employment

Others involuntary

o Eg. Famine/food shortage, natural disasters

Population Growth

Fertility + Mortality + Migration rate = affect size of society’s population

o Aka Population growth

o Rich nations depend on migration and fertility, poorer nations depend

almost wholly from fertility

Population Composition

Page 69: SOCANotes (Finals)

Makeup of society’s populaion at a given point of time

o Sex ratio: number of males/100 females

In urban (US), usually less males than females

In villages (India), more males than females as more value

Ideal population looks like pyramid!

Urbanization: Growth of cities Definition: Concentration of Population into cities (process)

Redistributes population within society and transforms many patterns of

social life

Three ways how cities evolves

1st Phase: Move from one place to another (hunting and gathering)

o Forced people to move all the time

Food supply finish move

o However, once people discovered how to domesticate nimals and

cultivate crops, they were able to permanently reside in one place

Raising own food material surplus freed some people

from food production and allowed to build shelters, make tools,

weave cloth, take part in religious rituals

HENCE, emergence of cities lead to highter standards of livings

and job specialization

o First city recorded: Jericho (within Israel) aka West Bank

600 people tens of thousands center of vast empires

2nd Phase: Agrarian (permanent stay)

o Pre-Industrial European Cities

o Date back some 5000 years to Greeks and later Romans

o Created great empires and founded magnificent cities acrss Europe

Page 70: SOCANotes (Finals)

Eg. Vienna, Paris, London

o Fall of Roman Empire Dark Ages

People withdrew into defensive walled settlements

Warlords fought for territory

Only in 11th century peaceful; trade flourished and cities grew

o Medieval cities different from those familiar to us today

Churches centre of city

Narrow and zig zag streets filled with merchants, artisans,

priests, peddlers, nobles, servants

Guilds: Occupational groups clusterd together in district

sections/quarters

o Ethnicity play an important role

Ghetto: neighbourhood in which Jews of Venice were

segragated

3rd Phase: Industrial Cities

o Increasing commerce Enriched new urban middle class

(bourgeoisie, towns people)

Rivaled heriditary of autocracy

o 1750: Industrial Revoluion in Europe, North America

Factories flourished, cities grow bigger than ever

Changed shape as well

Broad straight boulevards to handle increasing flow of

commercial traffic

Cities devloped into regular-sized lots, land was not a

commodity to be bought and sold

Center of city = bustling central business district

More crowded and impersonal

Increase in crime rates

Industrialists live in grand style at otutset of city

Page 71: SOCANotes (Finals)

Most men women and children barely survived

in factories

Organized efforts brought about chnges

Workplace, housing, right to vote

Public services: water, sewerage, electricity

Urbanism as a Way of Life Ferdinand Tonnies

Late 19th century, German Sociologist

Developed two important concepts (difference in industrial and rural life)

Gemeinschaft aka community

o Type of social organization in which people are closely tied by kinship

and tradition

(actions based by cultural tradition source of do’s and don’ts)

Families lived for generations in small villages and towns were

bound together in hardworking, slow-moving way of life

People entertained themselves by gathering, sharing stories,

sorrows, songs

Lack rapid transporation: people knew little of world beyond

hometown

Inevitable tension and conflicts, but due to spirit of

gemeinschaft, people essentially united in spite of all

separating factors

Gesellschaft aka association

o Type of social organization in whichh people come together only on

basis of individual self-interest

Motivated by own needs instead of beinging well-being to

everyone

Little sense of community or common identity

Look to others only when need something

Urbanization weakened close, long lasting social relations in

favour of brief impersol ties

Page 72: SOCANotes (Finals)

Emile Durkheim

Organic Sociology: Society akin to biological organism

Various organs play difference functions for health and maintanence of whole

society

o Interrelated, but certain parts more important than others

Hence view social system as a whole

o Interrelation of parts instead of divisions and opposed interests

Concentrate on maintenance of social order ie moral integration

o Relatively simple in small-scale pre-industrial communities

o Closeness of interpersonal relations helped maintained moral

integration

But industrial societies with many social diviions due to

expanding division of labour moral integration problematic

Societies must move from mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity in Industrial

Societies

Mechanical solidarity: social bonds based on common sentiments and

shared moral values

Organic solidarity: social bonds based on specialization and

interdependence

Possible only through occupational organization or guilds

o Within each, moral principles could be established regarding rights

and duties of workers and employers

Thus in industrial society, need for more social differentiation, but this don’t

mean social disorganization

Page 73: SOCANotes (Finals)

Ibn Khaldun 1/20/11 2:14 PM

Ibn Khaldun: Urbanization and Urbanism Expected social phenomenon

Goal of badw who aspire to lead a life of ease, tranquility and luxury

First stage of existence : Establish a city through trade and commercial lead to

Second stage: Maturity (Development)

Third stage: Senility (Downfall)

Town Planning

Accessible Place

o Rugged/rocky hill surrounded by sea or river

o Reached only by crossing some form of bridge (one entrance point)

o Making an enemy overtake difficult

Air or atmosphere should be safe from illness

o Must be flowing water or river

o Confirmed by direct observaion

Adequate transportation facilities

o River or sea

o Import useful and essential things

Springs with fresh water

o Fulfill need of inhabitants

Good pastures or fields for livestock of inhabitants

Page 74: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Food supply

Fields suitable for cultivation near residential areas

o Purpose of agricultural activies

o Food supply

Construction of cities cannot be achieved except through

United effort

Great number of workers

Cooperation of wrokers and craftsmen

o High quality architectural city

Use of machine

o Multiplu power and strength neeede to carry loads required in

building

Engineering skill

Reasons for migration

Conquest

o Settlement of conquerers

Luxury

o Attract individuals to urban areas

Satisfaction of human needs by utilizing many facilities whch city provides

o Clean water, better sewer, electric, community amentities

Economy pull

o Better employment = better income

Dependence of people on support and protection of a powerful state

Page 75: SOCANotes (Finals)

o Better protection system can only be found in urban areas

Demography

City grows inhabitants increase in number

City needs to take account of needs, especially if living in crowded conditions

o People compete for space (land)

Hence, city neesds to extend to areas previously not utilized for living

Decline of urban population

o Coercion of subjects by bad govertment

Occurs when revenues decrease

o Numerous famines

Bad government never cultivate soil

o Plagues

Polluted air due to large population

Destruction of city

Corruption

Excessive luxury

Weakening of religious influence

Disappearance of asabiyyah (strong social bond)

Reliance on strangers for protection work