Sociology, Eleventh Edition. What Is Sociology? The systematic study of human society. Systematic...

Sociology, Eleventh Edition

What Is Sociology?

The systematic study of human society .

Systematic Scientific discipline that focuses

attention on patterns of behavior.

Human society Group behavior is primary focus;

how groups influence individuals and vice versa.


What Can I Do with a Sociology Degree?

http://sociology.eku.edu/

http://www.usi.edu/libarts/socio/socdegree.asp


The Sociological Perspective:Peter Berger Seeing the general in the particular.

Sociologists identify general social patterns in the behavior of particular individuals. Individuals are unique but, society’s social

forces shape us into “kinds” of people. Seeing the strange in the familiar.

Giving up the idea that human behavior is simply a matter of what people decide to do.

Instead sociologists focus on the idea that society shapes our lives.

Sociological perspective encourages challenging commonly held beliefs.


Things are not what they seem to be…

Seeing the Strange in the Familiar: CollegeToday most feel that anyone

can go to college.A look at a classroom shows

society’s effects:Age youngClass families with above

average incomesOur Place in History

college wasn’t an option for most a century ago.


Durkheim’s Study of SuicideEmile Durkheim’s research showed that

society affects even our most personal choices.More likely to commit: male

Protestants who were wealthy and unmarried

Less likely to commit: male Jews and Catholics who were poor and married

One of the basic findings: Why?The differences between these groups

had to do with “social integration”.Those with strong social ties had less of

a chance of commiting suicide.Sociology, Eleventh Edition

Social MarginalityBeing defined by others

as an “outsider”.If you are an “outsider”

you are more aware of how society shapes people’s lives.Privileged people often

see individuals as being responsible for their own lives…not the role society plays.


C. Wright Mills’ Sociological ImaginationThe power of the sociological perspective lies

not just in changing individual lives but in transforming society.

Society, not people’s personal failings, is the cause of social problems.Sociological imagination is likely to be

more widespread in times of social crisis.Sociological imagination/perspective is

often used by people with disabilities or racial minorities.

The S.I. transforms personal problems into public issues.

Importance of Global PerspectiveGlobal perspective – the study of the

larger world & our society’s place in it.1.Greater understanding of both a new

way of life & your own way of life.2.Societies throughout the world are

increasingly interconnected through technology and economics.

3.Many problems that we face in the United States are more serious elsewhere.

4.Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about ourselves.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONConfronting the strange gives us a new sense

of the familiar. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz once commented that nothing made him aware of home as much as being in the world’s most remote places.

Have you ever had a similar experience?

What cultures do you consider “strange”? Why?


Benefits of Learning Sociology

1. Helps us assess the truth of common sense.

2. Helps us assess both opportunities and constraints in our lives.

3. Empowers us to be active participants in our society.

4. Helps us live in a diverse world.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONCan anyone in the US really become president?

44/44 – Men43/44 – White 0/44 – Jewish 1/44 – Catholic 1/44 – Divorced


THE ORIGINS OF SOCIOLOGYOne of the youngest of academic

disciplines (1838), sociology, has it origins in powerful social forces:

Social ChangeIndustrialization, urbanization,

political revolution, and a new awareness of society.

Philosophy (500 BCE) came around long before sociology.

Philosophy focused on imagining the ideal society.

Sociology focuses on how society actually operates.

Comte’s Three Stages of Development Theological

People took a religious view that society expressed God’s will. Metaphysical

People saw society as natural, not supernatural. Hobbes – society reflects failings of selfish human nature.

Scientific – Comte used scientific method to study society. Positivism – Comte’s approach – way of understanding based on

science. Society operates according to its own laws. Today’s sociologists cannot identify “laws of society” that allow us to

predict human behavior because human behavior is patterned and spontaneous.

Sociological TheoryTheory: a statement of how and why facts are

related.Explains social behavior to the real world.

Theoretical paradigm: a set of fundamental assumptions that guides thinking.Three major approaches:

Structural-functional Social-conflict Symbolic-interaction


Structural –Functional ApproachThe basics

A macro-level orientation, concerned with broad patterns that shape society as a whole.

Views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

This approach points to a society’s social structure and looks for a structure’s social functions.

Key elements:Social structure refers to any relatively stable

patterns of social behavior found in social institutions.Social function refers to the consequences for the

operation of society as a whole.

Structural –Functional Example: Sports

The S-F approach would look at how sports contribute to the operation of society.


Who’s Who in Structural-Functional ApproachAuguste ComteEmile DurkheimHerbert SpencerRobert K. Merton


Auguste ComteCoined the term “sociology”.Importance of social

integration during times of rapid change.

Belief: you need to understand society as it really is, not what it wants to be.

Positivism – path to understanding the world based on science.


Helped establish sociology as a university discipline.

Bonds/functions hold society together (social integration).


Emile Durkheim

Herbert SpencerCompared society to

the human body.Coined phrase

“survival of the fittest”.

Social DarwinismMost intelligent,

ambitious people rise to the top.


Robert K. MertonManifest functions are recognized

and intended consequences.Latent functions are unrecognized

and unintended consequences.Social dysfunctions - any social

pattern that has negative consequences for the operation of society as a whole.

What is functional for one category of people, may not be functional for another.


DISCUSSION QUESTIONLet’s examine prostitution by using the

structural functional approach.What are the functions of prostitution?

What do people get out of it?Who does it benefit?


Social-Conflict ApproachThe basics:

A macro-oriented paradigmViews society as an arena of inequality that

generates conflict and social change.Key elements:

Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the majority.

Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are linked to social inequality.


Who’s Who in Social-Conflict Approach

Karl MarxW.E.B. Du Bois


Karl MarxThe importance of

social class in inequality and social conflict.

We need to study society to bring about change.


W.E.B. Du BoisFounding member of

NAACP and received first Harvard doctorate awarded to an African American.

Focused on race as the major problem facing the United States in the twentieth century.


Social Conflict Example: SportsThe SC approach would examine the links between sports and social inequality.


Social-Conflict Approach

Gender-Conflict Approach – A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict

between women and men.Linked to feminism

Harriet Martineau – first woman sociologist Documented the evils of slavery, argued for laws to protect

factory workers, and defended unions. Jane Addams

Public activist Founded the Hull House – assistance to immigrants.

Race-Conflict Approach – A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict

between people of different racial and ethnic categories. Sociology, Eleventh Edition

DISCUSSION QUESTIONLet’s examine prostitution by using the social

conflict approach.What social conflicts do you think prostitution

causes/reinforces?What categories of people are likely to be

prostitutes?Why do people become prostitutes?


Symbolic Interaction ApproachThe basics:

A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on social interactions in specific situations.

Views society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals.

Key elements: Society is nothing more than the shared reality that

people construct as they interact with one another.Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of

subjective meanings.



individuals

Symbolic Interaction Example: Sports

The S-I approach would assess the different meanings and understandings people have of sports.


Who’s Who in Symbolic-Interaction Approach

Max WeberGeorge Herbert MeadErving Goffman


Max WeberUnderstanding a setting from the people in it.

Called attention to the meaning people attach to their behavior.


George Herbert MeadHow we build

personalities from social experience.

Dramaturgical analysisWe are actors on a

stage as we play out our roles/lives.

Erving Goffman

DISCUSSION QUESTIONLet’s examine prostitution by using the

symbolic interaction approach.Think about the everyday interactions of

individuals.How would a prostitute be easy to recognize?How would people respond to passing a

prostitute on the street?Would everyone respond the same way?


Social-Exchange AnalysisSocial interaction is guided by what each

person stands to gain and lose from others.People seek mates who offer at least as much

as they offer.

Critical EvaluationStructural-Functional

Too broad, ignores inequalities of social class, race & gender, focuses on stability at the expense of conflict.

Social-ConflictToo broad, ignores how shared values and mutual

interdependence unify society, pursues political goals.

Symbolic-InteractionIgnores how larger social structures, effects of

culture, factors such as class, gender & race affect people’s experiences.


Applying Theory (p. 22)Major Theoretical Perspectives


Pg. 22

StereotypesStereotype – an

exaggerated description applied to every person in some category.


Sociology, Eleventh Edition. What Is Sociology? The systematic study of human society. Systematic...

Documents

Transcript of Sociology, Eleventh Edition. What Is Sociology? The systematic study of human society. Systematic...