Chapter 1

What is Sociology?

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Definition of Sociology

Sociology is the study of human behavior in society.

Sociology is a scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups.

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What do the following people have in common?

3Debra Winger (Actress)

Rev. Jesse Jackson

Q: What is the difference between sociology and other social science disciplines?

1. Focus on human behavior 2. Social groups as unit of analysis3. Focus on current social issues or historical

background of ongoing issues

Issues vs. Troubles

Troubles are privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person’s life.

Issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society.

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Auguste Comte

1798–1857

• The founding father of sociology.

• He believed that society could be studied scientifically.– This approach is

known as positivism.

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C. Wright Mills

1916–1962

• C.W. Mills coined the term the

sociological imagination (1959).

– The ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals.

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Sociological imagination

“personal biographies are linked to the social and historical context in which they are lived.”

ex. Brian & Jen’s Marriage

Unemployment Rate

• Unemployment rate 4.5 % (Dec. 2006) 9.5% (July 2010) (Dec. 2006) (July 2010)

• White 4.0 % 8.6%• Black 8.4 % 15.6% • White (16 to 19) 23.2%• Black (16 to 19) 40.6%

Unemployment rate (2008)

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Sociological imagination

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Your life

• COMPLETE THIS

economy

Scientific development

Educational system

law

War/military system

The media

Technological development

• Health Care System• Cost for Child Care• Public Support for Raising Children• Law regarding Credit Card Activity among

youth• Popular Culture (ex. TV, movie, internet) • Gender Roles etc.

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Making hypotheses using The sociological imagination

• Median age at first marriage (the U.S.)1960 22.8 (men) 20.3 (women)2007 27.5 (men) 25.6 (women)

• Murders 43 per 1,000,000 people (the U.S.) 5 per 1,000,000 people (Japan) The United Nations (2000)

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Assignment #1

Assignment #1

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Discussion Question

Describe a trouble that you currently face.

– Why do you think you are facing this trouble?– Which social group do you think is most likely to face

this trouble in our society? – Why? – How is your trouble related to a public issue?

ex. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27teen.html

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Discovering Unsettling Facts

• Peter Berger (1963) calls this process debunking.

– Debunking refers to looking behind the facades of everyday life.

– Berger called it the “unmasking tendency” of sociology (1963).

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Debunking

Ex.

• going to school

• http://www.theknotinc.com/press-releases-home/2009-press-releases/2009-04-08-real-wedding-survey.aspx

• http://www.darndivorce.com/divorce-rates-around-the-world/

• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_current_divorce_rate_in_the_US

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The Significance of Diversity

• Diversity is a central theme studied by sociologists.

– Racial and ethnic groups currently comprise 35% of those living in this country.

– This percentage continues to steadily increase.

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Minorities in the U.S.

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What is Diversity?• Diversity is a concept that includes studying group

differences in society.• Diversity shapes the opportunities one has to:

– marry– go to school– get a job– buy a home– join a religious institution– receive healthcare– live a safe and comfortable life– save a life

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Theoretical Frameworks

• The main theoretical frameworks used by most sociologists are:

1. Functionalism (macro)

2. Conflict (macro)

3. Symbolic Interaction (micro)

– Diverse Theoretical frameworks (macro and micro)

ex. Feminism

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1. Functionalism

• focuses on how each of society’s parts, institutions, and systems contribute to the stability of the whole.

• concerned with the stability and shared public values of the culture or the society

• conditions such as deviance are disruptive to the stability of the society and they lead to social change as the society must find ways to deal with it and re-establish its social stability and order.

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1. Emile Durkheim

1858-1917

• Some of Durkheim’s major work focuses on the forces that hold society together.– He called this force

social solidarity.

• People are glued together by religious rituals which sustain moral cohesion.

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Suicide• Durkheim is well known for his early work on

suicide.– He demonstrated that suicide was not purely a

personal trouble, but that rates of suicide within a society varied by how clear and consistently upheld the norms and customs of the society were.

– He showed that suicide rates were higher in societies where norms were unclear or contradictory.

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2. Conflict Theory

• society is comprised of groups that compete for social and economic resources.

• emphasizes the role of economic force and power

• Social order is maintained not by consensus, but by domination.

• emphasizes strife and revolution as an agent of social change

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Karl Marx

1818-1883

• He saw society as systematic and structural and class as a fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior.

• Marx was a political activist

Marx’s ideas

Marx:• was devoted to explaining how capitalism shaped

society• spoke of economic determinism with a class

system of owners (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat).

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Max Weber ( “Vay-ber”)

1864–1920

• Weber expanded on Marx’s thinking; he said that society had three basic dimensions: political, economic, and cultural, which must all be examined.

• He did not advocate political activism.

Functionalism vs. Conflict Theory

• Hu, Winnie (2008) "As Food Costs Rise, So Do School Lunch Prices" The New York Times. August 24, 2008

• Traffic on campus• Campus book store issue

Weber’s ideas

Weber:• saw society from a multidimensional perspective that

went beyond Marx’s strictly economic focus• believed that sociologists must not project their political

ideas on their students - being value-free.

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3. Symbolic Interaction Theory

• This theoretical framework focuses on immediate social interaction to be the place where “society” exists. – It studies the ways groups of people, cultures, and

societies assign different meaning to behavior, events, or things.

– emphasize face-to-face interaction and pay attention to words, gestures, and symbols.

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Symbolic Interaction

• Study material include things such as: what one talks about, styles and fashion, how individuals develop a self-identity, and the roles one performs.

• Social order is constantly negotiated and created through the interpretations people give to their behavior.

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Cooley & Mead– examined how society shaped the mind and identity

of individuals.– Society is a “laboratory.”– the Chicago School of thought.

39C.H. CooleyG.H. Mead

Question

• Think about the example given about smoking and using a symbolic interaction framework in Chapter 1, how would you explain other risky behaviors, such as steroid use among athletes or eating disorders among young women?

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Early American Thinkers

– Charles Darwin

– Charles Horton Cooley

– George Herbert Mead

– Robert Parks

– Jane Adams

– Ida B. Wells Barnett

– W.E.B. Du Bois

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W.E.B. Du Bois“due boys”

• A black scholar and co-founder of the NAACP, he was deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society.– He envisioned a

community-based, activist profession committed to social justice.

– He also believed in the scientific approach to sociological questions.

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Test Your Knowledge

• Who is the founding father of sociology?a. C. Wright Millsb. Karl Marxc. Max Weberd. Auguste Comtee. None of the above

Test Your Knowledge

• Conflict theory is concerned with:a. micro-level behaviors and events

b. survival of the fittest

c. exploitation of the masses

d. day-to-day interaction

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Test Your Knowledge

• Charles H. Cooley:a. was a slave who studied lynching

b. was the founder of functionalism

c. studied day-to-day interactions

d. none of the above

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Test Your Knowledge

• C.Wright Mills:a. coined the term the sociological imagination

b. saw society as a reflection of its history and the way people behaved in a social context

c. discussed capitalism and the exploitation of the workers

d. all but answer c above

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Test Your Knowledge

• Which of the following theoretical frameworks uses micro-perspective?

a. Functionalismb. Conflict Theoryc. Symbolic Interaction Theoryd. All of the above