Sociology: A Distinct Science

Avoid reductionism – do not anthropomorphize

Society behaves as at a level that transcends the individual.

Durkheim and Functionalism

Society is a stable system. Balance

Equilibrium All parts work together to promote stability and order

Coined the term :"social fact,”

and said we should explain social facts by

social facts, not by psychological

or biological facts.

Trees & Forest AnalogyAtomistic verus Sociologic

• Problems and Issues

• A different research perspective – a different organism

Suicide

• Suicide is not an act that is easily studied by asking individuals –– those who are successful at it tend to be dead, while those who attempt it unsuccessfully do so perhaps as a cry for help, and may not lead us to understanding those who are successful.

• He looked at rates of suicide, and saw they varied by country, religion, gender, marital status, and religious affiliation, but that the rates stayed consistent for each category.

TEDhttp://www.ted.com/talks/

hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html

Football game metaphororganic solidarity

• Individual – plays to win in his role wide receiver –tackle, punter

• Players• Fans bench• Rules• Penalties• Organic solidarity• Anomie• Team – League – Nation

All Science is Informed by Theory

• Functionalism:

• Macro

• Equilibrium

• Stability

• Order

•

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917):

Normal Society?Critical elements of moral order:

The Social Bond•Normative structure (regulatory function) •Integrative function (relation between individual and the group)

FunctionalismEssence of a society==>

Moral order==> "Collective Consciousness"

Social currents push people in different directions, helping determine patterning of behavior.

Durkheim and Organic Solidarity

Societal “Anomie”• Breakdown of normative structure,

rules/norms weak, unclear, indistinct. • No "guidance" for the individual, no

limitations. Society lacks the regulatory constraints necessary to control the behavior of its members.

• A product of change, rapid, uncontrolled, and unpredictable.

• Unleashes the "essence" of the individual--passion for unlimited growth, greed, unquenchable thirst--which can only be contained within the boundaries of a stable social system.

• Without boundaries, limits, norms, individual life (Self and Other's) becomes meaningless-behavior becomes uncontrollable==>Deviance

http://vimeo.com/26492955 Suicide

His findings.

Durkheim: Pathological and Normal Societies

Crime as Normal and Necessary

Functions of Deviance – Boundary

Maintenance – Group Solidarity – Innovation – Tension Reduction

• Dysfunctions of Deviance: Anomie

Functionalism

• Norms as necessary, Deviance as functional. Dispels notion of pathology.

• Focus on the consequences of behavioral patterns.

• NEEDS of the system. (Understand behavior by relating to system needs)

• Deviance (in general) is universal and persistent.