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Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
What Can I Do with a Sociology Degree?
http://sociology.eku.edu/
http://www.usi.edu/libarts/socio/socdegree.asp
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
DISCUSSION QUESTIONCan anyone in the US really become president?
44/44 – Men43/44 – White 0/44 – Jewish 1/44 – Catholic 1/44 – Divorced
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Structural –Functional Example: Sports
The S-F approach would look at how sports contribute to the operation of society.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Who’s Who in Structural-Functional ApproachAuguste ComteEmile DurkheimHerbert SpencerRobert K. Merton
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Helped establish sociology as a university discipline.
Bonds/functions hold society together (social integration).
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Emile Durkheim
Herbert SpencerCompared society to
the human body.Coined phrase
“survival of the fittest”.
Social DarwinismMost intelligent,
ambitious people rise to the top.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Who’s Who in Social-Conflict Approach
Karl MarxW.E.B. Du Bois
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Karl MarxThe importance of
social class in inequality and social conflict.
We need to study society to bring about change.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Social Conflict Example: SportsThe SC approach would examine the links between sports and social inequality.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
individuals
Symbolic Interaction Example: Sports
The S-I approach would assess the different meanings and understandings people have of sports.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Who’s Who in Symbolic-Interaction Approach
Max WeberGeorge Herbert MeadErving Goffman
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Max WeberUnderstanding a setting from the people in it.
Called attention to the meaning people attach to their behavior.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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?
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
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.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Applying Theory (p. 22)Major Theoretical Perspectives
Sociology, Eleventh Edition
Pg. 22
StereotypesStereotype – an
exaggerated description applied to every person in some category.
Sociology, Eleventh Edition