What is Sociology?
Lesson Outline




What does society look like?
What is sociology?
Levels of Analysis
The Sociological Perspective
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
2
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the systematic or scientific
study of human society and social
behavior, from large-scale institutions
and mass culture to small groups and
individual interactions.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
3
Cool Insights from Sociology
 Humans cannot be understood apart
from social context (i.e. society)
 Society makes us who we are by
structuring out interactions and laying out
an orderly world before us
 Society is a social construction
 An idea created by humans through social
interaction and given a reality through our
understanding of it
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
4
Society Influences You
 Death… Related to society?
-Of course!
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
5
Baby Names
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
6
Names that have gained
the most popularity,
2004 – 2010
...Or, the names I’ll begin seeing all
the time in 2022-2028
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
7
What Does Society Look Like?
 Society is made up of many different
components:
 culture, race, family, education, social
class, and people’s interactions.
 People who share a culture and
territory
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
8
Meaning through Interaction
 People actively and collectively shape
their own lives, organizing their social
interactions and relationships
 Sociologists study this social behavior
by seeking out its patterns.
 Patterns are crucial to our
understanding of society
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
9
How Sociology fits in
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
10
Sociology
 Howard Becker defined sociology as
the study of people “doing things
together.”
 This reminds us that society and the
individual are inherently
connected, and each depends on
the other.
 Sociologists study this link: how
society affects the individual and how
the individual affects society.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
11
Levels of Analysis
 We can study society from different levels:
 Microsociology is the level of analysis that
studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how
they affect the larger patterns and
institutions of society.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
12
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 Macrosociology is the level of
analysis that studies large-scale
social structures in order to
determine how they affect the lives of
groups and individuals.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
13
How We Use Levels of Analysis
 Pam Fishman took a micro-level approach
to studying issues of power in male–female
relationships.
 She found that in conversation, women
ask nearly three times as many
questions as men do, perhaps because a
speaker is much more likely to ask a
question if he or she does not expect to get
a response by simply making a statement.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
14
How We Use Levels of Analysis
 Christine Williams took a macro-level
approach to studying women in maledominated occupations and men in femaledominated occupations.
 She found that women in male-dominated
positions faced limits on their advancement
(the glass ceiling), while men in femaledominated positions experienced rapid
rates of advancement (the glass
escalator).
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
15
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 When conducting research, methodology
involves the process by which one gathers
and analyzes data.
 Quantitative research translates the
social world into numbers that can be
treated mathematically
 Any type of social statistic is an example of
quantitative research.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
16
Levels of Analysis (cont)
 Qualitative research works with nonnumerical data such as texts, fieldnotes,
interview transcripts, photographs, and
tape recordings
 Try to understand how people make sense of
their world.
 Participant observation, in which the
researcher actually takes part in the social
world he or she studies, is an example of
Q__________ research.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
17
The Sociological Perspective
 The sociological perspective is a
quality of the mind that allows us to
understand the relationship between
our particular situation in life and
what is happening at a social level.
 How does society have an impact on
individuals’ lives?
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
18
Using the Sociological Perspective
 In small groups:
 How would you explain the following social
problems using the sociological
perspective?






Obesity
Homelessness/Poverty
Unemployment
Marriage
The metropolis
War
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
19
The Sociological Perspective (cont)
 One way to gain a sociological perspective
is to attempt to create in ourselves a sense
of culture shock
 Sense of disorientation that occurs when
one enters a radically new social or
cultural environment.
 Arriving on a college campus/new school
 Teaching the elderly to use technology
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
20
Starting Your Sociological Journey
 We are called an everyday actor
 We have the practical knowledge
needed to get through daily life, but
not necessarily the scientific or
technical knowledge of how things
work
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
21
Starting Your Sociological Journey
 The social analyst studies the social
world in a comprehensive, coherent,
clear, and consistent manner in the
pursuit of scientific knowledge.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
22
Take Away Points
 Humans cannot be understood apart from
the social context they live in (society,
culture and time + place)
 The world around us profoundly shapes and
influences who we are, how we behave and
even how/what we think.
 It is the job of the sociologist to understand
how this process works and to what effect.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
23
Lesson Quiz
1. Which of the following is NOT an
example of a social science?
a. biology
b. political science
c. psychology
d. economics
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
24
Lesson Quiz
2. Sociology is defined as:
a. the scientific study of humans.
b. the study of ancient cultures and
behavior.
c. the study of how the brain works.
d. the study of human society and social
behavior.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
25
Lesson Quiz
3. __________ is the level of analysis that
studies face-to-face and small-group
interactions in order to understand how
those interactions affect the larger patterns
and institutions of society.
a. Microsociology
b. Macrosociology
c. Sociology
d. Social science
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
26
Lesson Quiz
4. The glass escalator effect refers to the:
a. limits on the advancement of women in
the workplace.
b. limits on the advancement of men in the
workplace.
c. rapid rate of upward mobility for women.
d. rapid rate of upward mobility for men in
female-dominated workplaces.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
27
Lesson Quiz
5. A sense of disorientation that occurs
when you enter a radically new social
or cultural environment is called:
a. cultural mind.
b. culture shakes.
c. cultural fear.
d. culture shock.
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
28
Looking Forward...
 How we come to understand the
social world
 Theories and Research Methods
Introduction to Sociology: What is
Sociology?
29