Survey Course - An academic course consisting of an overview of a broad topic or
field of knowledge.
Thinking Like Sociologist
Sociology is the study of group life. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups,
organizations, and societies.
Besides helping the sociology student get an overview of the topic covered in sociology,
a sociology survey course should help students begin to think like a sociologist.
A sociologist observes individuals in groups to try and recognize patterns of interactions.
When a sociologist observes an often-repeated pattern of interaction, they give it a
label (terminology).
Example, (Sociology, Culture, p. 245), Sociologists observed that a lot of the interactions
of humans in groups was learned and most of that learning was socially transmitted by
parents, schools, churches, etc. They labeled all this learning culture. Sociologists
expanded the concept of culture when they began to notice that socially transmitted
learning tended to fall into four major areas – customs, knowledge, material objects,
and behaviors. In the chapter, Culture, the information is organized around these four
areas of social learning – customs, knowledge, material objects, and behaviors. Here is
how the concept of culture is introduced in the chapter on culture:
“Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge,
material objects, and behaviors.” (p.245)
The rest of the chapter is organized around what sociologists have observed about
culture and those four areas of socially transmitted learning.
Example, (Sociology, Culture, Norms, p.255-), we find that sociologists have observed
and labeled behaviors that are widely shared and understood in a society for which
standards of behavior have been established. They gave these standards of behavior the
label of norms. So, to think like a sociologist while learning about sociology, one must
begin to recognize that the concepts to be learned in sociology were developed by
observing the interaction of individuals and groups and when a widely repeated pattern
is observed, it is given a label. A label (terminology) has the function of holding a lot of
related information with a single word. For a simple example, think about all the things
you know about cats, yet you don’t have to say all those things to communicate about
cats; you merely say “cat” and all the things one knows about cats is conveyed by the
word cat. As you learn about all the customs, knowledge, material objects, and
behaviors that make up culture, you will find that they all have labels (terminology) and
that these labels hold the patterns of observed interactions of individuals and groups.
“Norms are the established standards of behavior maintained by a society. For a
norm to become significant, it must be widely shared and understood. For
example, in movie theaters in the United States, we typically expect people will
be quiet while the film is shown….” (p. 255)
“Mores are norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society, often
because they embody the most cherished principles of a people. Each society
demands obedience to its mores; violation can lead to severe penalties. The
United States has strong mores against murder.” (p.255)
“Folkways are norms governing everyday behavior. Society is less likely to
formalize folkways than mores, and their violation raises comparatively little
concern. Ex. walking down an elevator.” (p. 255)
If we back track from norms to culture, we see that norms are about the behaviors that
are socially transmitted, which helps make up the concept of culture.
Thinking Like a Sociologist – Categorizing and Classifying
In sociology survey textbook the writer(s) have organized the observations and labels
for those observations that sociologists have generally agreed upon. For example, under
the concept culture (all socially transmitted learning), which includes learned behaviors,
we find the concept of norms (rules or guidelines about how to act), and under norms,
we find the concepts of folkways and mores, which are specific types of norms or rules
about how to act. What the sociology textbook writer is doing is categorizing the
observed and labeled information for you. Here is how Zwiers explains how categorizing
can be used by readers in well organized textbooks:
“Categorizing happens when a learner already has a category name, such as a
title, heading, main idea, group label, or summary. The learner then finds
information to fit under this category name. Finding information to fit under a
category involves looking for facts (analysis), traits, and examples that have the
“commonality” described by the category title. (In the example above folkways
and mores are types of norms because they are both specific types of rules or
guidelines for behavior). This type of organization (i.e., this thinking process) is
very common in textbooks – but it does not help much if learners do not notice
or think about the textbook’s headings or subheadings and how they connect to
the text that follows. (In other words, the student may memorize definitions, but
fail to think like a sociologist.)
Categorizing is heavily dependent on a learner’s ability to analyze, because it
through analysis that one breaks down the concept to see if it has the traits or
conditions required to fit under the category in question” (Analysis, do folkways
and mores have the traits or condition of norms, and does norms have the traits
and conditions of culture?) (Zwiers).
Categorizing is one of the most import ways that readers should be understanding and
organizing what they are learning. For information the reader is learning, understanding
the information in the context of a conceptual framework is crucial to later transfer of
that information and the ease of learning related information. It is the key to
developing competence in an area of inquiry, such as sociology.
Categorizing and Classifying By Comparing and Contrasting Concepts.
Remember: Categorizing is about finding information to fit under a category involves
looking for facts (analysis), traits, and examples that have the “commonality”
(comparing and contrasting) described by the category title, and classifying is about
building knowledge and interpretations that are very largely a process of defining
boundaries between conceptual classes (by comparing and contrasting), and of labeling
those classes and the relationship between them (synthesizing)” For example, the
commonalities of folkways and mores are that they re norms (rules for how to act); that
is categorizing. The boundaries that separate folkways and mores are seriousness with
which a group takes the expected behavior.
Anatomy is the study of the structure of the human body.
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. It is a subcategory of biology.
In physiology, the scientific method is applied to determine how organisms, organ
systems, organs, cells and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical function that
they have in a living system. Human physiology is the science of the mechanical,
physical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells
of which they are composed.
Business: This is an introductory course in the basics of understanding business and
business principles and practices. Major topic areas include business trends, business
ownership, business management, management of human resources, marketing,
decision-making, information technology, and managing financial resources.
Psychology is the study of mental and behavioral characteristics of an individual or
group.
Anthropology is the study of the science of human beings; especially the study of
human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical
character, environmental and social relationships, and culture.