The Founders
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Culture
Beliefs
Sociological Imagination
Theological
Social Order
Society
Scientific Method
Positivism
Capitalism
Socialism
Communism
Class Inequality
Social Change
Weberian Theory
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Stratification
Social class
Deterministic
Industrialization
Urbanization
Rationalization
Institutions
Value consensus
Social solidarity
Traditional society
Organic solidarity
Mechanical solidarity
Objective knowledge
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 The study of how membership of social groups,
from families through schools to workplaces,
influences people behavior.
 Sociology- systematic scientific study of human
society and social behavior, from large scale social
institutions and mass culture to small groups and
individual interactions.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK5J0-cM-HE
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWD6g9CV_s
c
 Diagram
 Economics
 Political Science
 History
 Anthropology
 Communication Studies
 Geography
 Psychology
 The Promise
 # the Paragraphs
 Read the article once all the way through only circling
words you do not know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBt95kwNV04
 In the margins define the words that you do not know.
 Box words that are important to the text
 Underline the author’s claims and other information
relevant to the reading purpose
 Bracket information that you do not understand
 In your table groups chart each paragraph
 What is the purpose of this paragraph?
 How does this section connect to previous section?
 What does this idea contribute to the overall idea?
 Write Summary statements in the margin for each paragraph
 Each table write what C Wright Mills is trying to convey?
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 How does this connect to the study of sociology?
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 Sociologists are not interested in facts for their own
sake, they are interested in how facts are:
 Created: how to produce knowledge that is superior to
simple opinion
 Linked: how one fact connects to another to create an
overall picture of ‘social reality’
 This involves developing theories that explain how and
why things are connected
 What was the enlightenment?
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 What was the Industrial Revolution?
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 The 17th century was notable in Europe because of
great cultural upheavals.
 This time, called “the enlightenment”, marked the first
attempt to challenge traditional beliefs through reason
and science.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0B28_gwj0M
 Enlightenment Thinkers believed that scientific
knowledge could help society develop from its
superstitious past to a reasoned future.
 The monarchy and aristocracy that rules one of the
most powerful nations in the world were overthrown
by republican forces. (Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire)
 Economic changes included the Industrial Revolution.
 These changes included the development of factories
and machine-based production processes.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhL5DCizj5c
 Why would the Enlightenment have led to the field of
Sociology?
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 Coined the term “sociology”.
 Scientific basis of social order could be revealed
through a new science of social development called La
Sociologie
 Comte argued that all human societies passed through
three stages:
The theological, where order was based on religious
beliefs and controls
2. The metaphysical, a ‘transition phase’ characterized by
upheaval and disorder, where the old religious order
was challenged by the emergence of science
3. The positive, where science and reason revealed the
nature of the social world and replaced religion as the
basis of social order
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 Marx believed that order was created and maintained
by conflict, not co-operation.
 Conflict is necessary in order to produce social change
and a better society
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“The Proletarians have nothing to loose but their
chains”
“The ruling ideas of each age have ever ben the ideas of
its ruling class”
“Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the
sentiment of a heartless world, and the soul of the soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in
various ways; the point, however, is to change it”
“Social progress can be measured by the social position
of the female sex”
“From each according to his abilities to each according
to his needs”
 Re-write each of these quotes in your own words. What do you
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think Karl Marx was trying to get across when he wrote these?
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 The economic relationship during capitalism was
between the owner/employer and non-owner or
worker.
 Bourgeoisie- own the means of production
 Proletariat- workers
 Believed that the capitalist system lead to inequality
which was detrimental to the functioning of the
society.
 Believed that social order is maintained through a
mixture of force and persuasion
 People can be controlled through violence and the
threat of imprisonment or death
 People can be persuaded to behave in an orderly way
through religious teachings that encourage belief in a
higher power and an individuals predetermined place in
the world.
 Class Inequality- In capitalist societies one small group
owns most of the wealth, while the vast majority owns little
or nothing.
 Inequality is linked to stratification – the ranking of
different social classes in order of their wealth, power, and
influence.
 Power is also an important sociological concept
 For Marx- Power came from economic ownership. Those who
controlled economic resources were also powerful across all
areas of society, from politics to religion, to the media
How can these concepts be applied to society today?
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 Well Known as the father of communism for his most
famous piece of work. The Communist Manifesto
 Involved protests against social and economic
inequality in countries around the world
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkBMrFE9p0g
What do you think of the current Occupy WallStreet movement?
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 Helps to understand the role of conflict in bringing social
change
 Competition for scarce resources can have a significant
influence on the way societies are organized
What parts of Marx’s work do you think applies most to the
current society?
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 Criticized for placing too much emphasis on the role
of economic factors in shaping social institutions and
the way people behave
 Focusing on class conflict Marx fails to recognize the
importance of other kinds of conflict that may divide a
society and lead to social change
 Deterministic the behavior of the individual is
explained in terms of the impact of wider social forced
and Marx gives little consideration to the idea that the
individual might choose to act in ways that are
different to those directed by the economic structure.
 Weber was concerned with social change in the form
of how societies modernized.
 Weberian Theory- focused on understanding and
explaining social action.
 How and why pre-industrial societies based on
agricultural production, powerful feudal lords and
powerless peasantry, developed into industrial
societies based on manufacturing and various forms of
democracy
 Social Development once started follows a process of
modernization
Industrialization
2. Urbanization
3. Rationalization-behavior and social organization based
on bureaucratic scientific principles
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 Theory of social action- social change is the result of
individuals and groups acting purposefully.
 Change could be brought by a charismatic leader (Jesus,
Mohammad) who influence others through the strength
of their personality.
 Modernization in Europe was fueled by the ideas and
principals of Calvinist (Protestant) religion
 Protestant Work Ethic-
 Weber can be a helpful counter to Marx’s economic
determinism. Weber believed that factors other than
economics contribute to social change
 Political struggles, ideas and belief systems,
demographic changes, and developments in science and
forms of government
 Conflict is of great importance in understanding how
societies are organized
 In what ways are these two theorists similar in their
ideas?
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 In what ways do these two theorists differ in ideas?
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 Societies could only be fully understood in terms of the
relationship between various institutions- a pattern of
shared behavior that persists over time:
What institutions do you think we have today?
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Family
Workplace (Economy)
Religion
Education
Politics
Media (Not in Book)
Peers (Not in Book)
 Make 7 Groups
 Each Groups will take a piece of chart paper and write
the institutions down.
 Then students will split the paper in half.
 Begin filling out chart, when music stops rotate to a
different paper and fill out, continue around the room
How has my behavior been
shaped by this group?
How has the behavior of
group members been shaped
by my behavior?
 All sociological analysis must look seek to understand what
holds a mass of individuals together
 He regarded social systems of moral entities- something to
which people feel they belong and to which they owe allegiance.
 Society exists in its own right beyond the individual members
 Order is based on value consensus (named after Durkheim) a
common agreement about the things a society, and by extension
every individual in society, thinks are important
What are some of the things we as a society would find important?
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 Suggest one difference between consensus, conflict, or
action approaches to understanding how social order
is maintained. Also suggest one strength and one
limitation of each approach
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 Societies did not just exist but people had to develop
social solidarity- a belief they belonged to a larger group
 In pre-modern or traditional societies (one in which
behavior is characterized by and based on long standing
customs, habits, and traditions)
 Mechanical solidarity- people are bound together by who
they are rather than what they do
 In modern societies
 Organic solidarity- people are bound together based on
what they do.
 Allows for much larger groups but requires ways of making
people feel they have things in common such as a shared belief
in democracy of pledging to the flag that symbolizes society
 The transition from societies based on mechanical
solidarity to organic solidarity represented a major
social change
 He does not write about why these events occur
 Durkheim’s ideas imply that social order comes from
shared interests and values
 No attempt is made to explain how social order is
maintained in societies with deep conflict
 Durkheim’s ideas lack an adequate theory of power
 Marx and Weber discuss how social order can be imposed on
people by powerful groups using resources such as the police,
military, and various means of ideological control- the ability
of the powerful groups have to shape important ideas and
ways of thinking in society
 Sociology as a Science. Sociologists can produce
objective knowledge (facts that prove or disprove
certain arguments) about certain behavior.
 Developed a system to scientifically study human
behavior
 He demonstrated how suicide had social causes, not
simply biological or psychological ones
 Major Weaknesses
 Lack of an adequate theory of power
 His conclusions about suicide helped to promote the
scientific approach to the study of sociology.
 Critics suggest that the statistical data on which the
work is based was unrealiable
 For each of the theorists we just discussed your group will
make a Biographic Poem. Complete as follows:
Name:___________________________________
Four Traits:_______________________________
Who cares deeply about: ___________________
Who feels: _______________________________
Who Needs: ______________________________
Who Gives: ______________________________
Who Fears: _______________________________
Who would like to see: _____________________
Resident of: ______________________________
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