Chapter 1
• 1. What is sociology?
2. What type of things do sociologist study?
3. Why is it important to study sociology?
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Chapter 1
• Define sociology - science that studies human society and
social behavior.
• Sociologists are mainly interested in social interaction how
people relate to one another and influence each other’s
behavior.
• Sociologists tend to focus on groups rather than individual by
examining a social phenomena - an observable fact or event.
• Sociology grew out of the social unrest caused by the rapid
social, political, and scientific changes that took place during the
17 and 18th centuries. The roots of these changes was the
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
• (urban population growth, housing shortage, unemployment,
crime, pollution)
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• Sociological perspective enables us to look below the surface of
social life and examine the factors that shape our behavior our
attitudes and our beliefs in a scientific manner.
• Rather than rely on common sense which often times is
incorrect.
• CAREERS IN SOCIOLOGY
• Why is sociology important?
• Sociology is important b/c help us gain a new view at looking at
ourselves and the world; look beyond commonly held beliefs to
the hidden meanings behind human actions; look at the world
more objectively, being able to see the world through others’
eyes besides our own; see the connection between the larger
world and our personal lives = SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION.
• EXAMPLES
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Chapter 1
• Sociological imagination • 1. help us to realize that the causes of behavior may be different from
what they appear to be on the surface.
• 2. help make us more aware of the fact that our own behavior is the
result of social influences - learned our behavior from others
• 3. help us look at ourselves and the world around us more objectively
• 4. help us see beyond our own day to day lives by viewing the world
through the eyes of others
• 5. help us find a balance between our own personal desires and
demands and those of our environment
• Sociology interested in group behavior of complex societies v.
anthropology focuses on past cultures and present simple societies.
• Economists - sociologists study the effects of economic factors on the
lives of different groups in society
• Political science - SS study voting behavior, concentration of political
power
• Historians - SS similar study past events to explain contemporary social
behaviors and attitudes.
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Chapter 1
• Views of Society
• Functionalist
• Comte - introduces issues of order and change
• Spencer - uses biological model and describes society as “survival of
the fittest”
• Durkheim - seeing society as INTERDEPENDENT PARTS and believed
SHARED BELIEFS and values held society together
• Today - view society as set INTERDEPENDENT PARTS that work
together to produce a stable social system
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Topics of Study
Functionalist
-functions that family and education serve in society
-dysfunctional
-manifest and latent functions
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Chapter 1
• Views of Society
• Conflict
• Marx - society as 2 classes
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Bourgeoisie - capitalist who owned everything
•
Proletariat - workers who owned nothing
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class struggle for power between classes lead to a classless society
• Today •
see competition over scarce resources as a basis for social conflict
leads to change
• Topics of Study
• Conflict
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-forces that promote competition and change
-who possesses power and exercises it over those with less
-decision making in family
-relationships among racial groups
-worker-employer disputes
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Chapter 1
• Views of Society
• Interactionist
• Weber-focus on individual rather than on society as whole
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try to understand individual and actions
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deduce essential characteristics of features of society
• Topics of Study
• Interactionist
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-how individuals interact with each other in society
-meanings individual attach to their actions
-role symbols play in daily life
-child development
-relationships within groups
-mate selection
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Chapter 1
• Auguste Comte (Cont) (1798-1857)- French philosopher,
founder of sociology, first to use the term sociology
• studied social order and changes
• Finding solutions to chaos created by French Revolution
• influenced by scientific method of natural sciences
• 2 BASIC PROBLEMS:
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1.
SOCIAL ORDER = SOCIAL STATICS = society remains
stable or unchanged over time.
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2.
SOCIAL CHANGE = SOCIAL DYNAMICS = elements
within society change in systematic fashion allow for social
development
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• Cerebral Hygiene = keep mind pure and ignore other’s work
Chapter 1
• Herbert Spencer - (1820-1903) English, contemporary to Comte,
civil engineer
• Influenced by Charles Darwin
• Adopted biological model of society
• Society is a set of interdependent parts that work together
to maintain the system over time.
• Viewed society and social change and unrest = natural
occurrences in a society’s evolution toward stability and
perfection
• Believed No steps should be taken to correct social ills“Survival of the Fittest”=SOCIAL DARWINISM
• Best aspects of society would survive over time
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• Emile Durkheim -(1858 - 1917) French
• First to use the scientific method
• Concerned with social order and viewed parts of society as
FUNCTIONS
• FUNCTION = positive consequence that an element of society
has for the maintenance of the social system
• Believed should study only aspects that are OBSERVABLE;
DID NOT consider thoughts/feelings of people.
• First to test theories through statistical analysis
• Shared belief and values as glue that hold society together
(ex. function of religion on social order)
• Studied suicide rates
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• Karl Marx - (1818-1883) German, writer and editor of radical
newspaper was closed down by gov’t
• Believed overall structure of society is heavily influenced by how
the economy is organized.
• Believed that open conflict between the ill-treated workers and
their capitalist employers was necessary in order to change society in a
positive way.
• SOCIETY DIVIDED
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1.
Bourgeoisie (upper middle class) Those who own means
of production = control society
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2.
Proletariat (workers) Those who own their own labor
• Eventually would be an imbalance of power; workers would unite
and overthrow bourgeoisie and build a classless society
• each worker would contribute where able receive accordingly
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CONFLICT was the cause of social change
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Chapter 1
• Max Weber (Vayber) - ( 1864-1920) Germany
• Interested in group within society
• focus on the Effects that society has on individual; deal
with feelings and thought
• Used VERSTEHEN (Fersayhen) method = empathetic
understanding of the meanings others attach to their actions;
see situations through that person’s eyes.
• IDEAL TYPE - essential characteristic of some aspect of
society
• Constructed by examining many different examples of
same thing and describing essential features.
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EXAMPLE:
Ideal type -School - may not be perfect
representation of your school but you would recognize it as a
general description of institution.
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Chapter 1
• CURRENT PERSPECTIVES
• Theory - systematic explanation of the relationship among phenomena
• Scientists develop theories to guide their work, interpret findings
• Theoretical Perspective
• General set of assumptions about the nature of phenomena.
• Sociology outlines certain assumptions about the nature of social
life
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3 THEORIES
1.Functionalist
2.Conflict
3.Interactionist
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Chapter 1
• 1. FUNCTIONALIST = POSITIVE (Herbert Spencer & Emile Durkheim)
• Key terms are STRUCTURE & FUNCTION. Biological analogy....one
looks at the human body which has numerous functions and must be
performed. ex. breathing
• Society needs to perform certain functions to maintain existence. Such
as : populate themselves, care for the sick, goods and services must be
distributed (positive consequences)
• Structures develop to perform functions:
1. Family system - control reproduction
2. Educational system - to train the young
• Structure and function are closely linked and that they are crucial
factors in understanding and explaining sociology.
• Functional Analysis emphasizes the social equilibrium, stability,
integration of the elements of society
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• DYSFUNCTION = NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCE
• Consequence an element has for the stability of the social system.
• EXAMPLE: crime - disrupts society rather than stabilizing it
• FUNCTIONS CAN BE:
• A. MANIFEST - intended and recognized consequence of some
element of society
Example: car - provide speedy transportation from one location
to another
• B. LATENT - unintended and unrecognized consequence of an element
of society
Example: car - to gain social standing through the display of
wealth.
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Chapter 1
• EXAMPLE: Sociology Class
• Why is there such a class?
• Function: to pass knowledge, viewpoints, and information
• Structure: teacher, # of students, set of rules to transmit knowledge
• Functions: provide teacher job, some need to find out how well
knowledge reaching students: TESTS/GRADES
• FUNCTIONAL = attending class; DYSFUNCTIONAL = cutting class
• Manifest - teacher assigns work; student listen, obey, memorize, give
back test
• Latent - train students take orders - become good bureaucrats in large
organization join in the future.
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Chapter 1
• CONFLICT THEORY
• Focus on forces in society that promote competition and change.
• Theorists interested :How those who possess power in society exercise
control over those with less power.
• ex. men/women; different ages; racial; decision making in family;
relationship among racial groups; labor disputes between
employer/worker
• Competition of scarce resource (wealth, status, power, authority) is
basis of social conflict because people must compete for them.
• Once particular groups gain control of resources they tend to establish
rules to protect their interests at the expense of the other groups (ex.
tax laws; black vs. white)
• THEREFORE, conflict results as those with less power and wealth
attempt to gain access and those with it attempt to keep it.
• Conflict leads to social change
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Chapter 1
• EXAMPLE: Sociology Class
• Conflict----TESTING/GRADING;
• creates a system of domination for TEACHER
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Subordinates are STUDENT
• Change of sudden mood after first test
• Competition - scarce resources (A’s), leads to predictable types
of behavior
• Cheating to get good grades
• Memorization - short term - forgotten
• Rivalries between students
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Chapter 1
• INTERACTIONIST THEORY (Max Weber) (known as SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGIST)
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Focus on how individuals interact with one another
• SYMBOLS - anything that stands for something
• Members in society must agree on the meaning that is attached
to it.
• Example: flag, bald eagle
• SYMBOLIC INTERACTION - interaction between people through
the use of symbols, gestures and how people communicate
through them
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• View social life as a PROCESS
Chapter 1
• EXAMPLE: Sociology Class
• Type of interaction: Teacher//student
• Verbal /Nonverbal bit of communication; pass back and forth
• Explaining something difficult; instructor attempts to evaluate how well the class is
getting the point and adjusts the lecture to his interpretations of students’ responses.
• Back corner, student totally disgusted with this teacher and yet class participation is
required.
• Notice how student balances competing values: hostility, deference, desire for an A
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In his gestures: tone of voice, body language, asides to other students
• Instructor may be informal and innovative OR self-confident and secure in knowledge
that he is best teacher in the Western World
• -
Imagine a student who sees herself as an A student and gets a C on a test.
• Change in mood after this test
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INTERACTIONIST : would be interested in how the students’ express it and how the
teacher reacts.
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INTERACTIONIST: the interaction is a 2 way process would be interested not only in
changes in the students behavior but also in how the instructor’s behavior changes as a
consequence of his interaction with the class.
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Chapter 1
• SYMBOLIC INTERACTION – interaction between people
through the use of symbols, gestures, and how people
communicate through them.
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