Sociology
Chapter 1: The Sociological Point of View
Section 1: Examining Social Life
Science
Natural: examine &
analyze the natural
world
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Geology
Social: examine & analyze
the social world or the
world of human beings
Psychology Anthropology History
Economics
Sociology
Political Science
Sociology = the social science that studies human society and social behavior.
- Study social interaction:
1. how people relate to one another
2. how people influence each other’s behavior
- Focus on the group over the individual.
- Looks at social life in a scientific, systematic way (beyond common belief).
Assumptions of the Sociological Perspective:
1. All people are social beings.
2. Behavior is influenced by social factors.
3. Behavior is learned from others.
4. There is more than one view of social reality.
social reality  accepted social beliefs/doctrines of a community.
* People talk, act, live, think, do things differently based on their community,
culture, or historic time period.
5. A sociological perspective can help a person find an appropriate balance between
personal desires and demands of his/her social environment (to avoid conflict while
facilitating personal growth).
Sociologist C. Wright Mills  Sociological Imagination
“the capacity to range from the most impersonal and remote topics to the most intimate
features of the human self – and to see the relations between the two.”
- an ability (needed to properly understand sociology as a discipline) to see a connection
between the larger world and one’s own personal life.
Sociological Imagination
American Sociological Association (ASA):
- established 1905.
- a national organization that can promote the interests of sociology to the
American public.
- shares new research and ideas in the field of sociology and promotes the
teaching of sociology.
- annual conventions and publish professional journals.
Other Social Sciences: all have a lot of overlap with sociology
- Anthropology: Comparative study of past and present cultures. Focuses more on past
and present simple societies and the evolution of man.
Sociology differs: Focuses on more complex societies and their features.
- Psychology: behavior and thinking of humans.
Sociology differs: Psych focuses more on the individual, socio on the group.
- Economics: study of choices people make to satisfy needs and desires and government
policy’s influence on society’s financial stability; examines which goods and services are
produced, distributed, and consumed.
Sociology differs: Although they study similar topics, Sociology is broader in
scope.
- Political Science: focuses on the organization of the government.
Sociology differs: Similar areas of interest, but sociology is broader.
- History: study of past events
Sociology differs: Sociology looks at past events to explain current social
phenomena.
- Example: The Great Depression
Economics: Looks at financial reasons
Political Science: Looks at the government policies and actions
History: Looks at events leading up to it
Psychology: Looks at how people coped with it and the effects it had on people.
Sociology: Looks at the social and cultural factors
Section 2: Sociology: Then & Now
Factors that Lead to the Development of Sociology (1800’s):
1. Quick social/political changes in Europe from the Industrial Revolution
- Rural economy (farms and cottage industries) changed to large-scale production
of the factory.
- The growth of factories then lead to the growth of cities (People moved near the
factories for work.).
2. Urbanization created social problems.
- unemployment – More people sought jobs than those available.
- housing shortages
- increased crime
- pollution
- difficulties adapting from the small community (based on personal relationships)
to the impersonal city life.
3. Political movements stressing individual rights – the right of freedoms and rights for
the citizen over those of the society as a whole.
Early sociologists believed that the social world was based on a set of basic principles
that could be studied and analyzed through the use of scientific research methods.
-The Scientific Method: a systematic way to ask and answer scientific questions
by making observations and conducting experiments.
- relies on first hand experience rather than speculation or second-hand
knowledge.
- attempts to find cause and effect relationships in nature: An experiment
is designed so changes in one variable causes another variable to change in
a predictable way.
- Steps:
1. Ask a question.
2. Do background research (previous studies).
3. Construct a hypothesis – an educated guess about what will happen (an
if, then statement).
4. Test hypothesis by conducting a well-planned experiment.
5. Analyze the data (Did the hypothesis get validated?) and draw a
conclusion.
6. Communicate your results – publish them for the scientific community.
Early Sociology
Auguste Comte (French, 1798-1857)
- Founder of Sociology as a discipline; he named it.
- One of the first scholars to apply principles and methods of physical science to
study social life.
- Focused on social order and social change to reform society.
- social statics – processes that hold society together (social order)
- social dynamics – society changes through definite processes (social change)
Herbert Spencer (English, 1820-1903)
- Influenced by Charles Darwin, the pioneer in evolution from the 1800’s and
applied his ideas to society – biological perspective.
- Society is a set of interdependent parts that work together to maintain the system
over time.
- Social change and unrest are natural occurrences in a society as it evolves to
stabilization and perfection.
- “Survival of the Fittest” – based on Darwin. Here, only the fittest societies
would survive over time.
- Spencer’s view of society became known as “Social Darwinism,” which gained
popularity in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s to support several political policies and
actions.
* unrestricted capitalism: under a system of unregulated competition, the \
most able people would rise to the top of the society.
* Theory leads to class inequalities, racism, and imperialism.
Karl Marx (Prussian German, 1818-1883)
- Radical political ideas  Conflict Theory
- The structure of society is influenced by how its economy is organized.
- Society is divided into classes:
* bourgeoisie – the capitalists – people that have a lot of money invested
in business enterprises; own the means of production
* proletariat – the workers – own nothing but provide the labor needed to
produce the goods and services of the bourgeoisie.
* CONFLICT is eventually produced by this imbalance of power between
the classes. This conflict becomes the means for social change, where the
proletariat unite to overthrow those in power. Each person would then
contribute and benefit equally from the society.
- Early roots of Socialism, although Marx never considered himself a socialist.
* Socialism = the theory of social organization and politics that believes
the country’s wealth (production and distribution of goods) belongs to
ALL of the people as a whole, not to private owners/wealthy businessmen.
Control of industry, thus, belongs to the government, NOT private
enterprise.
* U.S. – opposite – “capitalists”
- His ideas formed the basis for the Russian Revolution of 1917, leading to
Communism.
Émile Durkheim (French, 1858-1917)
- Developed the first university sociology course at the University of Bordeaux in
France; one of the first sociologists to utilize the scientific method to study
society.
- Functionalism  Viewed society as a set of interdependent parts, viewed in
terms of their functions, that maintain social order over time.
- Function – the consequence that an element of society produces for the
maintenance of its social system.
- Especially interested in the function of religion maintaining social order.
- Believed shared beliefs and values were the glue that held society together.
- Sociologists can only study features of a society that are directly observable.
- Social change – believed that change occurred so rapidly in a modern society,
leading to social problems. These lead to feelings of anomie (purposelessness) in
people. Believed suicide could be a result of personal factors but also social
factors, like anomie. (Basis of his 1897 study “Suicide” that looked at the suicide
rates in several European countries.
Max Weber (Prussian, 1864-1920)
- Looked at separate groups in society, rather than society as a whole, focusing on
society’s influence on the individual.
- Need to look beyond direct observation and consider the feelings and thoughts
of individuals.
Verstehen – an attempt to try to understand the meanings individuals
attach to their actions. Put self in someone else’s place; view things from
their eyes.
- Used concept of ideal type – a description comprised of the essential
characteristics of a feature of society; “general description”
example of features: work attitudes, public schooling, religious practices
Current Sociological Perspectives
Important terms:
- theory: explanation of the relationships among particular phenomena.
- theoretical perspectives: (broader in nature) these are general sets of
assumptions about the nature of things (like society).
There are 3 current theoretical perspectives in Sociology, each focuses on a different
image of society or an aspect of social life.
1. Functionalist Perspective – Based on Comte, Spencer, & Durkheim
- Society is a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social
system.
- Every element of society has a function or purpose; positive consequences for
the society.
- Society is held together by consensus – all in agreement about what is best for
the society.
- Not everything in a society operates smoothly  dysfunctional = negative
consequence for the stability of the society. Disrupt, not stabilize.
- Types of functions:
1. manifest function – intended and recognized consequence of a societal
element
2. latent function – unintended and unrecognized consequence
Ex: automobile
manifest function – provide speedy transportation from one place to
another
latent function – gain social standing through the display of wealth
Ex: school
manifest function – provide education
latent function – socialize students, teach teamwork and values
2. Conflict Perspective – Based on Marx
- focus on those in society who have power that exercise control over those with
lesser power.
- Look at competition (violent and nonviolent) and social change (especially
between different groups of people in the society)
- Basis of social conflict  competition over scarce resources. Ex: wealth and
power – people compete with one another for these since they are in limited
supply.
- Once control is gained of the resources, those in power establish
rules/procedures for the society to protect their own interests at the expense of
other groups.
- Conflict occurs because those with less power attempt to gain control over
resources.
- Conflict  Social change, an important part of society
3. Interactionist Perspective – Based on Weber
- Focus on how individuals interact with one another in society (in everyday
situations) and the meanings people attach to their own actions and the actions of
others.
- Looks at the roles of symbols in life.
*symbol = anything that represents something else (physical objects,
gestures, words, events)
*To be a symbol – must be agreement in society as to the meaning
attached to the symbol.
*Symbolic Interaction – how people use symbols when interacting with
each other.