Sociology 101
Chapter 1
The Sociological Perspective
& Research Process
What Is Sociology?

It is one of the Social Sciences along with:
– Psychology, Anthropology, Criminology,
Economics, Political Science, and History

The study of social life and the social
causes and consequences of human
behavior
– Sociologists look for the social
causes/influences of human behavior
– Looks beyond psychology

Sociologists rely on “The Sociological
Imagination”
2/39
The Sociological Imagination
is the Ability to See the
Relationship Between
Individual Experiences and the
Larger Society in Which They
Occur.
3/39
Sociologists try not to take anything for
granted or accept anything at face value
 Want to “peel” back the layers of reality
 Are generally skeptical of explanations
about human behavior or situations until
proven to be true

– Always ask “why?” and “how?”
4/39
Why ????
5/39
Because not everything is what it
seems...
6/39
Also, We Sometimes
Rely On Common
Sense To Explain
Human Behavior
And Other
Situations
7/39
Examples




Those who suffered from child abuse are more
likely to abuse their children
Those who live together before marriage have a
better chance of a successful marriage than
those who did not live together
Couples with children are happier than those
who do not have children
The majority of those on welfare are lazy and
really don’t want to work
8/39
Why Study Sociology?

Helps us determine why people do the
things that they do
– E.g. Why do some people grow up to be child
abusers, alcoholics, poor, etc.?

Allows us to make important decisions
regarding policies, laws, etc. that effect
society
– Example: What is the best way to treat
poverty
9/39
How And Why Did Sociology
Emerge?

Sociology is the direct product of 19th
century humanism and skepticism
– Humanism- The study of thought based
upon human interests
» “Humans are the measure of all things”
– Skepticism- A philosophical term that means
to suspend belief in God and/or the
supernatural
10/39

Several philosophical and social changes
contributed to the emergence of sociology
– Philosophical change
» The emergence of humanism & skepticism
» The Enlightenment (1693-1800)


Humanism & Skepticism
The rise of empiricism (positivism)
– Social Changes
» The growth of science
» Revolutions


American (1775 – 1783)
French (1789 – 1799)
– Auguste Comte’s goal was to rebuild France
» Industrialization & urbanization

Created several “social problems” that needed to be solved11/39
Suicide As A “Social Problem”
19th Century governments began
collecting statistics on:
 Criminal activity
 Birth and death rates
 Suicide rates

12/39
The Result:
Social scientists discovered patterns that
seemed contradictory to common sense
 Noticed that these patterns remained
consistent, again defying common sense

13/39
Suicide As An Example
Common sense suggested suicide was an
individualistic, random action
 Yet, if this were true, we would expect to
see fluctuations, not stable patterns
 Yet 3 patterns emerged

– Rates were extremely stable from year to
year
– Rates often varied greatly from one place to
another
– Suicide rates were rising all over Europe
14/39
Emile Durkheim’s Study of
Suicide



Durkheim challenged purely psychological
explanations for suicide
– Noticed that suicide was more than just an
individual act, social forces played a role
He found that two things determine who is at risk for
suicide
– Social integration (How imbedded in a social
network are you?)
– Social regulation (How tightly does the society or
reference group regulate you?)
Found that there were four types of suicide,
each of which corresponded to the two
variables above
15/39
Integration
Regulation
High
High
Low
Low
Durkheim’s 4 Types of Suicide

Altruistic (extreme social integration)
– Found that those who were extremely integrated in groups had
high suicide rates
» E.g. Military personal

Egoistic (lack of social integration)
– Found that people with few family and friendship ties had
higher suicide rates

Fatalistic (extreme social regulation)
– Found that those whose lives were excessively ordered by
agents over whom they have no control had higher suicide
rates
» E.g. prisoners and mental patients
17/39

Anomic (lack of social regulation)
– Found that those whose lives were loosely regulated
had higher suicide rates
» E.g. Individuals with a lot of power, rock stars (Kurt
Cobain)
18/39
Conclusions


Psychological explanations cannot fully explain
why people commit suicide
Social integration and regulation help
determine who is more at risk for suicide
– In short, social relationships (or lack thereof) shape
the decision to commit suicide
19/39
The Four Sociological Perspectives
Functionalism
 Conflict
 Interactionist
 Postmodern

20/39
The Conflict Perspective

Several types of conflict theory
– The Marxist & Neo-Marxist approach
» Focuses on conflict between economic classes
– The Critical approach
» Focuses on conflict between races and ethnic groups
– The Feminist approach
» Focuses on conflict between the sexes
The Conflict Perspective

Major theorists
– Karl Marx
– Max Weber
– C. Wright Mills
The Conflict Perspective


Society is diverse; everyone is
competing for resources
Power is unequally distributed
– Marxists suggests that capitalistic societies
consist of 2 classes:
» Bourgeoisie: those who own the means of
production
» Proletariat: those who sell their labor
– Feminists argue that men generally have
more power than women




The powerful oppress the powerless
The powerful create self-serving social
policies
There are always winners and losers
Conflict theory challenges the status
quo
The Functionalist Perspective
– Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons,
Robert Merton
– Major Assumptions
» Society is a system of highly
integrated parts
» Each part works to maintain
the whole
» Each part has a function

Manifest, latent, dysfunction
» There is value consensus
» Rapid change is not desirable
» Typically supports the status
quo
The Interpretive Perspective




Max Weber, Georg Simmel, George
Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer
The world is socially created through the
use of mutually understood symbols
– Signs, gestures, language, shared
values
Reality is based on subjective
interpretation, not objective fact
– What is defined as real is real in its
consequence (W.I. Thomas)
There is not one reality; rather there are
multiple realties
– Reality is relative to time, place, and
person
» E.g. Smoking as a deviant activity
The Postmodern Perspective
 Roland Barthes, Jean-Francois
Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard,
Jacques Derrida
 Postmodern Society is
characterized by:
– An Information explosion
– A rise in consumerism
– Contributions to a global
village
 Emphasis on communication
technology
– Has shrunk the world and
changed the way we view
“reality”
– Time (History) and space
(geography) are no longer
viewed as unified and
coherent in the postmodern
world
 Anti-foundational
– Rejects the “grand narratives” of previous theories
 There are no absolutes
– All truth is relative
– All meaning is a social construction (we make it up)
» Religion, Science, History, Ethics, etc.
 A-historical
– History is constructed by those in power
– History is not a record of objective facts
– History is constructed by those who successfully “defeat”
others who are writing opposing views of history
Research Methods

Two Types
– Quantitative (Deductive)
» You start with a theory, and then collect data to test
the theory
– Qualitative (Inductive)
» You collect data and then develop (induce) a theory
that explains the data you collected
28/39
DEDUCTIVE METHOD
(Classic)
INDUCTIVE METHOD
(Inclusive
Select and Define the Research Problem
Review the
Literature
Review the
Literature
Develop the
Research Design
Formulate the
Hypothesis
Develop the
Research Design
Collect/Analyze
the Data
Develop the
Research Design
Collect/Analyze
the Data
Review the
Literature
Collect/Analyze
the Data
Draw Conclusion;
Report Findings
Generate Hypotheses for
Theory Construction; Draw
Conclusions; Report Findings
Ways To Gather Data

Surveys
– Questionnaires
– Structured Interviews
Semi Structured Interviews
 Secondary Analysis of Existing Data
 Field Research

– Participant Observation
– Ethnography

Experiments
31/39
Two Types of Samples

Non-Probability Samples
– Cannot generalize findings

Probability Samples
– Can generalize findings
32/39
Variables
Independent Variable
 Dependent Variable

33/39
Identifying Independent and
Dependent Variables





Kids who have a delinquent record are more likely to
come from single parent homes
Women are more likely than men to cheat in a marriage
relationship
Rebellious kids are more likely to listen to at least one of
the following musical styles: hip-hop, heavy metal,
industrial, and/or goth
Freshman students who join fraternities or sororities will
adjust easier to college life than those who live in dorms
Lawyers are more likely to commit murder than
accountants
34/39
4 Levels of Measurement


Qualitative
1. Nominal (Categorical)
Quantiative
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio
35/39
Three Criteria For Determining
Causation
Correlation (association)
 Time Order
 Non-Spuriousness

36/39
Correlation
Positive
 Negative
 None

37/39
Correlation Of Variables
A. Positive Correlation #1
Depression
Suicide
Rate
B. Positive Correlation #2
Depression
Suicide
Rate
As Depression Increases, Suicide Increases As depression decreases, suicide decreases
C. Negative Correlation #1
Social
Integration
Suicide
Rate
As Social Integration Decreases
Suicide Increases
D. Negative Correlation #2
Social
Integration
Suicide
Rate
As social integration increases suicide
38/39
decreases







As income increases crime decreases
Religiosity decreases with income
Political conservatism increases with religiosity
Individuals with large noses have a better sense of smell
than individuals with smaller noses
Pipe smokers are more likely to live longer than nonsmokers
The faster one drives the greater the risk of getting into
an accident
Athletes will score higher on the history 101 exam than
non-athletes
39/39