Intro to Intro 2:
Macrosociology
Examples of Macrosociology (1)
• Macrosociology is concerned with societies
and parts of societies
• Important question: How do societies change?
– One way is through technological change
• Consider the introduction of the automobile
Q: What changed with the
introduction of the automobile?
Examples of Macrosociology (2)
The Automobile
• For starters:
– Most people today afraid to be on a horse
– Not many songs about blue-tail flies
• Not so many flies
– Geography of supermarket products
• On average travel about 1000 miles
• Harms local producers
– Road construction now big business
• Good for immigrants
Examples of Macrosociology (3)
• Riches and destitution: why are there rich
people and poor people?
– Are the rich really different?
– How much of success is inherited, how much
earned?
Examples of Macrosociology (4)
• Racial and ethnic relations
– Where do race and ethnicity come from?
– Why and how do they make a difference?
Examples of Macrosociology (5a)
• Interactions between parts of society
– Example: after-school daycare programs
illustrate interactions between
• economy and family – two earners needed
• education and family – school hours affect
possible working hours
• education and government – govt determines
public school hours
Globalization


Economy
Popular culture
•
Hollywood

CDs of recent US movie releases cheap in China
•
•
Bollywood

•
Companies try to export US property rights law, too
Even the nickname reflects globalization
Hip- hop

Jamaica + Bronx  worldwide tunes
• Gangnam style
Globalization: Early Theory

One of the early analyses of
globalization was The Communist
Manifesto
• 1848
• By Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Micro vs Macro:
The Sociological Imagination
• The Sociological Imagination (Mills)
– Key: ability to see connection between the life of
the individual (microsociology) and the larger
social context (macrosociology)
• Involves ability to see connections between …
– Biography and history
– Personal troubles and public issues