Chapter One Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and Method

1
Chapter OneSociology
Perspective, Theory, and Method
Society, The Basics 9th Edition John J. Macionis
2
The Sociological Perspective
Sociology is the systematic study of _____
______.
3
The Sociological Perspective

• The sociological perspective helps us to see
  _____ social patterns in the behavior of ________
  individuals.

• It encourages us to realize that society guides
  our thoughts and deeds to see the ______ in the
  ______.

4
The Sociological Perspective

• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• Personal choice in ____ context
• Social Forces are constantly at work, even in an
  intensely personal action such as suicide.
• ______ _________ is the key.

5
The Sociological Perspective

• Marginality and Crisis
• Two situations allow clear sight of how society
  shapes _______ ____
• Living on the margins of society
• Living through a social crisis
• The greater a persons marginality, the better
  able they are to use the _________ _________.

6
The Importance of a Global Perspective

• Global Perspective the study of the larger world
  and our societys place in it.
• a logical extension
• our place affects our ____ ____________
• our society s position in the world affects
  everyone in the U.S.

7
The Importance of a Global Perspective

• High-income countries
• (about 50 countries or __ of worlds population)
• Middle-income countries
• (about 80 countries or __ of worlds population)
• Low-income countries
• (about 60 countries or __ of worlds population)

8
The Importance of a Global Perspective

• Where we live shapes our lives
• Societies are _____________

• Social problems in U.S. are more serious
  elsewhere
• Global thinking helps us learn about _________

9
Applying the Sociological Perspective
The sociological perspective helps us critically
assess and challenge ______ _____ ideas
10
Applying the Sociological Perspective
The sociological perspective helps us assess both
___________ and constraints in our lives.
11
Applying the Sociological Perspective
The sociological perspective empowers us to be
active participants in our society.
The sociological perspective helps us to live in
a ______ world.
12
The Origins of Sociology

• the rise of a factory-based industrial economy
• the emergence of great cities in _______
• ________ changes

13
The Origins of Sociology
August Comte (1798-1857)

• Considered the Founder of Modern Sociology
• Coined the phrase Sociology (1838)
• Described Sociology as having three stages
• Theological
• ____________
• Scientific

14
The Origins of Sociology
August Comte (1798-1857)

• Favored positivism a way of
  
  understanding based on ________
• Strongly influenced the academic discipline of
  Sociology in the United States

15
The Origins of Sociology

• Sociology took hold at the beginning of the 20th
  century in the U.S.
• Humans are creatures of __________ and
  spontaneity
• Human behavior can never be explained by the
  rigid laws of society

Karl Marx
16
Sociological Theory

• A theory is a statement of how and why specific
  facts are _______.
• The goal of sociological theory is to explain
  social behavior in the real world.
• Theories are based on theoretical paradigms, sets
  of assumptions that guide _______ and _________.

17
Sociological Theory

• Three major paradigms
• Structural-functional
• Social-conflict
• Symbolic-interaction
• Two _____ approaches
• Gender-conflict
• ____-_______

18
The StructuralFunctional Paradigm

• The structural-functional paradigm sees society
  as a ______ system whose parts work ________.
• It asserts that our lives are guided by social
  structures.

Herbert Spencer
Robert Merton
Emile Durkheim
19
The StructuralFunctional Paradigm

• Each social structure has social functions.
• The influence of this paradigm has declined in
  recent decades.
• It focuses on ________, thereby ignoring
  inequalities of social class, race, and gender.

Herbert Spencer
Robert Merton
Emile Durkheim
20
The SocialConflict Paradigm

• The social-conflict paradigm sees society as an
  arena of _______ that generates conflict and
  ______.
• Critical evaluation This paradigm has developed
  rapidly in recent years.

Karl Marx
21
The SocialConflict Paradigm

• It has several weaknesses
• It ignores _____ _____.
• Like the structural-functional paradigm, it
  envisions society in terms of broad abstractions.

Karl Marx
22
Gender-conflict Approach
Point of view that focuses on inequality and
conflict between ______ and ___
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) (first woman
of sociology) Jane Addams
(1860-1935)
(Hull House fame)
23
Race-conflict Approach
Point of view that focuses on inequality and
conflict between people of different racial and
ethnic categories
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
(founding member of NAACP) Ida Wells Barnett
(1862-1931) (campaigned for racial equality)
24
The SymbolicInteraction Paradigm

• The symbolic-interaction paradigm sees society as
  the product of the everyday _________ of
  individuals.

Max Weber
George Herbert Mead
25
The SymbolicInteraction Paradigm

• Symbolic-interactionism has a _____-level
  orientation.
• It focuses on patterns of social interaction in
  specific settings.

Max Weber
George Herbert Mead
26
Three Ways to Do Sociology

• Scientific
• Interpretive
• _______

C. Wright Mills
27
Scientific Sociology Empirical Evidence

• Science a logical system that bases knowledge
  on direct, _______ _________.
• Scientific sociology the study of society based
  on systematic observation of _____ ________.

28
Scientific Sociology Basic Elements and
Limitations

• A concept a mental ________ that represents
  some part of the world in a simplified form.
• A variable a concept whose value changes from
  case to case.

• Measurement a procedure for determining the
  value of a variable in a ______ ____.
• Almost any variable can be measured in more than
  one way.

29
Scientific Sociology Statistics

• Descriptive Statistics
• to state what is average for a large
  population
• Most commonly used descriptive statistics are
• Mean
• Median
• _____

30
Scientific Sociology Useful Measurements

• For a measurement to be useful, it must be
  reliable and valid.
• Reliability _________ in measurement.
• The procedure must yield the same result if
  repeated.

31
Scientific Sociology Useful Measurements

• ________ precision in measuring exactly what
  one intends to measure.
• Valid measurement means hitting the bulls-eye of
  the target.

32
Scientific Sociology Relationship among Variables

• The scientific ideal is cause and effect change
  in one variable causes change in another.

• The variable that causes the change is the
  ___________ variable.
• The variable that changes is the __________
  variable.

33
Scientific Sociology Relationship among Variables

• Correlation a relationship by which two
  variables ______ together.
• A spurious correlation is a false relationship
  between two or more variable caused by another.

34
Scientific Sociology The Ideal of Objectivity

• Science demands that researchers strive for
  objectivity a state of ______ _______ in
  conducting research.
• Researchers carefully hold to scientific
  procedures while reining in their own attitudes
  and beliefs.
• It is an ____ rather than a _____.

35
Interpretive Sociology
Verstehen studying the meaning people attach to
their _______ ______
Max Weber
The interpretive sociologists job is not just to
observe what people do but to ____ in their world
of meaning.
36
Critical Sociology
The study of society that focuses on the need for
_______ social change.
Karl Marx ______ the idea that society exists as
a natural system with a fixed order
37
Gender and Research
Androcentricity, approaching an issue from the
____ perspective
Overgeneralizing, using data drawn from studying
only one ___
38
Gender and Research
Gender blindness, not considering the variable of
gender at all
Double standards, not judging men and women
differently
__________, a subject reacts to the sex of the
researcher
39
Research Methods
A research method is a systematic plan for _____
_______
An experiment is a research method for
investigating cause and effect under highly
_________ conditions
40
Research Methods
A survey is a research method in which subjects
respond to a series of ________ or __________ in
a questionnaire or an interview
41
Research Methods
Participant observation is a research method
in which investigators systematically observe
people while joining them in ______ _______
42
Research Methods
Existing sources, is a research method in which
_______ data is analyzed.