Sociology

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Sociology
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Introduction

• Sociology is the systematic and scientific study
  of human social life.
• Sociologists study people as they form groups and
  interact with one another.

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Introduction

• Sociology (from Latin socius, "companion" and
  the suffix -ology, "the study of")
• Sociology is the scientific or systematic study
  of society, including patterns of social
  relations, social stratification, social
  interaction, and culture.
• Areas studied in sociology
• The analysis of brief contacts between anonymous
  individuals on the street

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Introduction

• The study of global social interaction.
• Numerous fields within the discipline concentrate
  on how and why people are organized in society,
  either as individuals or as members of
  associations, groups, and institutions.
• Sociology is considered a branch of the social
  sciences.
• Sociological research provides educators,
  planners, lawmakers, administrators, developers,
  business leaders, and people interested in
  resolving social problems and formulating public
  policy with rationales for the actions that they
  take.

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The Birth of Sociology

• Auguste Comte (17981857), widely considered the
  father of sociology, became interested in
  studying society because of the changes that took
  place as a result of the French Revolution and
  the Industrial Revolution.

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The Birth of Sociology

• Comte looked at the extensive changes brought
  about by the French Revolution and the Industrial
  Revolution and tried to make sense of them.
• He felt that the social sciences that existed at
  the time, including political science and
  history, couldnt adequately explain the chaos
  and upheaval he saw around him.

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The Birth of Sociology

• Comte decided that to understand society, one had
  to follow certain procedures, which we know now
  as the scientific method.
• Comte also believed in positivism, which is the
  application of the scientific method to the
  analysis of society.

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The Birth of Sociology

• Comte felt that sociology could be used to
  inspire social reforms and generally make a
  society a better place for its members.
• Comtes standards of research were not nearly
  as exacting as that of today, and most of his
  conclusions have been disregarded, as they were
  based mostly on observation rather than serious
  investigation.

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Types of Sociology

• QUALITATIVE SOCIOLOGY
• Albion Small (1854-1926) developed qualitative
  sociology
• Concerned mainly with trying to obtain an
  accurate picture of a group and how it operates
  in the world.
• Small and his followers were particularly
  interested in understanding how immigration was
  affecting the city and its residents through
  interviews and observations.

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Types of Sociology

• QUANTITATIVE SOCIOLOGY
• Quantitative sociology relies on statistical
  analysis to understand experiences and trends.
• Quantify the data to render it suitable for
  statistical manipulation.

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The Other Social Sciences

• Social sciences concern peoples relationships
  and interactions with one another.

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The Other Social Sciences

• ANTHROPOLOGY
• Anthropology concerns individual cultures in a
  society, rather than the society as a whole.
• Anthropologists place special emphasis on
  language, kinship patterns, and cultural
  artifacts.

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The Other Social Sciences

• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Political science concerns the governments of
  various societies.
• Political science also concerns the relation of
  people in a society to whatever form of
  government they have.

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The Other Social Sciences

• PSYCHOLOGY
• Psychology takes the individual out of his or her
  social circum stances and examines the mental
  processes that occur within that person.
• Psychologists study the human brain and how it
  functions, considering issues such as memory,
  dreams, learning, and perception.

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The Other Social Sciences

• ECONOMICS
• Economics focuses on the production and
  distribution of societys goods and services.
• Economists study why a society chooses to produce
  what it does, how money is exchanged, and how
  people interact and cooperate to produce goods.

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What Sociologists Do

• People with training in sociology pursue a
  variety of different career and research paths.
  Because society is such a broad field of study,
  a background in sociology helps support dozens of
  different career choices.

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What Sociologists Do

• SOCIAL WELFARE
• Social worker
• Child welfare worker
• Adoption agency worker
• Foreign aid worker
• Peace Corps/VISTA volunteer
• Clergy

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What Sociologists Do

• CRIME AND DEVIANCE
• Many sociologists focus their research on
  understanding the roots of criminal and deviant
  behavior.
• Law enforcement officer
• Attorney
• Prison administrator

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What Sociologists Do

• HEALTH CARE
• An understanding of changing demographics and
  culture is essential for keeping members of a
  society healthy.
• Doctor
• Psychiatrist
• Marriage or family counselor

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What Sociologists Do

• INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY
• Maintaining good relations with other societies
  is always important. Sociologists who specialize
  in international relations must understand the
  intricacies of how their society interacts with
  others.
• Diplomat
• Public relations representative
• Government communications worker

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What Sociologists Do

• EDUCATION
• Many people study sociology because they want to
  develop more effective ways to educate a
  societys youth or because they want to continue
  learning and teaching about sociology itself.
• K-12 teacher
• College professor
• Educational policy-maker

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Examining Social Life

• Social interaction is a dynamic, changing
  sequence of social actions between individuals
  (or groups) who modify their actions and
  reactions according to the actions by their
  interaction partner(s).

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Examining Social Life

• Social phenomenon include all behavior which
  influences or is influenced by organisms
  sufficiently alive to respond to one another.

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Examining Social Life

• Sociological imagination is a sociological term,
  coined by the American sociologist C. Wright
  Mills in 1959, describing the process of linking
  individual experience with social institutions
  and one's place in history.

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Using Sociological Imagination

• Scenario A group of teenagers attend a party
  where alcohol is being served. After consuming
  large quantities of alcohol, four of these
  teenagers decide to leave and drive to another
  party.

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Using Sociological Imagination

• Task Exercise your Social Imaginations by
  describing some of the social consequences of
  this action for

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Using Sociological Imagination

• the four teenagers

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Using Sociological Imagination

• other drivers

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Using Sociological Imagination

• the parents of the teenagers

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Using Sociological Imagination

• society as a whole

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Sociology Then and Now

• Overview Early sociologists attempted to
  understand the social conditions produced by the
  Industrial Revolution.

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Key Terms

• Social Darwinism is a theory that competition
  among all individuals, groups, nations or ideas
  drives social evolution in human societies
• Function What something does or is used for
• Verbsteben empathetic understanding of meanings
  others attach to their actions

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Key Terms

• Ideal Type also known as pure type, or Ideal
  type (in the original German), is a typological
  term most closely associated with sociologist Max
  Weber (1864-1920).

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Key Terms

• Theory a theory is a testable model of the
  manner of interaction of a set of natural
  phenomena
• Theoretical Perspectives General set of
  assumptions about the nature of phenomenon.
  Outline the nature of social life.

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Key Terms

• Functionalist Perspective theoretical
  perspective that views society as a set of
  interrelated parts that work together to produce
  a stable social system.
• Dysfunction an abnormality
• Manifest Function intended and recognized
  consequence of some element of society

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Key Terms

• Latent Function unintended and unrecognized
  consequence of some element of society.
• Conflict Perspective theoretical perspective
  that focuses on those forces in society that
  promotes competition and change.
• Interactionist Perspective theoretical
  perspective that focuses on how individuals
  interact with each other in society.

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Key Terms

• Symbol anything that stands for something else
  and has a shared meaning attached to it.
• Symbolic Interaction interaction between people
  that takes place through the use of symbols.