Chapter 1: Sociology: A Unique Way to View the World

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Chapter 1 Sociology A Unique Way to View the
World
Soc 100
Dr. Santos
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What is the Social World

• The social world is the totality of
  human-to-human relations interactions that at
  any given time in history form a self-contained,
  self-suficient social system.
• Prior to a few centuries ago, humanity had a vast
  multiplicity of social worlds at any given time,
  some large (empires), others tiny (bands).
• The Modern World constitutes a single social
  world for all humanity it took five or so
  centuries to construct.

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Why is the social world important?

• Humans are fundamentally social beings -
  Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
• Survival shared expectations, social conventions
  norms help create order and keep conflict to a
  minimum
• Though in the past, social worlds collided too
• Individuals and the social world mutually
  influence and make one another e.g. language,
  trade, writing, work, science, faith. No man is
  an island. No individual meaning or purpose
  truly possible without reference to the whole
  social system.
• This has become true to all collectivities, like
  national states, cultural world regions, etc.

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A comparison of the social sciences

• The evolution of our modern structures of
  knowledge from previous unified systems
• The great split between theology and philosophy
  in the 16th century, followed by
• Philosophy split into science and humanities
  and social sciences, and social sciences into
  disciplines
• Cultural Anthropology
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Economics
• Sociology
• The current crisis of this set up is manfiested
  by the return of the various pre-modern
  theologically-driven fundamentalisms and the
  inabilities to encompass the truth, the good, and
  the beautiful

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What is then sociology?

• The scientific study of social life, social
  change, and the social causes and consequences of
  human behavior
• Essentiallywhy and how people and groups
  interact with one another, are organized, and
  deal with conflict and change
• This must be approached historically,
  theoretically, and empirically this presents
  formidable challenges

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Sociologists study groups of all sizes in various
time frames

• Dyads
• Small groups
• Large groups institutions
• Nations and continental cultural zones.
• The global society the capitalist modern world
  system
• Time frames can be now, years, decades,
  centuries, or millennia
• Most, unfortunately, study only the present and
  near present, and usually within their own
  national state or compared to another. This is
  chronocentrism parochialism

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The underlying assumptions of sociology

• People are social (cooperate, bond)
• People spend most of their lives in groups of one
  kind or another
• Interactions between people and groups are
  reciprocal and constant
• Conflict and change are inevitable
• All groups have certain organizing characteristics

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Groups are characterized by

• Recurrent social patterns
• Ordered behavior
• Shared experiences among members
• Common understandings

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Sociology vs. Common Sense

• We all have reasonable assumptions (common sense
  ideas) based on logical deduction, past
  experiences, and stereotypes
• However, sociologists intentionally set up
  scientific studies to disprove common sense
  assumptions

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True or False?

• Because of the rapid rise in divorce and unwed
  childbearing, more American children live in
  single parent households than ever before

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FALSE

• Actually, roughly the same numbers live in single
  parent households today because more parents were
  widowed in the past

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True or False?

• Most people on welfare don't want to work and
  looking for a handout

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FALSE

• Most people remain on welfare for less than two
  years, using it to get through a crisis. And for
  those on the welfare rolls, most are children,
  elderly, sick or disabled, or single mothers with
  infant children. Less than 2 are "able-bodied"
  males- and many of them are looking for work.
  Only 1/3 of the poor are on welfare.

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True or False?

• Most Roman Catholics oppose birth control

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FALSE

• About 80 of U.S. Roman Catholics favor birth
  control.

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True or False?

• The civil rights laws of the 1960's have
  considerably narrowed the gap between black and
  white family incomes in the United States

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FALSE

• The ratio of black to white family income has
  consistently been around 55-60 since the 1960's.
  In fact, some reports indicate a widening of the
  gap. The processes of discrimination that produce
  and/or perpetuate such inequalities are
  apparently more subtle than those addressed by
  the laws.

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True or False?

• The American Dream practically does not exist any
  more. Its nearly impossible to climb much higher
  on the ladder of social status than your parents
  did.

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TRUE

• Social mobility in the United States is very low
  for a variety of reasons. Since 1980, the rich
  have gotten richer and the poor have gotten
  poorer with even less opportunity for movement
  than before. Individuals like Oprah and Bill
  Gates, however, make us think this is common.
• And for immigrants, especially those that are
  unauthorized or undocumented, the going has
  gotten much tougher, though the American Dream
  remains a potent motivator to endure and resist
  persecution, exploitiation, and oppression, as in
  the past.

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OTHER COMMON MYTHS

• There is very little sexism in the US anymore.
  This is not an issue that our generation needs to
  worry about.
• The worlds population is exploding everywhere.
  In a few years, well be in the midst of a
  overpopulation crisis.
• Undocumented immigrants are a net economic drain
  on the receiving countries, and are responsible
  for increased unemployment, crime, and sickness.
• Americans are better informed than anybody else
  in the world due to its free press.

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The sociological perspective

• Personal experiences can be best understood by
  examining them in the broader social context
• E.g., Why do some individuals get punished more
  harshly for the same crimes than others do?
• What social factors might be related to issues
  like teenage pregnancy or marriage at a later
  age? Or divorce?

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The sociological imagination

• C. Wright Mills came up with it in 1959.
• A willingness to recognize the relationship
  between individual experiences (private
  troubles) and public issues trends.
• Combine biography with history to reveal the
  meaning of all social transformations and give a
  proper perspective to all individual experiences.

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Questions sociologists ask

• Sociologists ask questions that can be located
  historically, measured objectively and tested
  repeatedly
• They do not study philosophical or moral issues
  per se
• They do not focus on moral judgments about social
  issues but on their various causes and effects.
• Applied sociologists perform research to help
  solve social problems in particular contexts

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Why study sociology?

• Better understand social situations and diverse
  perspectives
• Be able to collect data and evaluate problems
• Understand the intended and unintended
  consequences of social policies
• Reveal the complexities of social life
• Learn more about ourselves and our biases
• Develop useful job skills

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The social world model

• Social unitsinterconnected parts of the social
  world
• Social structurepeople and groups that bring
  order to our lives and hold social units together
• Social institutionsprovide the rules, roles, and
  relationships to direct and control human
  behavior
• All are interconnected

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The social world model (cont)

• Social processesthe actions taken by people in
  social units
• Process of socializationhow we learn the social
  expectations for members of society
• Process of changeevery social unit is
  continually changing
• The environmentthe setting surrounding each
  social unit

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Levels of analysis

• The social world can be studied from a variety of
  levels
• Micro-level (individuals and small groups)
• Importance micro interactions form the basis of
  all social organizations
• Meso-level (intermediate sized units)
• Importance helps explain the processes and
  institutions in a society

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Levels of analysis (cont)

• Macro-level (focus on entire nations, global
  forces, and international trends)
• Importance Helps understand how larger social
  forces shape everyday life
• Each level adds depth to a topic

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Which level (micro, meso, or macro) would you use
to examine each of the following questions?

• How do couples divide housework responsibilities?
• Which factors determine the percentage of women
  in political power in a certain country?
• Does the size of the sports stadium matter for
  students who are choosing a college?

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• Answer All three questions could be studies from
  each of the three levels
• The three levels are not truly mutually
  exclusive!

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Summary

• Sociologists use research methods to objectively
  study social interactions and organizations
• The sociological perspective and sociological
  imagination allow us to understand individual
  situations in the context of broader social
  forces
• All social units are held together by a social
  structure, which is connected to social
  institutions. These factors mutually influence
  one another in a linked system from the very
  small to the whole world - at least in the past
  couple of centuries.
• Social phenomena can be examined from multiple
  levels of analysis, each re-inforces the others
  and are not mutually exclusive.

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Finally, where do sociologists work?
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