Lecture 1 The sociological imagination

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Lecture 1The sociological imagination

• (and the things that stunt it)

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Outline of the course

• Introducing the subject matter, theories and
  research methods of sociology, by exploring
  concepts of social position (eg social class,
  human capital or capabilities) and their
  relationship to social structure.
• An historical approach to social theory
  theorists from the 18th to the 21st century.
• Practical examples using social survey evidence,
  particularly the British Household Panel Study
  (BHPS)

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Outline of todays lecture

• Introducing sociology C.Wright Mills text The
  Sociological Imagination (1959).
• Exploring key conceptual contrasts
• theory vs empirical approaches
• macro- vs micro-sociology
• quantitative vs qualitative sociology
• cross-sectional vs longitudinal survey data.
• A sociological approach to a practical problem
  the gender wage gap.

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Private troubles and public issues

• No such thing as society (Mrs Thatcher) hence
  blame the victim
• Individual conditions embedded in social
  structures
• The core sociological enterprise understanding
  individuals predicaments within the appropriate
  social setting
• Mills (1959) ungrounded theory vs abstracted
  empiricism

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Grand Theory and Abstracted Empiricism

• Portentous theory without systematic evidence vs
  evidence without theory.
• Mills two poles of bad sociology, since they
• seize upon one juncture in the process of work,
  and allow it to dominate the mind. Both are
  withdrawals from the tasks of the social
  sciences.
• Mills 1959 p 51

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Mills take on Grand Theory

• Distrust it!
• Try to restate it simply in the form of testable
  propositions.
• Then test it!

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Eg quote from Talcot Parsons

• Attachment to common values means,
  motivationally considered, that the actors have
  common sentiments in support of the common
  value patterns, which may be defined as meaning
  that conformity with the relevant expectations is
  treated as a good thing relatively
  independently of any specific instrumental
  advantage to be gained from such conformity, eg
  in the avoidance of negative sanctions..
• Mills 1959 p30, quoting Parsons The Social
  System

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Mills translation

• When people share the same values, they tend to
  behave in accordance with the way they expect
  each other to behave.
• In Mills view this is not very impressive.
  (Is it testable?)

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Mills on Abstracted Empiricism

• technical and quantitative, atheoretical,
  segmentalised, and particularised, specialised,
  and institutionalised.in short.Americanised.
• a pronounced tendency to confuse whatever it is
  to be studied, with the set of methods suggested
  for its study.
• Mills 1959 p. 51
• Mills blames Lazarsfeld!

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Eg Pahl on work and leisure

• There is a distinction between work and play but
  it is not based on the intrinsic nature of the
  task. Consider an image of a woman ironing. Is
  she at work or is she at play?
• Pahl 1986 pp 744749.

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Ray Pahl on work and leisure

• There is a distinction between work and play but
  it is not based on the intrinsic nature of the
  task. Consider an image of a woman ironing. Is
  she at work or is she at play?
• Pahl 1986 pp 744749.
• Is she a waged worker full or part time?
  piece-work? in the registered or the
  unregistered economy?
• Perhaps shes self-employed, petty-commodity
  production worker.
• Maybe ironing for some other member of her
  household, a husband (loved or hated), her
  mother-in-law, her child
• Maybe for herself is it a work garment?
• Maybe for non-household member costume for a
  play?
• The activity is only given meaning by its social
  context.

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Survey methods

• Sampling to represent populations
• allow authoritative statements about the nature
  of social reality
• and associations among variables allow
  inferences about social processes.
• BUT whats measured is a social artifact
• ... its meaning depending on context.

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Qualitative methods

• Alternative to sample surveys, some use
  sociographic methods
• in depth, detailed investigation of social
  phenomena, revealing meaning and context of
  actions ask what shes doing at the ironing
  board.
• BUT issue of representativeness how to use
  evidence of this sort to make authoritative
  statements about society as a whole?

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Lazarsfeld on mixed methods!

• On the Marienthal Study
• Our idea was to find procedures which would
  combine the use of numerical data with immersion
  into the situation. (1933) The combination of
  quantification and interpretive analysis of
  qualitative material is today at the forefront of
  the research fraternitys interests. (1971)
• Lazarsfeld (original 1933, English edition 1971,
  pp xi-xii)

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Example explaining the gender wage gap

• Survey evidence (New Earnings Survey, Annual
  Survey of Earnings and Hours)
• National random samples ? representative
• Repeated cross-sectional surveys
• Shows change over time at the national level
• Womens wages lag 20 behind mens despite equal
  opportunities legislation. (Social Trends 2006 p.
  72)

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Longitudinal data The BHPS

• In this course, use examples from the British
  Household Panel Study (BHPS).
• 5000 randomly sampled GB households, all members
  interviewed repeatedly each year
• Old people die, descendents of original sample
  join aged 11, stays representative.
• Asked each year about work, family, well-being,
  health, beliefs etc.

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Social trends longitudinal evidence
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Alternative household work strategies
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Alternative household work strategies
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Discussion

• Looking at the household work strategy suggests
  that the division of domestic labour in British
  households may explain part of the gender wage
  gap
• what do we, as sociologists, do next, to
  confirm or disconfirm this hypothesis?