What Is Sociology What has sociology got to do with me or my life

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What Is Sociology? What has sociology got to do
with me or my life?

• Sociology, is very simply, the systematic study
  of social behavior and human groups. It focuses
  on social relationships how those relationships
  influence peoples behavior and how societies,
  the sum total of those relationships, develop and
  change.
• Schaefer, 2006

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The Sociological Perspective

• Places emphasis on the context in which people
  live and how those contexts influence their lives
• Society vs. The individual
• Interaction, social location, socialization

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The Sociological Imagination C. Wright Mills

• Personal Troublesmatters involving a persons
  character and his or her relations with others
• Public Issueshave to do with issues that
  transcend local environments of the individual

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The Sociological Imagination strives to
understand

• How society is presently structured or organized
• How and why it seems to be changing
• How peoples personal biographies or individual
  life experiences fit within and are affected by
  the societys structure and the flow of social
  change
• (Neubeck Glasberg, 2005)

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Is Sociology a Science?

• The term science refers to the body of knowledge
  obtained by methods based on systematic
  observation. Just like other scientific
  disciplines, sociology involves the organized,
  systematic study of phenomena (in this case ,
  human behavior) in order to enhance
  understanding.
• (Schaefer, 2006)

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Natural Science Social Science

• Natural Science is the study of the physical
  features of nature and the ways in which they
  interact and change. The natural sciences
  include
• Astronomy
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Geology
• Physics

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Social Sciences

• Social science is the study of the social
  features of humans and the ways in which they
  interact and change. Social sciences include
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Economics
• History
• Psychology
• Political science

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Question

• The ______is the central question asked by
  sociologists when they attempt to explain social
  behavior.
• A. influence of society on people
• B. production and distribution system of a
  society
• C. system of government in a society
• D. coping strategies used by people to handle
  difficult situations

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FeudalismThe economic, political, and social
system in medieval Europe, in which land worked
by surfs who were bound to it, was held as
vessels in exchange for military and other
services given to overlords.
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The Origins of Sociology

• Sociology as a discipline emerged in the middle
  of the 1800s as a result of social upheaval.
• The French Revolution (1789-1815)
• The American Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution

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Factories and Mills
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Children as Laborers

• Factories expanded rapidly
• Owners did not want to pay huge wages
• No laws regulating children in the workplace

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A Childs Story. . .Alexander Gray, a pump
boy aged 10 years, reported in 1842 Royal
Commission into working conditions, said I
pump out water in the under bottom of the pit to
keep the mens room (coal face) dry. I am obliged
to pump fast or the water will cover me. . . The
water frequently covers my legs. I have been two
years at the pump. I am paid 10d (old pence) a
day. No holiday but the Sabbath (Sunday). I go
down at three, sometimes five in the morning, and
come up at six or seven at night.
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Question The idea of applying the scientific
method to the social world is referred to as

• A. determinism
• B. social interaction
• C. the social imperative
• D. positivism

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Founders of Sociology Comte

• August Comte (1798-1857)
• Coined the term sociology
• Considered the father of sociology
• Sociology was to be a natural science of
  society.
• Believed we would be able to shape our own
  destiny the same way we control events in the
  natural world.
• Positivismapplying the scientific method to the
  study of society.

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

• Social Darwinism
• Disagreed that sociology should be used to
  intervene in the evolution of society
• Survival of the fittest
• Wealth power of the haves evidence of their
  natural superiority over the have- nots.

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The Functionalist Perspective

• Sometimes called functionalism or structural
  functionalisn
• Grew out of similarities early sociologists
  observed between society and biological
  organisms.
• Spencer Comte viewed society as an
  organismmade of component parts, each with its
  own function.
• Spencer Comte known as two of the earliest
  structural functionalist

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Definition Functionalism

• According to the functionalist perspective,
  society is system of interrelated and
  interdependent elements, each performing a
  function that contributes to the operation of the
  whole.

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Elements of Society includes institutions such
as. . .

• The Family
• Education
• The Economy
• To functionalists, these systems are interrelated
  and interdependent.

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Types of Functions

• Sociologist Robert K. Merton identified two types
  of functions
• Manifest functionsintended consequences of some
  action or social process, and
• Latent functionsconsequences that are unexpected
  or unintended.

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Major Criticism of Functionalism

• Over emphasizes extent of stability and order in
  society
• Supports existing social conditions, even though
  conditions may be inequitable or oppressive
• Ignores fact that conflict and disharmony may be
  inherent features of society

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Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Considered one of the three greatest thinkers of
  modern times
• Saw class conflict as both the consequence of
  capitalism and the basis of its undoing.

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The Conflict Perspective

• Emphasis on Coercion, Domination, Conflict
• The Conflict Perspective is based on the idea
  that society consists of different groups who
  struggle with one another to to attain the scarce
  societal resources that are considered valuable,
  be they money, power, or prestige

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In the Conflict View. . .

• 1. Society consists of an array of interest
  groups.
• An interest group is a group whose members share
  distinctive and joint concern.
• 2. Social change involves redistributing scarce
  resources among various interest groups.

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Major Criticisms of Conflict Perspective

• 1. Overemphasizing the importance of conflict and
  disregarding the prevalence of stability.
• 2. Radical view that places too much emphasis on
  changing society rather than trying to understand
  how order and stability can be maintained.

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Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Origin of Capitalism
• Believed that religion was central force in
  social change
• Compared the extent of capitalism between Roman
  Catholic and Protestant countries
• The Protestant Ethic was a central factor in the
  birth of capitalism

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Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Social Integration
• The study of suicide
• Argued that the variation in suicide rates among
  different groups could be explained by social
  forces

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Suicide Study Durkheims Theory

• 1. Not interested in cause of individual suicide,
  but interested in cause of high or low suicide
  rates in society.
• Investigated social solidarity, the degree to
  which a given society was integrated or held
  together.
• Increasing individualism----less solidarity,
  increase suicide.

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Durkheims Hypotheses

• 1. Catholic countries more suicide than
  Protestant countries.
• 2. Married people more integrated than single
  people
• 3. People with children than without
• 4. Educated vs. uneducated

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Symbolic Interactionism

• Origins traced to Scottish moral philosophers
• Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929)
• William I. Thomas (1863-1947)
• George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)

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The Interactionist Perspective. . .

• Focuses on everyday social interaction among
  individuals rather than on large societal
  structures such as politics, education, and the
  like.
• To understand society, we must understand social
  interaction.
• A process of interpretation interpreting
  meanings
• Face-to-Face interactions.

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Symbols....

• A symbol is something that stands for,
  represents, or takes the place place of something
  else.
• Anything---any object, event, or word---can serve
  as a symbol.

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Major Criticisms of Interactionist Perspective

• 1. Ignores the part that social institutions
  like the family, religion, and the economy play
  in molding human behavior
• 2. Ignores such large-scale social forces as
  industrialization.