Sociology:

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Sociology

• Your Compass
• for a New World

Robert J. Brym and John Lie
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Preface Why a Compass for a New World?

• All maps allow us to find our place in the world
  and see ourselves in context of larger forces.
• Sociological maps allow us to grasp the
  interplay of people and society, of biography
  and history (C. Wright Mills quoted in Brym
  Lie 2007,p.xxv)
• This book shows you how to draw sociological maps
  so you can see your place in the world, figure
  out how to navigate through it, and perhaps
  discover how to improve it.

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Why a Compass for a New World?

• Sociological maps can help us make sense of our
  lives, however uncertain they may appear to be.
  (Brym Lie 2007, p.xxvi)
• Sociological maps, by revealing the opportunities
  and constraints you face can help to teach you
  who you are and what you can become in this
  particular social and historical context. (Brym
  Lie 2007, p.xxvi)

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Why a Compass for a New World?

• Maps do not tell you where to go or what to do
  maps are tools to help you plan your own trip
• Therefore, this textbook has five main goals
• To help you draw the connections between ones
  self and ones social world
• To teach you how to think versus what to think
• To help you make connections between the
  objective science of sociology the subjective
  experiences of people
• To help you broaden your horizons with
  discussions of diversity and global issues
• To deal with sociology, not just as a historical
  discipline but as a current guide for life.

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Chapter 1 A Sociological Compass

• In this chapter you will learn
• That sociologists believe that the causes of
  human behavior lie mostly in the patterns of
  social relations that surround and permeate us.
• That sociologists examine the connection between
  social relations and personal troubles
• About the origins and founders of Sociology
• The role of Sociology in understanding the scope,
  direction, and significance of social change
• The role of Sociology in your own life

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Chapter 1 A Sociological Compass

• In this chapter you will learn
• That Sociology helps us see the operation of the
  social world more clearly
• That Sociologists are often motivated to do
  research by the desire to improve peoples lives.
  
• That sociologists adopt scientific methods to
  test their ideas.
• That sociology can help you come to grips with
  your century, just as it helped the founders of
  society deal with theirs.
• That sociology can help us create the best
  possible future for ourselves and our world and
  this is the principal justification for the
  discipline of sociology (Brym Lie 2007, p.xxvi)

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What is Sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic study of human
  behavior in social context

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What is Sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic study of human
  behavior in social context

For example.
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Sociology and Suicide?

• Traditional Viewpoint suicide is a result of
  psychological disorder in the individual

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Sociology and Suicide?

• Traditional Viewpoint suicide is a result of
  psychological disorder in the individual
• Durkheims sociological perspective suicide
  rates strongly influenced by social forces
• Social Solidarity vs. Psychological Disorder

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From Personal Troubles to Social Structures

• Society lives in you
• Patterns of social relations affect your
  innermost thoughts and feelings, influence your
  actions, and thus help shape who you are.
• Stable patterns of social relations are called
  Social Structures
• Our own sociological awareness involves
  recognizing that three levels of social structure
  surround and permeate us.

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From Personal Troubles to Social Structures

• Microstructures
• Macrostructures
• Global structures

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From Personal Troubles to Social Structures

• Microstructures
• Patterns of intimate social relations formed
  during face-to-face interaction
• -families, friendships, work associations
• Macrostructures
• Global structures

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From Personal Troubles to Social Structures

• Microstructures
• Macrostructures
• Patterns of social relations that lie outside and
  above your circle of intimates and acquaintances
• -classes, bureaucracies, and power systems such
  as patriarchy
• Global structures

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From Personal Troubles to Social Structures

• Microstructures
• Macrostructures
• Global structures
• patterns of social relations that lie outside and
  above the national level
• - International organizations, patterns of
  worldwide travel and communication, economic
  relations between countries

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The Sociological Imagination

• The quality of mind that enables one to see the
  connection between personal troubles and social
  structures.
• Lets read his entire statement together
• C. Wright Mills (pp.7-8, Brym Lie)

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• The Democratic Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution (1550)
• Not just about Newtons apple
• It encouraged the view that
  sound conclusions about the
  workings of society must be
  based on solid evidence, not just speculation
• Descartes (France) and Hobbs (England) called for
  a science of society
• The Democratic Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• The Democratic Revolution (1750)
• Radical Idea that people
  are responsible for society
  and therefore human
  intervention can solve social
  problems
• Much of the justification for sociology as a
  science arose out of democratic revolutions
• The Industrial Revolution

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• The Democratic Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution (1780)
• Created host of new and serious
  social problems that attracted
  attention of social thinkers
• Growth of industry moved people to cities
  overcrowding, long hours, dangerous working
  conditions, bureaucracy, filth, and poverty
• Social thinkers responded by giving birth to the
  sociological imagination

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• Suggested that a science of society is possible
• The Democratic Revolution
• Suggested that people can intervene to improve
  society
• The Industrial Revolution
• Presented social thinkers with a host of social
  problems crying out for a solution

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• Suggested that a science of society is possible
• The Democratic Revolution
• Suggested that people can intervene to improve
  society
• The Industrial Revolution
• Presented social thinkers with a host of social
  problems crying out for a solution

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The Sociological Imagination

• Born during three modern revolutions that pushed
  people to think about society in an entirely new
  way
• The Scientific Revolution
• Suggested that a science of society is possible
• The Democratic Revolution
• Suggested that people can intervene to improve
  society
• The Industrial Revolution
• Presented social thinkers with a host of social
  problems crying out for a solution

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The Birth of Theory, Research, and Values

• Theory without practice cannot survive and dies
  as quickly as it lives. He who loves practice
  without theory is like the sailor who boards ship
  without a rudder and compass and never knows
  where he may be cast.
• -Leonardo da Vinci
• (quoted in Brym Lie, 2007)

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The Birth of Theory, Research, and Values

• Theory- a tentative explanation of some aspect of
  social life that states how and why certain facts
  are related
• Research- the process of systematically observing
  reality to assess the validity of a theory
• Values-ideas about what is right and wrong

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The Birth of Theory, Research, and Values

• Founders of Sociology
• August Comte, French social thinker, coined the
  term sociology in 1838
• Herbert Spencer, believed he had discovered
  scientific laws governing the operations of
  society

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The Birth of Theory, Research, and Values

• Giants of Sociology
• Karl Marx
• Emile Durkheim
• Max Weber

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Functionalism
• Conflict Theory
• Symbolic Interactionism
• Feminist Theory

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Functionalism 4 tenets
• Human behavior is governed by stable patterns of
  social relations, or social structures
• Social structures maintain or undermine social
  stability-how the parts (structures) fit together
  and how each part contributes to the stability of
  the whole (its function)

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Functionalism 4 tenets
• Social structures are based mainly on shared
  values, a moral cement that binds people together
• Reestablishing equilibrium can best solve most
  social problems a conservative response to
  social unrest

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Functionalism Major Theorists
• Emile Durkheim
• Robert Merton and Talcott Parsons

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Conflict Theory 4 tenets
• Focuses on large, macro-level structures
• Shows how major patterns of inequality in society
  produce social stability in some circumstances
  and social change in others

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Conflict Theory 4 tenets
• Stresses how members of privileged groups try to
  maintain their advantages while subordinate
  groups struggle to increase theirs-an on-going
  power struggle.
• Typically leads to the suggestion that
  eliminating privilege will lower the level of
  conflict and increase total human welfare.

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Conflict Theory Major Theorists

                     
Karl Marx
Max Weber
W.E.B. Du Bois
C. Wright Mills
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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Symbolic Interactionism 4 tenets
• Focus on interpersonal communication in
  micro-level social settings
• Emphasis on social life as possible only because
  people attach meanings to things-understanding
  subjective meanings people associate with social
  circumstances

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Symbolic Interactionism
• People help to create their social circumstances
  and do not merely react to them (all the worlds
  a stage)
• Validation of unpopular and nonofficial
  viewpoints by focusing on the subjective meanings
  people create in small social settings
  increases our understanding of people who may be
  different from us.

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Symbolic Interactionism Major Theorists

Max Weber
Erving Goffman
George Herbert Mead
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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Symbolic Interactionism variant
• Social constructionism
• Apparently natural or innate features of life are
  often sustained by social processes that vary
  historically and culturally

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Feminist Theory 4 tenets
• Focuses on various aspects of patriarchy system
  of male domination in society
• Male domination and female subordination are
  determined not by biological necessity but by
  structures of power and social convention

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Feminist Theory
• Examines the operation of patriarchy in both
  micro- and macro-level settings
• Contends that existing patterns of gender
  inequality can and should be changed for the
  benefit of all members of society

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Sociological Theory and Theorists

• Feminist Theory- Major Theorists
• Jane Addams

Harriet Martineau