Sociology Chapter 1 Notes
Sociological imagination
Ch. review: the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to history in general and societal structures in particular. Sociologists use this to study culture. Pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills described it as an awareness of the relationship between a person's behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person's choices and perceptions. It's a way of seeing our own and other people's behavior in relationship to history and social structure (1959) Ex: Decision to marry
John Locke, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant, and Thomas Hobbes
(Age of Enlightenment philosophers) Responded to what they saw as social ills by writing on topics that they hoped would lead to social reform.
Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Helped establish sociology as a formal academic discipline by establishing the first European department of sociology & publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method. -People rise to their proper levels in society based on merit. -Sociologists could study objective "social facts" & through such studies it would be possible to determine if a society was "healthy" or "pathological." Durkheim attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of his rules of social research when he published a work titled 'Suicide'.
Who coined the phrase symbolic interactionism?
Herbert Blumer
Seeing patterns means that a sociologist needs to be able to:
Identify similarities in how social groups respond to social pressure
Which founder of sociology believed societies changed due to class struggle?
Karl Marx
Which research technique would most likely be used by a symbolic interactionist?
Participant observation
Social institutions
Patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy.
1.4 summary
Studying sociology is beneficial both for the individual and for society. By studying sociology people learn how to think critically about social issues and problems that confront our society. The study of sociology enriches students' lives and prepares them for careers in an increasingly diverse world. Society benefits because people with sociological training are better prepared to make informed decisions about social issues and take effective action to deal with them.
The difference between positivism and antipositivism relates to:
Whether sociological studies can predict or improve society
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Wrote about women's conditions in society. Her works were long ignored by the male academic structure, but since the 1970s, Wollstonecraft has been widely considered the first feminist thinker of consequence.
Which of the following was a topic of study in early sociology?
economics
Kenneth and Mamie Clark used sociological research to show that segregation was:
harmful
C. Wright Mills once said that sociologists need to develop a sociological __________ to study how society affects individuals.
imagination
Wright Mills once said that sociologists need to develop a sociological __________ to study how society affects individuals.
imagination
A sociologist defines society as a group of people who reside in a defined area, share a culture, and who:
interact
Who believed that the history of society was one of class struggle?
karl marx
Weber believed humans could not be studied purely objectively because they were influenced by:
their culture
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
(Conflict theory) A German philosopher and economist. He and Friedrich Engels coauthored the Communist Manifesto. -Rejected Comte's positivism. -Societies grew and changed as a result of the struggles of different social classes over the means of production. -Predicted that inequalities of capitalism would become so extreme that workers would eventually revolt. (Capitalism to communism.) -Communism was a more equitable system than capitalism. Marx's idea that social conflict leads to change in society is still one of the major theories used in modern sociology.
Conflict Theory
(Macro) The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuate differences in power. Criticism: It tends to focus on conflict to the exclusion of recognizing stability. Many social structures are extremely stable or have gradually progressed over time rather than changing abruptly as conflict theory would suggest.
Symbolic Interactionism
(Micro) One-to-one interactions and communications. Ex: If you love books, for example, a symbolic interactionist might propose that you learned that books are good or important in the interactions you had with family, friends, school, or church; maybe your family had a special reading time each week, getting your library card was treated as a special event, or bedtime stories were associated with warmth and comfort. Criticism: Research done from this perspective is often scrutinized because of the difficulty of remaining objective. Others criticize the extremely narrow focus on symbolic interaction.
Berger describes sociologists as concerned with:
-Monumental moments in people's lives -Common everyday life events
Ma Tuan-Lin
A Chinese historian, first recognized social dynamics as an underlying component of historical development in his seminal encyclopedia, General Study of Literary Remains.
Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
A German art critic who wrote widely on social and political issues as well. -Antipositivism stance & addressed topics such as social conflict, the function of money, individual identity in city life, and the European fear of outsiders. -Work focused on the micro-level theories, analyzed the dynamics of two-person and three-person groups, and emphasized individual culture as the creative capacities of individuals.
Society
A group of people who live in a defined geographic area, who interact with one another, and who share a common culture.
Culture
A group's shared practices, values, and beliefs.
Studying part & whole: How sociologists view social structures
A key basis of the sociological perspective is the concept that the individual and society are inseparable. It is impossible to study one without the other. An application that makes figuration understandable is the practice of religion. While people experience their religions in a distinctly individual manner, religion exists in a larger social context. For instance, an individual's religious practice may be influenced by what government dictates, holidays, teachers, places of worship, rituals, and so on. These influences underscore the important relationship between individual practices of religion and social pressures that influence that religious experience (Elias 1978).
Which would a quantitative sociologists use to gather data?
A large survey
George Herbert Mead (1863-1931)
A philosopher & sociologist whose work focused on the ways in which the mind and the self were developed as a result of social processes. He argued that how an individual comes to view himself or herself is based to a very large extent on interactions with others. (significant others and generalized others) Mead's work is closely associated with the symbolic interactionist approach and emphasizes the micro-level of analysis.
Dynamic equilibrium
A stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly.
(In sociology) A theory
A way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create a testable proposition, called a hypothesis, about society.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)—the First Woman Sociologist
A writer who addressed a wide range of social science issues. She was the first to translate Comte's writing from French to English and thereby introduced sociology to English-speaking scholars. She is also credited with the first systematic methodological international comparisons of social institutions in two of her most famous sociological works. -Workings of capitalism at odds with the professed moral principles of people in the US -Pointed out the faults with the free enterprise system in which workers were exploited and impoverished while business owners became wealthy. -The belief in all being created equal was inconsistent with the lack of women's rights.
Studying patterns: how sociologists view society
All sociologists are interested in the experiences of individuals and how those experiences are shaped by interactions with social groups and society as a whole. Cultural patterns and social forces put pressure on people to select one choice over another. Sociologists try to identify these general patterns by examining the behavior of large groups of people living in the same society and experiencing the same societal pressures.
Grand theories
An attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change.
Capitalism
An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of goods and the means to produce them.
Communism
An economic system under which there is no private or corporate ownership: everything is owned communally and distributed as needed.
Reification
An error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence (Sahn 2013).
Constructivism
An extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be.
Macro-level
Analyzes trends among and between large groups and societies. Ex: a macro-level analysis might research the ways that language use has changed over time or in social media outlets.
Robert Merton (1910-2003)
Another noted structural functionalist who pointed out that social processes often have many functions.
German sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918)
Believed that conflict can help integrate and stabilize a society. He said that the intensity of the conflict varies depending on the emotional involvement of the parties, the degree of solidarity within the opposing groups, and the clarity and limited nature of the goals. Simmel also showed that groups work to create internal solidarity, centralize power, and reduce dissent.
Alfred Radcliff-Brown (1881-1955)
Defined the function of any recurrent activity as the part it played in social life as a whole, and therefore the contribution it makes to social stability and continuity.
Dramaturgical analysis
Developed by Erving Goffman (1922-1982). A technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Established a sociology department in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. Weber wrote on many topics related to sociology including political change in Russia and social forces that affect factory workers. Known best for his 1904 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber believed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to use standard scientific methods to accurately predict the behavior of groups as people hoped to do. Weber and Dilthey introduced the concept of verstehen, a German word that means to understand in a deep way. In seeking verstehen, outside observers of a social world—an entire culture or a small setting—attempt to understand it from an insider's point of view. In his book The Nature of Social Action (1922), Weber described sociology as striving to "interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which action proceeds and the effects it produces." He proposed a philosophy of antipositivism whereby social researchers would strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values. This approach led to some research methods whose aim was not to generalize or predict (traditional in science), but to systematically gain an in-depth understanding of social worlds. The different approaches to research based on positivism or antipositivism are often considered the foundation for the differences found today between quantitative sociology and qualitative sociology.
Polish-Austrian sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz (1838-1909)
Expanded on Marx's ideas by arguing that war and conquest are the basis of civilizations. He believed that cultural and ethnic conflicts led to states being identified and defined by a dominant group that had power over other groups.
Paradigms
Philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them. (structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism)
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
Played an important role in the development of sociology as a recognized discipline. Thought that social scientists could study society usinterm-22g the same scientific methods utilized in natural sciences. Comte also believed in the potential of social scientists to work toward the betterment of society. He held that once scholars identified the laws that governed society, sociologists could address problems such as poor education and poverty. He believed that using scientific methods to reveal the laws by which societies and individuals interact would usher in a new "positivist" age of history.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) (English philosopher)
Published 'The Study of Sociology', the first book with the term "sociology" in the title. -Rejected much of Comte's philosophy as well as Marx's theory of class struggle and his support of communism. -Favored a form of government that allowed market forces to control capitalism. -Influenced Émile Durkheim. -Functionalism grew out of his writings
Qualitative sociology
Seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources (like books, magazines, journals, and popular media)
Dysfunctions
Social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society. Ex: getting bad grades, dropping out, not graduating, and not finding suitable employment.
Manifest functions
Sought consequences of a social process. Ex: A manifest function of college education includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education.
Significant others (Mead)
Specific individuals that impact a person's life.
Which of these theories is most likely to look at the social world on a micro level?
Symbolic interactionism
Social facts
The laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life. Sociologists study this.
Generalized others (Mead)
The organized and generalized attitude of a social group.
Figuration
The process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of individuals and the society that shapes that behavior. (German sociologist Norbert Elias)
Sociological imagination: Week 1 in Review
Understand how public issues affect personal troubles. The ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and societal influences.
Quantitative sociology
Uses statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants. Researchers analyze data using statistical techniques to see if they can uncover patterns of human behavior.
Why study sociology?
The research of sociologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark helped the Supreme Court decide to end "separate but equal" racial segregation in schools in the United States. Besides desegregation, sociology has played a crucial role in many important social reforms, such as equal opportunity for women in the workplace, improved treatment for individuals with mental handicaps or learning disabilities, increased accessibility and accommodation for people with physical handicaps, the right of native populations to preserve their land and culture, and prison system reforms. Sociology can be exciting because it teaches people ways to recognize how they fit into the world and how others perceive them. Sociology teaches people not to accept easy explanations. Sociology prepares people for a wide variety of careers. Studying sociology can provide people with this wide knowledge and a skill set that can contribute to many workplaces
Sociology: Week 1 review
The scientific study of human social relationships and society. Remember, sociology is a SCIENCE, not just a field based on feelings or opinions. Sociologists understand that social behavior is regular and patterned, and that these patterns can be known through tested research methods.
positivism
The scientific study of social patterns. (Comte)
Social solidarity
The social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion
Sociology
The study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups. ch. review: the systematic study of society and social interaction
Micro-level
The study of small groups and individual interactions. Ex: a micro-level study might look at the accepted rules of conversation in various groups such as among teenagers or business professionals.
Which of the following best describes sociology as a subject?
The study of society and social interaction
Latent functions
The unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process. (Can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful) Ex: Latent functions of your college years include meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities, or even finding a spouse or partner.
Structural Functionalism
The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole. (Macro or mid) Criticism: It can't adequately explain social change.
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) of Tunisia.
The world's first sociologist. He wrote about many topics of interest today, setting a foundation for both modern sociology and economics, including a theory of social conflict, a comparison of nomadic and sedentary life, a description of political economy, and a study connecting a tribe's social cohesion to its capacity for power
A symbolic interactionist may compare social interactions to:
Theoretical roles
Studying sociology helps people analyze data because they learn: a. interview techniques b. to apply statistics c. to generate theories d. all of the above
all of the above
