WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? Chapter 1

Transcription

1 WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY? Chapter 1 1

2 DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY Sociology is the study of human behavior in society. All human behavior occurs in a societal context in the community we live in, in the church, the school, the family, the nation or somewhere in this world. That context shapes what people do and how they think. 2

3 SOCIOLOGY IS A SOCIAL SCIENCE Sociology is a scientific way of thinking about society and its influence on human groups. It is an empirical discipline. Its conclusions are based on careful and systematic observations. This way of thinking is very different from ordinary common sense. 3

4 C. WRIGHT MILLS C.W. Mills coined the term the sociological imagination (1959). The ability to see the societal patterns that influence the individual as well as groups of individuals

5 THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION C.W. MILLS The ability to look at what people are doing and develop an understanding of the town, culture, and/or society in which they live, thrive, and die. For example: Sociologists watch a parade, go on a picnic, watch activities in a classroom, at a religious service, or while driving on a freeway or a small town road. While doing so, they can see the structure of the town, community, and/or culture. 5

6 YOUR SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION By the end of this course, you will have begun to develop your own sociological imagination. You will see things from a sociological perspective; whether you are at a football game, picnic, home watching TV, out to dinner, or celebrating a holiday with family, you will begin to see things differently than you do now. You will see things from a sociological perspective! 6

7 ISSUES VS. TROUBLES ACCORDING TO C.W. MILLS This distinction is the root of the difference between individual experience and social structure, defined as the organized pattern of social relationships and social institutions that together constitute society. It is essential that you understand and are able to apply this concept. 7

8 PERSONAL TROUBLES Troubles are privately felt problems that spring from events or feelings in a person s life. Example of a personal trouble: You lost your job and can t find a new one. So you become a couch potato, lose enthusiasm, and move back home. 8

9 ISSUES Issues affect large numbers of people and have their origins in the institutional arrangements and history of a society. Issues shape the context within which troubles arise. Example of a public issue: General Motors may shut down its Detroit plant or lay off 1/3 of its auto workers. If this happens, many workers in the town will be unemployed and will not easily find another job locally since there are no manufacturing jobs available in the city. 9

10 DISCUSSION QUESTION Describe a trouble and an issue that you currently face. How are the two related? How are they different? 10

11 DISCOVERING UNSETTLING FACTS Sociologists find it crucial to examine the most controversial topics and do so with an open mind, even when they see the most disquieting facts. Peter Berger (1963) calls this process debunking. Debunking refers to looking behind the facades of everyday life. Berger called it the unmasking tendency of sociology (1963). This allows us to see the truth and expose it. Few people like to know disquieting facts as their cherished views are challenged and this makes them uncomfortable. 11

12 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Give examples of disquieting individual or social facts. You can take them from your reading of this chapter, from the media, or from personal experiences. Give examples of disquieting social conditions of a culture that is not your own. For Example: The Iranian government requires that an Iranian woman have sex with her spouse at least every three days even when it is against her will. 12

13 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. In your own words, define sociology. 2. What did C.W. Mills write about? 3. What is debunking? Why is it considered inconvenient and who does it threaten? 13

14 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DIVERSITY Diversity is a central theme studied by sociologists. Diversity is an important issue in any society, even in the United States. Racial and ethnic groups currently comprise 35% of those living in this country. This percentage continues to steadily increase. Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Latinos, Jews, Christians, Hindus, newborns and the elderly, the disabled, as well as heterosexuals, bisexuals, and homosexuals make up our diverse population. This is not an exhaustive list. 14

15 UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY Understanding diversity is crucial to understanding society. Patterns of social change and social structures are patterned by diverse group experiences. There are numerous sources of diversity, including: race class gender age nationality sexual orientation region of residence 15

16 MINORITIES IN THE U.S. 16

17 SOCIETY IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE It is impossible to understand today s societies without seeing them in a global context. The social and economic systems of every society are intertwined with those of other nations. Mass media, the Internet, and ease of travel continue to bring societies closer together. 17

18 GLOBAL CONNECTEDNESS We are no long a country separated by geographic boundaries. We can communicate with almost anyone in the world in minutes. We can travel to the other side of the globe in hours. The collapse of the financial market in one country affects all other countries. A natural disaster in one region of the globe has widespread effects on all other nations. Examples include the swine flu, the Black Plague, or even SARS. 18

19 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS #1. Give examples of how nations, large and small, are influenced by what happens in another country. #2. Use stories from the media or from your personal experiences as the source of this information. #3. How have these events changed the lives of people at home and abroad? 19

20 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY In the 18 th and 19 th century, faith in the ability for mankind to solve its problems and survive is known as the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason. This period in history significantly influenced the development of modern sociology. Understanding and observation replaced the idea that things can only be understood by applying religious teaching or by a belief that a supernatural spirit (god or demon) caused them to happen as either a punishment or as a reward for correct or incorrect behavior. 20

21 THREE EARLY SOCIOLOGICAL THINKERS These early contributors set the stage for the birth of sociology: Auguste Comte Alexis de Tocqueville Harriet Martineau 21

22 AUGUSTE COMTE The founding father of sociology. He believed that society could be studied scientifically. This approach is known as positivism

23 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE A French politician, scholar, and historian. He traveled in America and studied its political system. He felt that despite the individualism of Americans, they had little independence of mind

24 HARRIET MARTINEAU Martineau was fascinated by the newly emerging American culture. In 1937, she wrote about it in Society in America. She also wrote about how to observe behavior as a participant

25 CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY These three classical sociologists set the foundation for our current thinking and understanding of sociology. Emile Durkheim Karl Marx Max Weber 25

26 EMILE DURKHEIM Some of Durkheim s major work focuses on the forces that hold society together. He called this force social solidarity. People are glued together by religious rituals which sustain moral cohesion. Ginna s favorite!

27 DURKHEIM Durkheim viewed society as larger than the sum of its parts. Society is external to the individual. Sui generis society is an integrated whole with each part contributing to the stability of the system (based on organicism) This is the central theme of functionalism. Social facts, which are external to the individual, exercise constraints on individual behaviors.

28 SUICIDE Durkheim is well known for his early work on suicide. He demonstrated that suicide was not purely a personal trouble, but that rates of suicide within a society varied by how clear and consistently upheld the norms and customs of the society were. He showed that suicide rates were higher in societies where norms were unclear or contradictory. This was referred to as a state of normlessness or anomie. 28

29 DISCUSSION QUESTION How did the Age of Enlightenment influence the early sociological thinkers? Give examples of their work that show such influence. 29

30 KARL MARX Marx is one of the most influential thinkers in history. He saw society as systematic and structural and class as a fundamental dimension of society that shapes social behavior. Was not a bad guy!

31 MARX S IDEAS Marx: took social structure as his subject rather than the actions of individuals was devoted to explaining how capitalism, an economic system based on pursuing profit, shaped society addressed the capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, controllers of the production of goods and of ideas spoke of economic determinism with a class system of owners (bourgeoisie) and workers (proletariat). 31

32 MAX WEBER ( VAY-BER ) Weber expanded on Marx s thinking; society has three basic dimensions: political, economic, and cultural, which must all be examined. Weber was concerned with ideas and how they shaped society

33 WEBER S IDEAS Weber: while influenced by Marx s work, he saw society from a multidimensional perspective that went beyond Marx s strictly economic focus the task of a sociologist is to teach students the uncomfortable truth about the world sociologists must not project their political ideas on their students (valuefree) - The German word verstehen refers to understanding social behavior from the point of view of those engaged in it. Different from Durkheim. 33

34 SOCIOLOGY IN AMERICA Early American sociologists were influenced by European thinkers. Early sociologists in the United States were influenced by natural science and saw society as an organism, a constantly evolving system of interrelated functions and parts that work together to create the whole (organicism). If sociologists exposed the causes of social problems they could alleviate some of the consequences, which are measured in human suffering (pragmatism more hands-on than in Europe 34

35 EARLY AMERICAN THINKERS Charles Darwin Charles Horton Cooley George Herbert Mead Robert Parks Jane Adams Ida B. Wells Barnett W.E.B. Du Bois 35

36 CHARLES DARWIN British biologist whose ideas influenced Herbert Spencer: Social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest is also the driving force of social and biological evolution. Society, an organism, evolves from the simple to the complex. It is best left alone. This is referred to as Laissez-faire, the non-interference doctrine. 36

37 ROBERT PARKS Also from the University of Chicago, interested in urban problems and how different racial groups interacted. introduced the idea of boundaries within cities and how they are enforced and maintained. Example: the Vietnamese from white affluent neighbors 37

38 JANE ADAMS Also from Chicago, was a leader in the settlement housing movement. She developed housing projects for immigrants, slum dwellers, and other dispossessed groups. Nobel Prize winner

39 W.E.B. DU BOIS DUE BOYS A black scholar and cofounder of the NAACP, he was deeply troubled by the racial divisiveness in society. He envisioned a communitybased, activist profession committed to social justice. He also believed in the scientific approach to sociological questions. Conflict theorist 39

40 IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT born a slave yet received a teaching credential. crusaded against lynching and for women s rights. Her work went unrecognized for years. After her death, her grandson, Troy Duster, president of the American Sociological Association, brought her to public attention. 40

41 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS USED BY SOCIOLOGISTS Sociological thinkers developed different perspectives, frameworks, schools of thought, and paradigms to help them ask questions and to assist their understanding of the underlying relationships regarding their observations. These theoretical frameworks provide different insights into the nature of society. 41

42 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS The main theoretical frameworks used by most sociologists are: Functionalism (macro) Conflict (macro & micro) Symbolic Interaction (micro) Diverse Theoretical frameworks (macro & micro) Feminism Postmodernism 42

43 FUNCTIONALISM From Emile Durkheim s ideas & organicism Focuses on how each of society s parts, institutions, and systems contribute to the stability of the whole. Each institution has a specific function to fulfill for the society to function properly. 43

44 FUNCTIONALISM Functionalists are concerned with the stability and shared public values of the culture or the society. Conditions such as deviance are disruptive to the stability of the society and they lead to social change as the society must find ways to deal with it and re-establish its social stability and order. Popular post WW-II Conservative Assumes system homeostasis 44

45 CONFLICT THEORY derived from the contributions of Karl Marx. Emphasizes the role of competition and power. Conflict theory emphasizes strife and revolution as an agent of social change. Karl Marx was a political activist Change, not stability is inherent in society Competition rather than co-existence are normal Competition for scarce resources Those with power make the laws (protect their interests) 45

46 CONFLICT THEORY Society is comprised of groups that compete for social and economic resources. Social order is maintained not by consensus, but by domination, with power in the hands of those with the greatest political, economic, and social resources. Conflict theorists study issues such as the exploitation of the masses by those in power and also who owns the means of production. 46

47 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Focuses on immediate social interaction to be the place where society exists. studies the ways groups of people, cultures, and societies assign different meaning to behavior, events, or things. concerned with how different people interpret the same event and how the interpretation determines one's behavior. emphasize face-to-face interaction and pay attention to words, gestures, and symbols. Social order is constantly negotiated and created through the interpretations people give to their behavior. 47

48 FEMINISM Feminism is concerned with understanding: things from the female world view the symbols used in speech, dress, and how one learns how the social organism/society functions both manifest and latent functions Inclusion of voices not generally heard (people of color, gays, lesbians, poor, etc) Tends to be post-modern perspective 48

49 POST MODERNISM based on the idea that society is not an objective thing. Instead, it is found in the words and images that people use to represent behavior and ideas. Postmodernists argue that images and text reveal the underlying ways that people think and act. Postmodernist studies typically involve detailed analyses of images, words, film, music, and other forms of popular culture. Contemporary life involves multiple experiences and interpretations, and these are not categorized into broad and abstract concepts Discard the search for laws (positivism) 49

50 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE Charles Horton Cooley: a. was a slave who studied lynching b. was the founder of functionalism c. studied day-to-day interactions d. none of the above 50

51 TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE C.W. Mills: a. coined the term the sociological imagination b. saw society as a reflection of its history and the way people behaved in a social context c. discussed capitalism and the exploitation of the workers d. all but answer c above 51