Chapter 1

 Online Textbook Supplement[revising]

Lecture Notes:

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Sociology:   scientific or systematic study of human social behavior

  1. Shows how people act and react
  2. What characteristics of groups and societies are
  3. How these social events affect people

* Examining history of sociology; major perspectives, and its uses

I.  Sociological Imagination

  1. Focus on how people are influenced by other people and by society.
  2. * Social forces are always at play in our daily existence. These social forces arise from the society we are part of.
  3. C. Wright Mills (for further discussion of the sociological imagination, you can read Howard Becker's article located at http://home.earthlink.net/~hsbecker/mills.html

     

    1. Sociological Imagination: ability to see the impact of social forces on our lives. [e.g. shapes our future, allows us to express freedom of choice away from social forces that affect us].

      * e.g. ability to look into an and analyze over immediate past and make sense of it in reference to now. Secondly, we must attempt to establish an historical sense in combination with culturally anthropological insights. That is, to dispel any ethnocentric beliefs orders that we may hold.

      * Ethnocentrism or centric refers to the view that one's own views or beliefs are the standards which all values or beliefs should be measured by.

      By continuance the first two dimensions mentioned, we are able to look.
      1. Society from varying points of degree, use what has been gathered and utilized it constructively for the future. Thus, fusing the sociological imagination with task of sociology and *critiquing existing forms of society*.

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* Suicide *{for further information go to http://www.relst.uiuc.edu/durkheim/Summaries/suicide.html )

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* Three (3) Types of Suicides * http://www.relst.uiuc.edu/durkheim/Summaries/suicide.html#pgfId=822

  1. Altruistic Suicide: the individual is required by rules or norms of the group to commit suicide [e.g. some Indian caste widows were expected to commit Suttee (good woman) throw themselves on a burning pyre, funeral pyre (husband)] [e.g. W.W.II Japanese - kamikaze mission]
  2. Egoistic Suicide: opposite of Altruistic Suicide, individual fails to identify with institutions of his society and assumes individual blame or guilt for action.
    [e.g. Protestants and Catholics, explicit taboos against suicide.]
    P - great emphasis is placed on the self-reliance of the individual
    C - church mediates the relationship between the individual and God
  3. Anomic Suicide: individual cannot share values common to his society and becomes alienated.
    [e.g. rapid change either in society as a who or in a individual's social structure would create anomie (normalessness) and increase the probability of suicide.]
    Widows and divorcee's -- lessens views to a support group
    Protestants -- less integrated in the Church

Two Weaknesses:

  1. It is not objective. It has not systematically been tested against reality. Its subjective.
  2. Timeworn ideas, and often inconsistent.

*  Sociological approach requires that facts and ideas be systematically checked against evidence; offers chance to learn something new.

  1. Seek objective and be consistent with new information.
  2. To obtain it, they use the methods of science.

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II. Sociology as a Science

* Scientific methods require scientists to put aside existing views of what the world should be like and to rely on observation.

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III. Development of Sociology

  1. Emerged in 19th Century -- Two factors contributed to conversion.
    1. Social upheavals of 19th Century Europe
    2. Advancement of natural sciences

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IV. Pioneers of Sociology

  1. Auguste Conte
    1. 19th Century French philosopher
    2. Sometimes called the Father of Sociology
    3. Coined the word Sociology in 1838
  1. Karl Marx
    1. Underlying conflict, exploitation, and seeds of revolution
    2. * Primary feature of society is not stability and interdependence but conflict and competition
    3. Every society, past and present, is marked by social conflict
  1. Emile Durkheim
    1. Pioneered systematic application of scientific methods to sociology
    2. Systematic observation and date analyses in his study of suicide
    3. Sociologists should consider only what they observe and look at "social facts as things"
  1. Max Weber
    1. Believed sociologists must go beyond what people do, beyond what can be observed directly
    2. Individuals always interpret the meaning of their own behavior and act according to these interpretations
    3. Sociologists must find out how people feel or what they think about their own behavior

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American Sociology

I. Europeans -- fundamental issues of social order and societal change

* Trying to discover causes of social problems as a whole

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II. Americans -- focuses on specific problems

  1. W. E. B. DuBois and Robert park were among each leaders of American sociology (**)
  2. Idea grew that sociology should be a basic science, seeking knowledge only, not an applied science.
  1. Both a basic and applied science
  2. Use both objective and subjective methods
  3. Employ several theoretical perspectives

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III. Major Perspectives

* Theoretical Perspectives, give a general way of approaching society and a guide to the kinds of questions we should ask about social behavior

Three (3) Major Perspectives 

  1. Structured Functionalism: each part of society contributes something to society. Each performs certain functions for the society as a whole. All parts are interdependent, and lead to a stable social order, the structure (e.g. family--school--children--school--family and state--financial support).
    1. Social Consensus: a condition which most members of society argue on what is good for everyone to have and cooperate to achieve it.
    2. Spencer and Durkheim provided ideas
    3. Mechanical Solidarity: type of social cohesion that develops when people do similar work and have similar beliefs and values. Exists in reluctantly simple societies (e.g. societies where everyone is a follower and believer of the same gods).
    4. Organic Solidarity: type of social cohesion that arises when people in a society perform a wide variety of specialized jobs and therefore have to depend on each other. (Characteristics of complex, industrialized societies. (American city)

Robert Merton: American Sociologist 

  1. Prominent, and classified functions into two types:
    1. Manifest functions: those which are intended and seem obvious.
    2. Latent functions: unintended and often unrecognized.
      [e.g. college/marriage] manifest/latent
      -reveals its deeper, underlying reality
      [e.g. prostitution--Davis, Kingsley]
  2. Conflict Perspective: society is always changing, and always marked by conflict.
    • Concentrate on social conflict
      -- See social change as beneficial and
      -- Assume social order is forcibly imposed by powerful on weak
      -- Criticize the status quo
    • Originated largely from Karl Marx's writings
      -- Defined on broader scale than Marx's
      -- Today, define social conflict to mean conflict between unequal groups or segments of society
    • Groups within society will have conflicting interests and values, and thus will compete with each other. Because of this perpetual competition, society is always changing.

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IV. Symbolic Interactionism

  1. Trace origins back to Max Weber
  2. But George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), American philosopher who introduced it to American Sociology in 1920's.
    1. assign meanings to each other's words and actions. Their actions and attitudes are not determined by some action in and of itself. 
    2. They act according to their subjective interpretation of the action.
    3. People do not respond directly to physical "things"; they respond to their own interpretation of them.
    4. Because people constantly make interpretations and they act according to them, (3) human behavior is fluid, always changing. How we act is constantly (4) being altered by how we interpret other people's actions and reactions to our own behavior.

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V. Integrated View

  1. Each perspective is useful, brings some aspect of society and human behavior into focus. By combining them, we are able to widen our perspectives on society and our knowledge of the world.
  2. Usefulness of each depends on what you are studying, with one being more helpful than the other.

VI. Uses of Sociology

  1. Dispels myths and provides a rational basis for choosing public policies.
  2. Three ways it can serve the public.
    1. Applied Social research (valid estimates)
    2. Social Engineers (design policies, etc.)
    3. Clinicians ( consultants, etc.)

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Last Revied 2/2009