The Sociological Point of View

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Chapter 1

• The Sociological Point of View

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Section 1 Examining Social Life
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How would your life be different if

• You were born 100 years ago?
• Your were born into a wealthy aristocratic
  family?
• You were born in a less developed country?

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Early 1900s Life expectancy for white Americans
was just 48 years. If a mother had four
children, there was a fifty-fifty chance that one
would die before the age of 5. At the same
time, half of all young people lost a parent
before they reached the age of 21. The average
family had an annual income of 3,000 (in today's
dollars). The family had no indoor plumbing, no
phone, and no car. About half of all American
children lived in poverty.
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Most teens did not attend school instead, they
labored in factories or fields. The nation's
population shifted from the Northeast to the
Sunbelt. About 60 percent of the population
lived on farms or in rural areas. The top five
names in 1900 for boys were John, William, James,
George and Charles for girls they were Mary,
Helen, Anna, Margaret, and Ruth
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• Two of America's ten biggest industries were boot
  making and malt liquor production.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the country--none
  west of the Mississippi River.
• Dot-com communication still meant the telegraph.

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Our lives are shaped by society

• The jobs we have
• The things we value
• Our life expectancy
• What are some other ways society shapes us?

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• Sociology can even be found in the restroom

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• What do these social encounters tell us about
  ourselves and our society?

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Sociology Defined
The scientific study of human society
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What is a society?
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What are the basic components of society you
identified?
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What does it mean to be a science?

• Science is the concerted human effort to
  understand, or to understand better, the history
  of the natural world and how the natural world
  works, with observable physical evidence as the
  basis of that understanding. It is done through
  observation of natural phenomena, and/or through
  experimentation that tries to simulate natural
  processes under controlled conditions.

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What are the alternative to a science?

• Where do you get your knowledge if you do not get
  it scientifically?
• Authority parents, political leaders,
  teachers, etc.
• Tradition Thats the way it has always been
  Whiskey cures a cold
• Common sense - knowledge people gain about the
  world through their everyday experience

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Is sociology common sense?

• Example The Problem of "Illegal Aliens"
• Common sense tells us that undocumented workers
  take jobs from Americans and that, in general,
  they create a burden for the U.S. taxpayers.
• Facts, however, show us that undocumented workers
  may not be as big of a burden on the United
  States economy as people think. Furthermore, they
  tend to take jobs that most Americans may not
  want.

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• Example Buy American! What Does This Mean?
• As Americans struggled with the global economy in
  the 1980s, many advocated buying American
  products from American companies.
• Common sense told us that buying American would
  put Americans to work and make the U.S. economy
  stronger.
• Fact Even though the company is American mos the
  work happen outside the U.S. therefore thats
  where most the money goes.

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GM Production Facilities
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Having a Sociological Imagination

• The ability of understanding the intersection of
  one's own biography and other biographies with
  history and the present social structure you find
  yourself and others in. In essence, it is
  understanding the private in public terms.
• - C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagination
• In other words...

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• To truly understand peoples behavior, we must
  look beyond those individuals to the larger
  social contexts in which they live.
• Individuals make choices, but their choices are
  constrained by social, historical, cultural,
  political and economic factors
• Most important, people frequently do not even
  realize the extent to which their lives are
  affected by things that are external to them and
  outside their control.

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Consider Drinking Coffee
Why do some countries consume more coffee?
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Common sense reason

• They like coffee.

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Using the sociological imagination

• (a) the symbolic value of coffee drinking as a
  social ritual

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Using the sociological imagination

• (b) coffees status as an accepted Western drug
  which contrasts both with substances deemed
  anti-social in the West and the prohibition of
  coffee in other cultures, and

1511 coffee banned in Mecca due to Islamic Law
1600 Christian plead with the pope to ban
coffee
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Using the sociological imagination

• (c) coffees availability as a commodity, the
  result of a complex system of production and
  distribution operating across the globe

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Consider Marriage

• Why do people get married?

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• Not everyone in every culture gets married. Why?

The Women's Kingdom
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U.S. Vs. Mosuo
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• Explain the differences in marriage between the
  United States and the Mosuo tribe using your
  sociological imagination.

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Specifically sociology is a social science
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• The social sciences are academic disciplines
  concerned with the study of the social life of
  human groups and individuals.

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Sociology Vs. Other Social Sciences
Sociology Anthropology

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Sociology Vs. Other Social Sciences
Sociology Psychology

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Sociology Vs. Other Social Sciences
Sociology Economics

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Sociology Vs. Other Social Sciences
Sociology Political Science

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Sociology Vs. Other Social Sciences
Sociology History

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Quiz

• Be sure to know the following terms/people for
  your quiz
• Social Sciences
• Psychology
• Anthropology
• Economics
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Sociological imagination
• C. Wright Mills
• Society

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Development of Sociology

• Sociology has a relatively short history. (1800s)
• The systematic study of patterns of behavior
  began in the early part of the 19th century in
  France, and then appeared in other European
  societies and the United States as that century
  progressed.
• Why did sociology appear at this time and place?

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• Answer There was a need to understand the rapid
  social changes that were occurring throughout
  these societies as they experienced political,
  economic, and social upheavals.
• What was happening in France, Europe and the
  United States around 1800s that lead to these
  rapid changes in these counties politics,
  economies, and social lives?

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• Answer Industrial revolutions
• Rural economies gave way to large-scale
  production economies
• Factories replaced homes as main site for
  manufacturing
• Cities grew producing a multitude of social
  problems
• Number of people seeking work outpaced available
  jobs
• Housing shortages developed
• Crime increased
• Pollution became a major problem
• Cities were impersonal

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The Early Years

• Took roots in the 1800s, primarily in France,
  Germany, and Great Britain.
• These countries had most strongly felt the
  effects of the Industrial Revolution.

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The Most Influential Early Sociologist

• Auguste Comte
• Herbert Spencer
• Karl Marx
• Emile Durkheim
• Max Weber

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Auguste Comte 1798 1857

• Considered the founder of sociology
• One of the first to apply the methods of the
  sciences to the study of social life
• Coined the term sociology
• Believed social statics hold society together
  and society changes through social dynamics
• Utilized the functionalist perspective

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• Social Statics What keeps society at
  equilibrium
• Language binds people and allows for consensus
• Common religious beliefs bind people and is the
  root of social order
• Men are bound together by the need for the labor
  others provide

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• Social Dynamics
• Dynamics begin when the functions of the social
  institutions are altered or changed.
• Change is necessary and inevitable.
• social dynamics describe the successive and
  necessary stages in the development in the human
  mind and the society.

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Herbert Spencer 1820 - 1903

• Influenced by the views of Charles Darwin
• Adopted a biological model of society all parts
  work together to sustain the organism
• Considered social change and unrest to be natural
  occurrences during societys evolution toward
  stability and perfection
• Therefore, no steps should be taken to correct
  social ills
• To allow the fittest societies to survive and the
  world to upgrade (Social Darwinism)
• Coined the term survival of the fittest
• Utilized the functionalist perspective

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Karl Marx 1818 - 1883

• Did not consider himself to be a sociologist
• Believed the structure of society is influenced
  by how the economy is organized
• 2 classes
• Bourgeoisie/capitalist own the means of
  production
• Proletariat/workers provide the labor needed to
  produce goods and services
• Imbalance of power would lead to conflict and
  would only end when the proletariat overthrew the
  bourgeoisie resulting in a classless society in
  which each citizens contribute according to
  his/her ability and is rewarded according to
  his/her needs
• Founder of the conflict perspective

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Emile Durkheim 1858 1917

• Developed Frances first sociology course
• One of the first sociologist to systematically
  apply the methods of science to the study of
  society Suicide
• He saw society as a set of interrelated parts
  however he preferred to view these parts in terms
  of their function example religion in
  maintaining social order
• He believed that sociologist should only study
  features that were directly observable
• Utilized functionalist perspective

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Max Weber 1864 - 1920

• Interested in separate groups within society
  rather than society as a whole
• Believed sociologist should study more than just
  what is directly observable but should also
  uncover the feelings and thoughts of individuals
• Verstehen (fehr-SHTAY-en) see situations
  through others eyes
• Ideal type a description comprised of the
  essential characteristics of a feature of
  society.

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Sociological Perspectives

• Perspectives on human behavior
• Functionalism
• Conflict Theory
• Interactionist Theory

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Functionalist

• Based on ideals of Comte, Spencer and Durkheim
• View society as a set of interrelated parts that
  work together to produce a stable social system.
• Society is held together by consensus
• View the elements of society in term of their
  function, or positive consequences for society
• Manifest function intended and recognized
• Latent function unintended and unrecognized
• A dysfunction is the negative consequence an
  element has for the stability of a social system.
  

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Conflict

• Associated with Karl Marx
• Focus on the forces that promote competition and
  change
• Scarce resources causes social conflict
• Social change is inevitable
• Topics
• Power in society
• Men and women
• Different ages
• Races
• Families

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Interactionist

• Associated with Max Weber
• Focuses on how individuals interact with one
  another in society such as how they respond to
  one another and the meanings that they attach to
  their actions and the actions of others
• Primarily interested in how individuals use
  symbols when interacting a symbol is anything
  that represents something else and the meaning is
  agreed upon by society

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Section 2 Quiz Be sure to know the following
terms and people 1. Social Darwinism 2.
Function 3. Verstehen 4. Ideal Type 5.
Functionalist Perspective 6. Dysfunctional 7.
Manifest Function 8. Latent Function 9.
Conflict Perspective 10. Interactionist
Perspective 11. Symbol 12. Comte 13. Spencer
14. Marx 15. Durkheim16. Weber
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• Survival of the Fittest
• Comte
• Spencer
• Marx
• Durkheim
• Weber
• Suicide
• Social Statics
• Social Dynamics
• Charles Darwin
• Sociology

• Industrial Revolution
• Social Darwinism
• Function
• Verstehen
• Ideal type
• Functionalist Perspective
• Dysfunctional
• Manifest Function
• Latent function
• Conflict perspective
• Interactionist perspective
• Symbol
• Theoretical Perspectives
• Theory
• France

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Research Process

• Define the problem
• Review the literature
• Form a Hypothesis
• Choose a Research Design
• Collect the Data
• Analyze the Data
• Present Conclusions

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Step 1 Defining the Problem

• You must select a topic for study and develop
  operational definitions.
• Operational definitions is a definition that is
  stated in terms of measurable characteristics.
• Ex Durkheim wished to study suicide rates among
  various groups of individuals. In order to study
  this he needed to define suicide and social
  interaction in terms that were measurable.

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Step 2 Reviewing the Literature

• Sociologist review the published reports of
  studies that have a bearing on their research
  interests.
• This provides the researcher with valuable
  insights that help to guide their own research
  but also prevents duplication of research
  efforts.

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Step 3 Forming a Hypothesis

• Hypothesis a statement that predicts the
  relationship between two or more variables.
• Ex The more family, religious, and community
  bonds group members have, the less likely they
  are to commit suicide.

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Step 4 Choosing a Research Design

• Research design plan for collecting, analyzing,
  and evaluating data.
• Most of the data collection methods used by
  sociologist fall into four categories Surveys,
  experiments, observational studies, and the
  analysis of existing sources.

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Method Definition Advantages Disadvantages
Survey
Analysis of Existing Documents (Historical Method And Content Analysis)
Observation
Case Study
Experiment
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Step 5 Collecting the Data

• Once sociologist have developed a research design
  they then follow the design to collect their
  data.

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Step 6 Analyzing the Data

• Purpose to determine whether the data supprts
  the research hypothesis.
• Ex When Durkheim analyzed his data on suicide,
  he found that rates varied among different groups
  within society. Catholics had a lower rate of
  suicide than Protestants and married people,
  particularly those with children were less likely
  than single people to commit suicide.

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Step 7 Presenting Conclusion

• The last step in research is to draw conclusions
  from the data and present those findings to
  others.
• Sociologist usually do this in the form of
  professional journals.

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Ethical Issues in Research

• The American Sociological Association has
  established specific guidelines for research. A
  code of ethics.
• Why is a code necessary?

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Unethical Research

• Nazi Experiments
• Milgrams Experiment
• Tuskegee Syphilis Study
• Willowbrook Study
• Laud Humphreys Tearoom Study

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Result

• The institution review boards were established.

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• IRB insures the following guidelines are meet.
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• 1. risk to subjects are minimized
• 2. risk to subjects are reasonable in relation to
  anticipated benefits,
• 3. selection of subjects is equitable, i.e. fair
• 4. informed consent is sought form each subject
  or his/her legally authorized representative,
• 5. informed consent is appropriately documented,
• 6. when appropriate, the research plan makes
  provisions for monitoring data collection,
• 7. privacy and confidentiality of research
  subjects is appropriately protected, and
• 8. when some or all of the subjects are likely to
  be vulnerable to coercion or undue influence,
  additional safeguards have been included.
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Using Statistics

• Sociologist use mathematical procedures,
  involving statistics to organize, analyze and
  interpret the data they collect.
• Statistics helps sociologist to make sense of
  their research findings.

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Understanding Frequency

• One of the most common forms of statistical
  analysis is frequency distribution.
• A frequency distribution allow you to see how
  often certain pieces of data occur.

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• Sometimes a research may substitute specific
  numerical spans, called intervals, for individual
  scores.

Papers Sold Frequency
15-19 2
20-24 7
25-29 1
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LETS TRY IT!

• Fifteen people were asked to state the number of
  hours they exercise in a seven day period. The
  results of the survey are listed below. Make a
  frequency table to display the data.
• 2, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11,
  12, 13

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Frequency Distribution Table
Hours of Exercise Tally Frequency
0 2 I 1
3 5 I I 2
6 8 I I I I I 5
9 11 I I I I I 5
12 14 I I 2
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Graphing

• Often sociologist make graphs or charts to
  visually display their data.

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Let Try it!!!

• Make a graph of the data outlined below in the
  frequency distribution table.

Hours of Exercise Tally Frequency
0 2 I 1
3 5 I I 2
6 8 I I I I I 5
9 11 I I I I I 5
12 14 I I 2
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Measure of Central Tendancy

• Mode piece of data that occurs the most
• Mean the average
• Median piece of data in the middle

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• be careful with mean it can be distorted by
  extremes (outliers)
• Example five waiters earn 300, 350, 325,
  390, and 600. What is the average weakly salary
  of these employees?
• Would the mean be representative of the waiters
  wages in this case?

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• In the wait staff scenario the median would be a
  better representation of the salaries because it
  is not affected by extreme scores.
• Example five waiters earn 300, 350, 325,
  390, and 600. What is the median salary?

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Measures of Variability

• Measures of variability tell researchers how much
  variability (how far apart they are) there is
  among the scores in a group of numbers.
• Sociologist typically use two measures range,
  and standard deviation.

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Range

• The mathematical difference between the highest
  and lowest scores in a frequency distribution.
• If the highest grade in a class is 100 and the
  lowest is 60 the range is 40. (100-6040).
• The mean for two sets of data can be the same but
  the range be different.

• EX Consider the following batting averages of
  two baseball teams
• Team A 210 250 285 300 340
• Team B 270 270 275 285 285
• What is the mean for each team?
• What is the range for each team?
• What does this tell us?

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• Range tells us how similar the subjects in each
  group are to one another in terms of what is
  being measured.

• The batting abilities of team B are more alike
  than team A.

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Standard Deviation

• Standard Deviation The Standard Deviation is a
  measure of how spread out the numbers are.
• The higher the variance or SD, the more spread
  out the distribution is.

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Why is Standard Deviation Important?

• using the Standard Deviation we have a "standard"
  way of knowing what is normal, and what is not.

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HOW DO I CALCULATE STANDARD DEVIATION?
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Its not that complicated

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Lets Try it!!!!
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Correlational Research

• Detects relationships between variables.
• Does NOT say that one variable causes another.
  CORRELATION NOT CAUSATION

There is a positive correlation between ice cream
and murder rates. Does that mean that ice cream
causes murder?
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Measured using a correlation coefficient.

• A statistical measure of the extent to which two
  factors relate to one another

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How to Read a Correlation Coefficient
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• Lets Try it!!!
• For the correlation coefficients below indicate
  the strength and direction of the relationship.
  Ex
• -0.30 a weak negative correlation.
• 1.
• 0.70
• -0.87
• -0.50
• 0
• Which of the correlation coefficients above is
  the strongest?

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Lets Try It!!!
If there is a correlation what type of
correlation is it?
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• Section 3 Quiz
• Be able to identify the research methods used by
  sociologist
• Be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses
  of these methods and which research method would
  be best for studying a particular research
  question.
• Be able to calculate measures of central tendency
  and measures of variance.
• Be able to interpret correlation coefficients and
  scatter plots to make conclusion about the
  variables relationship.
• Be able to draw a scatter plot.
• Know what is meant when we say something has a
  positive correlation, negative correlation, or is
  not correlated.
• Be able to identify the stronger/weaker
  correlation.