Sociologist, Sociological Methods

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Sociologist, Sociological Methods Sociological
Theory
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History Preconditions for Sociology

• Three ideas necessary for sociology to exist
• Freedom of thought
• Awareness of crisis
• Belief something can be done to remedy crisis

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History Preconditions for Sociology

• Scientific Revolution (16th 17th century)
• Mathematicians, philosophers began to oppose the
  Church, began an ecclesiastical view of the world
• Enlightenment (18th century)
• Changes in political and social thought
• Industrial Revolution (1750 1850)
• Economic and social changes created misery for
  poor lead philanthropists and researchers to
  examine people and relationships.

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• August Comte (1798-1857)
• Father of Sociology
• Positivism
• Humanity can be bettered through science and its
  application to society.

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• Herbert Spencer (1820 1903)
• Stressed how each part of society is
  interrelated, similar to living organism.
• Advocated Social Darwinism, and the idea of the
  survival of the fittest.

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• George Herbert Mead ( 1863 1931)
• Developed philosophy of role play people
  learn to behave correctly in society through
  playing different roles during childhood
• Example As a child, playing game of teacher
  pupil, one learns the appropriate behavior for
  each role.
• This process also teaches empathy.
• His work lead to the rise of symbolic
  interactionists- they examine the way people go
  about daily life and engage socially.

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• Emile Durkheim (1858 1917)
• First one to get sociology recognized as specific
  discipline
• Social Integration
• Your connection to society relates to your
  actions.
• Suicide those more connected are less likely to
  kill themselves.
• Believed a collective consciousness (shared set
  of social values) controls society.
• Anomie - when control breaks down, or collective
  consciousness weakens
• Social Facts Patterns of behavior that
  characterize a social group. Marriages in June

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• Karl Marx ( 1818 83)
• Society exists when people come together to
  produce necessities of life.
• Basis of society is economic production.
• His writing led to the development of critical
  sociology which examines the ways it is believed
  that the ruling class dominates society.

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The Founders of Sociology (the big 6)

• Max Weber ( 1864 1920)
• Did not believe economics was central force, but
  that it was religion instead.
• Example
• Durkheimer and Marx would view a family as a
  structure father, mother, children, each linked
  in certain physical or legal ways.
• Weber would view the family as a set of actins
  the action of living together and sharing
  activities.
• Used the term verstehen to describe the need for
  seeing an action through the eyes of the
  individual involved (the individuals perception
  of the situation)
• His work can easily be partnered with the work of
  Durkheim, you need both.

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Methods of Social Research

• Natural observation a researcher watches the
  behavior of groups in their natural setting.
• Experimental method a research method conducted
  in a carefully controlled setting to determine
  relationships between variables.
• Participant observation a researcher
  participates in the group life of the subjects of
  the study.

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Methods of Social Research

• Case study an extensive, in-depth study of a
  single case a person, work group, etc.
• Content analysis a study of any form of
  communication to determine characteristics such
  as social trends and patterns of a culture by
  counting the number of times specific words or
  ideas appear.
• Historical analysis a study of the records of
  the past (leaflets, laws, letters, diaries,
  newspapers, etc) to prove or disprove a
  hypothesis.

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Methods of Social ResearchThe Subjects

• Random Sample a sample in which every person in
  the total group has an equal chance of being
  chosen (ex researches may choose every 5th
  shopper)
• Quota or representative sample a representative
  cross-section of the population being studied
  (ex the number surveyed in a factory must have
  the same percentage of males females as does
  the whole factory).

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Methods of Social Research

• Interview method a researcher asks questions
  directly of a number of subjects to determine
  opinions, attitudes, behavior, etc.
• Questionnaire method a researcher distributes
  handouts listing questions to subjects to
  determine opinions, attitudes, behavior, etc

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Die Ende
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